Dive Brief:

• Officials in Lower Saucon Township, PA sent a 21-page letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), noting its concerns with a proposed expansion of the IESI landfill. Increased odor, air pollution, truck traffic, and other harms were all listed.
• The landfill operators are seeking an expansion of six acres. Additionally, they want add a new liner to the landfill, as well as realign an already capped 23-acre area of the landfill in order to add more waste on top of it. 
• The PA DEP is responsible for approving or denying the landfill’s expansion application, yet the Council's letter states the landfill’s application does not detail enough of the impacts that the expansion will likely have on surrounding residents.

Dive Insight:

Lower Saucon officials want the PA DEP to require IESI to define and mitigate potential harms from the proposed landfill expansion, including truck traffic, odor, and exposure of old waste to the elements. 

“We don’t believe they’ve identified that impact on the neighbors immediately to the east and southeast, which is the prevailing downwind location — where residents are much closer to the landfill than the Steel City folks on the west side,” said Jim Birdsall, Lower Saucon's landfill engineer.

While township officials have listed the potential harms that could result from the expansion, landfill operators claim the expansion could add five more years to the site’s lifespan.