DUNMORE, Pa. — "We experience the odors in our schools, on our playgrounds, at church, in our grocery store, and in our children's bedrooms. We are not scientists. We don't know what our children are breathing in," said Janet Brier, Dunmore Borough Council President.
Dunmore Borough Council President Janet Brier and other members of council are looking to the state Department of Environmental Protection to bring in its own air monitoring system before officially renewing the Keystone Sanitary Landfill's operating permit.
The DEP has already accepted the landfills renewal permit but a comment period is allowed for surrounding municipalities and others to express their concerns before a final decision is made.
"In light of the fact that there are 44 million tons of garbage already in the ground up and that the DEP has permitted 94 million more tons to come in the coming decades, it's our responsibility to come and express our concerns," said Brier.
Sitting on 714 acres between Dunmore and Throop Borough, Brier says the landfill currently does its air monitoring in-house.
By having the DEP take over that role, Brier says the state will be able to do more accurate testing, which she believes could help create more guidelines for the Landfill.
Newswatch 16 did reach out to Keystone Sanitary Landfill but did not get a response.
Tuesday, state officials issued a violation against the landfill for failing to properly store pools of liquid waste on the property.
Owners were issued a similar violation late last year for the liquid waste smell. The DEP also stopped the landfill from adding more garbage to previously filled areas because of odor complaints.
"I'm a lifelong Dunmorean, and I care very much about the community. I care very much at this point in my life. I care about the generations to come, and I just wonder what 94 million tons of garbage will do to our little town," added Brier.
The borough plans to send the letter about the odor testing to the DEP in the next few days.
The DEP tells Newswatch 16 that it will respond to the letter once it's received.
An email from a DEP spokesperson added: The department did enter into a Consent Order and Agreement (COA) with Keystone Landfill for odor violations in April. Under the agreement, DEP ordered Keystone to take corrective action to mitigate the potential for off-site odors from its leachate lagoons. Some of those measures include utilizing foam, implementing a new intermediate cover system, and submitting to the department a permit modification for the installation of two 2,500,000-gallon leachate storage tank systems. DEP also directed the landfill to re-evaluate the effectiveness of its Reverse Osmosis (RO) system for treating leachate and make any necessary modifications. Under the agreement, Keystone is also required to mitigate landfill gas odors from the site. Keystone must implement additional surface monitoring and follow an accelerated capping schedule of at least 30 acres to minimize areas of intermediate cover.
The statement continued: DEP made a commitment to residents to respond swiftly to address these odors – that’s why DEP worked around the clock to investigate the odors and ordered Keystone Landfill to take these corrective steps. DEP will continue to protect every Pennsylvanian’s constitutional right to clean air, pure water, and a healthy environment.