DUNMORE, Pa. — Keystone Sanitary Landfill agreed to pay more than a half-million dollars in civil penalties on the heels of hundreds of complaints about foul smells, the state Department of Environmental Protection said.
The agreement also ordered the Lackawanna County landfill to take corrective action to mitigate the potential for odors coming from its leachate lagoons.
The $575,000 civil penalty, which the department said is the largest it has issued the landfill in a decade, will be split between Dunmore and Throop. The two municipalities play host to the landfill and receive millions of dollars each year from the landfill from their host agreements.
Dunmore Mayor Max Conway said, "continued vigilance" and pressure are needed to make sure violations are addressed "now and, if necessary, in the future."
"I hope the message is clear: Our residents deserve better," he said.
Throop Council President Richard Kucharski said he's hopeful the agreement may help resolve the malodorous issue.
Between November 2022 and February, DEP noted at least 70 occasions in which officials detected landfill gas and leachate odors.
An investigation found violations of the Solid Waste Management Act, the Air Pollution Control Act, DEP regulations and conditions of the landfill's permits, DEP said. The review determined the landfill failed to prevent and control air pollution, failed to maintain an intermediate cover that could prevent odors, among other findings.
An inspection in November found elevated methane readings near the Casey Highway. The DEP in November also suspended the landfill's efforts to add more garbage to previously filled areas.
As part of the agreement, the DEP ordered the landfill to take measures to mitigate the smells.
That includes using foam, a new cover system and submitting a permit modification for two 2½ million-gallon leachate storage tanks
The landfill also has to review its current system for treating leachate and step up capping at least 30 acres.
Attempts to reach officials with the landfill Monday were unsuccessful.