LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Residents in Lackawanna County are complaining of a smell they say is coming from the Keystone Landfill located throughout Dunmore and Throop. Earlier this month, the Department of Environmental Protection said the Keystone landfill violated multiple state regulations by failing to control that odor.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a small addition to the Mancuso family home in Archbald is put in place. But this installation wasn't always on this homeowner's to-do list.
"We really want to see the impacts before things might get serious and see what our family is being subjected to," said Mancuso.
Rob Mancuso and his wife Kayleigh Cornell bought their home back in 2016. It's located down the road from an asphalt plant and not too far from the Keystone Landfill and natural gas power plant in Jessup. While they can't see the facilities from where they live, they say they can definitely smell them.
"It's like rotten eggs. Sometimes, it's faint, sometimes, it's stronger. When it does come, sometimes it sits in the valley a little bit longer. a lot of people have been complaining about it," he explained.
There have been hundreds of similar complaints from residents throughout Lackawanna County. Those complaints were brought to the Philadelphia-based non-profit 'Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania,' or PSRP. The issue hits close to home for Executive Director Tonyehn Verkitus, who is from Archbald.
"We have a lot of legacy issues, starting with coal. and it's that ongoing exposure that causes lifelong impacts," explained Verkitus.
The group is installing free air monitors on a few dozen homes throughout Lackawanna County. The monitors change color depending on the air quality, and homeowners can track the data online.
"They can put notes about when they smell something, if they see something if they're having a bad asthma day. Because the quantitative as well as the qualitative data helps us tell the story of what's happening," said Verkitus.
It'll also help the group's environmental scientists, like Christina DiGiulio, track levels of certain chemicals in the air, like voc's, that have long-term health impacts.
"Chronic health issues you can have because you're getting it often. It may be lower levels, but it's chronic because you're constantly been bombarded by it. and your body doesn't have time to heal," said DiGuilio.
Voc's, or volatile organic compounds, are gases emitted into the air by certain products or industrial processes. Some are known to cause cancer. DiGuilio says the pollutants can often be smelled in the air.
"Are we blaming local industry? not necessarily, but is there a correlation? and If it's there, we should talk about it," added Verkitus.
A small addition to their home to help get the bigger answers Mancuso's been waiting for, especially for the health of his 7-month-old daughter.
"Just knowing. Right now, we just don't know. We rely on any kind of air quality we're getting from a national center, but we want to know the impacts right here, the air we're actually breathing," said Mancuso.
The non-profit says the data give residents the power to make immediate decisions on how long they may want to spend outdoors that day or if they may want to wear a mask. Verkitus says it also helps the group and residents make informed decisions to advocate for or against potential projects in the area, like the widely debated expansion of the Keystone Landfill or the natural gas power plant in Jessup, which Verkitus says is on the top of the list for the state's greenhouse gas emission producers.
PSRP says any interested homeowners can reach out to them for a monitor on their website.