Date: October 28, 2010
Source: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Waste Management's Alliance Sanitary Landfill, near Scranton, PA won a crucial permit expansion from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that allows it to grow by 87 acres. The expansion was approved as part of a 10-year renewal of its operating permit which was granted in 1996 and scheduled to expire on October 31. The renewal allows for an initial daily volume of 3,000 tons per day that can be scaled up to a final permit limit of 4,750 tons per day and incorporates federal and state recommendations to strengthen air monitoring requirements and conditions to ensure safe operations. Plans to expand have met with the usual local opposition from resident's concerned about potential harmful impacts on health, safety and quality of life. When Alliance announced its plans for a 147-acre expansion in the late 1990s, the outcry was immediate. Residents spoke out against the change and consequently, DEP denied the landfill's application in May 2001, saying that harms outweighed the benefits. In June 2005, Alliance tried again with the scaled down proposal that was recently approved.
DEP PRESS RELEASE
DEP Approves Alliance Landfill Expansion with Stronger Air Monitoring Requirements
Permit Allows Average Daily Waste Volume to Increase if Operations Comply with Environmental Laws
The Department of Environmental Protection announced today that it has approved Alliance Sanitary Landfill's plans to expand in Taylor Borough and Ransom Township, Lackawanna County, after incorporating federal and state recommendations to strengthen air monitoring requirements and conditions to ensure safe operations.
"We incorporated comments from the health agencies and concerns and testimony presented by the public prior to making this final permit decision," said Northeast Regional Director Michael Bedrin.
Earlier this year, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the state Department of Health completed a study of long-term air monitoring data from DEP and Alliance, concluding that landfill operations were not expected to harm people's health. The health agencies did recommend evaluating air monitoring capabilities if landfill operations changed.
DEP included a permit condition requiring the landfill to certify each year that all necessary gas management controls are in place and that those measures comply with permit requirements and are effective in controlling nuisance odors.
The expansion permit also includes an initial average daily volume of 3,000 tons per day and establishes a procedure for subsequent increases up to a final permit limit of 4,750 tons per day if the landfill complies with the terms of its permit.
Alliance originally submitted its expansion application to DEP in September 2006, proposing to increase its permitted disposal area by 87.3 acres and permitted average daily volume from 2,000 tons per day to 4,750 tons per day.
DEP held a public hearing on the application in January 2010 and provided an additional 30 days for public comment after the hearing.
This action by DEP can be appealed to the Environmental Hearing Board.
For more information, contact:
Mark Carmon
Department of Environmental Protection
Northeast Regional Office
570-826-2511
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