A Northeastern Pennsylvania auto dealer is suing a neighboring landfill in part because it attracts birds, which then dirty the cars on his car lot.

Earlier this week the state government agency responsible for dealing with landfill odor problems sent three notices of violation to the Alliance Sanitary Landfill operation.

Mark Carmon, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Northeast Region, said the company was cited for both odors and dust.

The notices came about as a result of the agency's visit to the landfill because of complaints from the 286 Corp. about odors from the site. Louis and Deborah Domiano, the owners of the auto dealership located near the landfill also said the facility was attracting birds, which were then dirtying cars on their lot.

"We've had quite a few violations that were odor related," Carmon said. "And while we were out in response to the 286 Corp. complaint, we also noticed the dust and sent out two notices for dust violations too."

DEP and the landfill are not strangers. Last year the agency denied an expansion request by the company because it felt the harms of a larger facility would outweigh the benefits. The landfill company is currently appealing that decision.

Hundreds of birds perch on power lines above the car lot.

"We had tremendous opposition from Old Forge Borough next door and Alliance couldn't document that the benefits would outweigh the harms," Carmon said. "Expansion is dead right now, pending the outcome of their appeals. They can't expand until all this litigation is resolved."

The department relies on a combination of tools for dealing with a situation such as this. While initial visits rely on a DEP representative's personal response to an odor, the agency also has some sophisticated scientific equipment it can use for more objective tests.

"We just had our mobile lab up there a month ago," Carmon said. "They were getting a chemical fingerprint of the odor. Plus they were up there the last few days doing more sophisticated testing, so if more problems crop up, we can bring the mobile lab back up and match its chemical fingerprint."