Americans produce more trash today than ever before... and large
corporate-run landfills have replaced most small town dumps. But
while Pennsylvania requires landfills to meet strict environmental
safety regulations, people living in the shadow of landfill often
complain about the sights, smells, and possible health risks.
In an effort to improve its image, one Scranton-area facility this
week invited the public to the landfill... for a barbecue! Brad Linder
has more.
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Community Action
A small community bands together to challenge a landfill expansion.
August 16, 2002
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By Dan Simon
A small community's fight to prevent the expansion of a mountainside
landfill is writing the primer for other communities on how to oppose
such projects.
Old Forge Borough, the self-proclaimed "Pizza capital of the
world," sits below the Alliance Sanitary Landfill. The landfill,
which opened in 1987, is near capacity and wants to expand by another
147 acres.
Community opposition coupled with a recent regulatory change requiring
the state Department of Environmental Protection to conduct a harm-benefit
analysis have been the major reasons why a request to expand the Lackawana
County facility has been denied.
Alliance Against Alliance, a citizens group, and the Old Forge Borough's
Environmental Committee served as focal points for the community's
opposition to Waste Management Inc.'s attempts to change public opinion.
"They sent out flyers to residents asking them to call us and
speak out in favor of the landfill," said Alan Heyen, chairman
of the borough committee. "Instead people who got the flyers
called us to say they were against the landfill, so it blew up in
the company's face. They just can't grasp it's a quality of life issue.
"The community truly has jelled. We see it time and time again
with the school board turning down the money they offer and other
organizations refusing it, and the borough last night. They've tried
the low road offering seniors groups lunches to come out for tours
and now barbecues."
Heyen was referring to Waste Management Inc. offers to the Old Forge
Borough Council and the local school board that would have totaled
in the millions of dollars if either entity had accepted them. Instead,
both organizations refused.
"Our main street is probably one of the nicest in Pennsylvania,"
said Dave Dipipi, head of the citizen's group Alliance Against Alliance.
"We've not only survived, but we've prospered just fine without
Alliance. We have state of the art fire-fighting equipment, a state
of the art police force, we have everything we need.
"You maybe save $260 a year if you took their offer but you'd
be selling out to Alliance."
Old Forge residents maintain they're fed up with the dust and odor
created by the landfill, plus noise from a steady stream of garbage
trucks dumping there. Alliance has received several notices from DEP
that it was in violation of odor and dust regulations just in the
past couple of weeks.
"We don't really think it's a very hard battle to fight,"
Dipipi said. "They still don't seem to be able to run that landfill
the way it should be run. Right now they're under a microscope, they're
under a reduced operating capacity. Last week they sent out a letter
to the citizens of Old Forge asking for their support, and at the
same time were cited for odor and dust, and they're working at a reduced
capacity."
The landfill had been expected to reach capacity in less than a year
the way things were going Heyen said, but has since cut back on the
amount of trash coming in to extend its life.
Landfill officials say they work hard to keep dust and odors under
control.
"At this time of year, everyone knows that garbage can smell..."
said John Hambrose, who Alliance hired as community relations coordinator
about four months ago. "We have special challenges, and we're
doing more than ever to make sure waste
comes in, is covered, and causes no discomfort."
Hambrose said the landfill conforms to state regulations and at the
end of each day packs the garbage and covers it with topsoil.
"When we complete an area, in addition to a liner under the waste,
we install a plastic cap," he said. "We then put on top,
two feet of soil, seed it and try to get grass to grow there.
"We're reaching out to the community. We've begun printing a
community newsletter … mailing it to towns closest to our property.
I've had a lot of people here in small groups, and they ask where
the odor is… we do a good job of controlling odor."
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