DEP reaches consent order and agreement with Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill
The state Department of Environmental Protection has negotiated a consent order and agreement with Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill in Rostraver Township.
The agreement requires the landfill to pay a $24,000 civil penalty and take several corrective actions. Those actions include minimizing leachate generation by reducing the working face of the active uncovered area where precipitation permeates through the landfill waste and submitting a permit for modification application to authorize trucking of leachate on a temporary basis while the landfill pursues DEP approval to install equipment to treat and evaporate leachate.
The landfill owners also agreed to submit documentation to DEP of agreements and authorizations for the treatment facilities currently accepting its leachate.
According to an analysis conducted in April 2019 by Environmental Service Laboratories Inc., samples of the landfill leachate revealed Belle Vernon Municipal Authority has been receiving leachate that includes high levels of ammonia and volatile organic compounds such as magnesium, barium and phenols – chemicals that are commonly found in shale gas drilling and fracking waste.
Westmoreland Sanitary had a private service agreement with the authority to treat the landfill’s leachate at the authority’s wastewater treatment plant from 1994 to May 2019, when the authority terminated it over concerns the landfill had been exceeding its limit of 50,000 gallons of leachate daily. Days later, Fayette County District Attorney Rich Bower and Washington County District Attorney Eugene Vittone obtained a temporary injunction to immediately stop leachate from being discharged into the Monongahela River.
The landfill has been transporting its leachate via tanker truck to Altoona Water Authority – Westerly Wastewater Treatment Facility in Duncansville; Eastern Ohio Regional Wastewater Authority in Bellaire, Ohio; City of Alliance Municipal Sanitary Authority in Alliance, Ohio; and Seneca Landfill Inc. in Butler County, according to the DEP.
Westmoreland Sanitary spokeswoman Ro Rozier welcomed the consent order, saying the landfill was “pleased” with its terms and conditions.
“Under the terms and conditions of this agreement, Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill has committed to investing substantial amounts of capital to purchase and install technology and equipment capable of treating and evaporating the leachate generated from the landfill on site,” Rozier said. “We are confident that our plan for on-site treatment and evaporation will resolve the landfill’s recent leachate disposal issues.”
DEP noted the leachate management plan approved by DEP as part of its current waste permit does not authorize the landfill to transport its leachate by tanker truck to any facility, and must be modified to allow even interim trucking.
Per the DEP, the landfill’s actions in disposing of leachate generated there via tanker truck transport since May 18, when the injunction took effect, violated the waste permit.
The landfill must apply to modify its waste permit within 30 days, and the application must include a revised leachate management plan indicating all current and proposed storage, treatment and disposal options for leachate and interim vehicular transportation for off-site supplemental disposal. The plan must list the name and location of all facilities to which the landfill intends to transport leachate via truck or piping.
The landfill must also submit a report to DEP detailing the effectiveness of leachate treatment units within 270 days of their startup. If the landfill’s evaporative treatment and pretreatment prove insufficient to manage the leachate without off-site trucking, the landfill must within 90 days of DEP notification submit to the department a plan and schedule to implement other measures or technology for leachate management without offsite trucking.
Belle Vernon Municipal Authority Superintendent Guy Kruppa questioned the consent order and agreement, saying that the requirements are “five years behind.” He noted concern for the areas near the facilities where the landfill has been transporting its leachate via tanker truck.
“Gas … has byproducts that are harmful,” Kruppa said.