ehement disapproval for Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill’s (WSL) proposed leachate evaporation system pervaded the atmosphere inside Rostraver Central Fire Hall Wednesday.

Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) held one of two public hearings to receive testimony on its draft air quality plan approval, that if advanced into full approval, would allow for the construction and initial temporary operation of leachate disposal technology at the municipal and residual landfill operating off of Tyrol Boulevard in Rostraver Township.

Twelve Mon Valley residents directed their testimony towards DEP officials, including Southwest Regional Director Jim Miller, and each asked the agency to deny the WSL’s application.

A virtual hearing will be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m today on the Webex platform. Residents who wish to participate should register on the DEP website and email lfraley@pa for a link to the meeting.

Most residents who spoke cited WSL’s previous DEP violations and, generally, a lack of faith they have in WSL to adhere to DEP permits.

The chorus of opposition to the draft air quality plan approval included testimony from representatives for three environmental advocacy groups: Protect PT, Mountain Watershed Association and Sierra Club Pennsylvania.

Rostraver Township’s Board of Commissioners, with Solicitor Joseph Dalfonso as their mouthpiece Wednesday, also asked the DEP to deny the application. “They’re (the commissioners) primarily concerned with lack of the environmental control and protection, which has previously caused violations to various permits,” said Delfonso, after speaking of a 2020 resolution wherein Rostraver’s board of commissioners officially opposed the leachate evaporation plan. “The township here is concerned that the violation of this permit — this air quality plan — will further degrade the air quality of the township.”

Rostraver Commissioner

DEP HEARING • A2 FROM A1

John Lorenzo elaborated on the environmental concerns relayed by Dalfonso in an emailed statment to the Mon Valley Independent Wednesday.

“I have not seen any evidence that all of the methane and other potential hazardous pollutants will be scrubbed out in the evaporation process,” said Lorenzo.

Debby Fought and Jack Kruell are among the most prominent resident watchdogs and critics of WSL and its operator, Noble Environmental. Neighbors to each other and to the landfill itself, Fought and Kruell were front and center Wednesday, speaking at a press conference prior to the hearing and also during the official proceedings.

“They have received repeated violations dealing with leachate. And this company (Noble Environmental) has been cited by the DEP, with six violations concerning the leachate collection system and nine times for the handling of leachate, one of which occurred only seven days ago on Aug. 24,” said Fought, directing her testimony to DEP officials who sat deadpan in the front of the hall. “This leachate evaporation system is a danger to the surrounding community by a company which has had 115 violations.”

Kruell alluded to a conflict of interest, or at least, an ill-chosen regulatory contractor in Perma-Fix, a publicly traded hazardous waste treatment and disposal company he said has contracts with Waste Management

“Outreach expert opinion for this landfill was September of 2020 and everything’s great,” he said, before the start of the hearing.

In his testimony, he cited contradictory research and asked DEP officials to consider other findings.

“Going back to 2019, studies by Pace Environmental Solutions, WVU, Duquesne and University of Pittsburgh, the Uranium 226 and 228 at landfill manhole one was 370 picocuries per liter,” said Kruell.

Much of Wednesday’s testimony and the topics surrounding the leachate system are science dense. But DEP officials tried to offer concrete reassurance as to the environmental safeguards already in place for WSL and the stringency of the air quality plan approval process.

The leachate evaporation system, according to a DEP slide Wednesday, will be capable of treating 45,000 gallons of leachate per day. Leachate will pass through a Pentair hydrocarbon recovery pre-treatment system prior to evaporation. Certain bench mark test results must be met in order for leachate to be heated in the system and let out into the air.

In a different slide, the DEP conceded that there is a “radionuclide emissions potential.” But emissions of such particles are not to exceed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) are discharge limits, read the slide.

Radiation Protection Bureau Director Dwight Shearer stated in no uncertain terms that “the calculated level (of expected radionuclides) is well below the NRC limits and will not add to ambient background radiation levels.”

Ambient background radiation refers to the natural radiation dose experienced by an American on average.

Eric Harder of Mountain Watershed said the testimony of residents who don’t understand the ins and outs of the application should be weighed just as much as those who exhibit sound technical knowledge related to landfill practices and testing.

“There should be a more informal back and forth with the general public about what other systems like this are in operation,” he said. “And there are other operations like this. One is owned by Waste Management.”

John Lunt owns 17 parcels of land on Tyrol Boulevard and said he has “no faith in the DEP.”

“So you guys sit here before me in your suits. Have you been down in my storm drains? Have you taken a sample? Have you stopped at my business and seen me?” he asked. “The answer’s no, you have not. You know why? You don’t care.”

Lunt spoke of water trucks “running up and down my road pumping dirt.”

“I spent $160,000 to cure their problem. They can’t fix their own truck wash bay but you want to sell us on this new system and they’re going to maintain it? When you (WSL and DEP regulators) can’t maintain a truck wash bay to keep the trucks from dumping dirt and garbage om Tyrol Boulevard.”

He drew a hypothesis as to why “the dump bought property on Tryol Boulevard.”

“They didn’t buy that property thinking ‘Well, we might get approval,'” he said. “They bought that property because you already had a back-door deal with them. It’s ridiculous and it’s criminal.”

The DEP said they would collect testimony until September 19th, when they would then begin to process all of it, weigh it and then provide a document to the public based on their consideration of public input.

Those who provided testimony will be emailed when the document is available and the document will be posted on the DEP website.