PENNSYLVANIA Agency delays review of landfill

The state sent the company a list of 20 issues that need more detail before a review can be completed.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The State Department of Environmental Protection has delayed its "harms versus benefits" review of the Tri-County Landfill application because of some technical deficiencies in the document.
That review was to be completed this week, according to a timetable announced by the DEP at a Jan. 17 public hearing on Tri-County's request to resume landfill operations on a 99-acre site at its property in Pine and Liberty townships.
However, the state review of the application got put on hold Feb. 13 when the DEP sent Tri-County a "Technical Deficiency Letter" outlining 20 areas that need to be more clearly explained.
A DEP spokeswoman said the letter puts the timetable for the application review on hold until Tri-County responds, and no response was received as of Monday morning.
Lost permit: Tri-County lost its landfill permit in 1990 because it couldn't meet tougher state operating standards and the company has been trying to get the permit back ever since.
The state rejected a 1997 application for an expanded landfill because of its nearness to the Grove City Airport but the new version submitted in July is excluded from that limitation because the operation would revert to the original size of the old landfill which had a permit before the airport regulation went into effect.
The state rule says a new landfill can't be built within 10,000 feet of an airport and the Tri-County site is just 6,000 feet from Grove City Airport. However, Tri-County says it wants to reopen just the old landfill site and is therefore excluded from the airport regulation.
The state agrees but said that the airport location can still be considered as a safety factor.
It appears the state is looking at that issue very closely, according to the Technical Deficiency Letter.
Problems listed: Four of the 20 items it lists cite problems with Tri-County's information on the airport and the landfill's plan for managing nuisance birds that garbage disposal might attract to the area and pose a hazard to aircraft.
Among other things, the application contains no data on bird populations in the area and, therefore, can't be evaluated, the state said.
The DEP also wants to know if Tri-County really intends to pay each its 15 workers $84,400 a year in salary and benefits as the application indicates, how much of an impact the landfill will have on the local economy, how it will deal with leakage and litter from waste vehicles using state Route 208 and what impact the landfill will have on property values in the area.