Pennsylvania town fighting against reopening of landfill site

Residents of Grove City in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, are fighting to stop a local landfill site from resuming operations. They are concerned that the site will worsen pollution in the area and even accept radioactive waste. The environmental battle is led by the group Citizens’ Environmental Association of the Slippery Rock Area (CEASRA), which has found that the company owning the landfill, Vogel Holding, also hosts gas and oil waste in its other Pennsylvania sites. Researchers have recently discovered that this waste, especially when generated from fracking, is often toxic and radioactive. Despite that, oil and gas waste is permitted for disposal in municipal landfills like the one proposed in Grove City. Beverly Graham, the recording secretary of CEASRA, said the landfill is close to a housing complex, an airport, and an outlet mall, increasing the risk to public health. In May, CEASRA and one of the townships where the landfill is located presented in court their case for repealing the landfill’s solid waste permit. Lisa Johnson, the attorney representing them, said Pennsylvania’s environmental rights amendment, which guarantees the right to clean air and pure water, demands that the permit be vacated due to the risk posed by oil and gas waste to public health.
The landfill started operating in the 1950s when modern laws on “hazardous waste” did not exist. It closed in 1990 after the implementation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and several amendments regulating hazardous waste disposal. In 2013, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection denied an earlier application from Vogel Holding to re-open the landfill, citing “a history of non-compliance” on the part of the company. In 2023, however, the Department reversed its decision. According to Johnson, since then, there have been several notices of violation against Vogel Holding’s landfills, including two for unlawful dumping and handling of solid waste. If CEASRA’s appeal succeeds, it may have implications far beyond Grove City, leading other Pennsylvania communities to challenge their local landfills and the way they treat hazardous waste.