Landfill Expansion Plans Clear First Hurdle: State Still Needs to Review Engineering, Technical Aspects of Project.

By Tom Coombe, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

Jan. 23–A Plainfield Township landfill has moved closer to expanding, the state Department of Environmental Protection said Tuesday.

The DEP has approved the Grand Central Sanitary Landfill’s environmental assessment, one of the first steps of the expansion process. In a news release Tuesday, DEP Regional Director Michael Bedrin said the state still needs to review engineering and technical aspects of the expansion application.

The expansion would allow the landfill to stay open for another 10 years. Grand Central, which is owned by Waste Management Inc., has been trying to expand the landfill for the last six years. The township gave its approval in 2004. If the state allows the expansion, the landfill will grow from 67 to 109 acres.

In the meantime, Grand Central has cut back on the amount of trash it accepts. The state allows the landfill to take in 3,000 tons of trash a day, but Grand Central takes in less than 1,000 tons per day in order to continue operating daily.

According to the DEP, the state evaluated several factors in approving the environmental assessment, and found that the social and economic benefits of the landfill outweighed the harms of the proposed expansion. The benefits include tax revenue for Plainfield and the Pen Argyl Area School District, fees paid to Wind Gap and Pen Argyl, and a wildlife refuge. Harms include nuisances from noise, odor, dust litter and traffic.

Waste Management spokesman Harry Smith said the company was pleased with the approval, and is now just waiting on final approval for the expansion itself.

“We expect to see it soon,” Smith said, maybe by this spring. Once that happens, Smith said it will take another six months to complete construction on the expansion.

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