Rostraver landfill owner files plan to evaporate liquid runoff

A Rostraver landfill operator’s plans to heat and evaporate 45,000 gallons of liquid runoff at the Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill will be discussed at two public hearings being held by state environmental regulators.

The Department of Environmental Protection will take comments about the proposed leachate evaporation system at the landfill off Tyrol Boulevard in two upcoming hearings and will accept comments until Sept. 12.

The agency in May 2020 approved a draft of the air quality plan that Noble Environmental of Pittsburgh, the owner of landfill, first submitted in October 2019. The landfill must have the air quality plan approved before it can begin building the natural gas-fired leachate evaporation system that would be a possible air contamination source, the DEP stated. Approving the plan is not the same as issuing an operating permit, which is needed for using the system over the long term, said Lauren Fraley, DEP spokeswoman.

A six-month temporary operating permit will allow the landfill to run the system, designed to reduce the volume of the fluid runoff by 95%. The raw landfill fluids would be pretreated to remove oils, according to the plan.

Ro Rozier, a spokeswoman for Noble Environmental, parent company of Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill, could not be reached for comment.

In operating the leachate evaporation system, Sanitary Landfill will have to test the wastewater weekly for its contents and must not allow odors to be detected outside its boundary, according to the state regulations.

Two state inspections in 2019 found the existing leachate collection system was clogged.

Township officials in June 2020 voted to oppose a permit for the leachate evaporation system.

“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 commissioner John Lorenzo.

The landfill now transports the leachate to a facility that can accept it and that appears to be working without issues, Lorenzo said.

“Given the track record of the landfill, countless violations, and difficulty complying with DEP regulations, how are we as a community to feel safe with the landfill operating this system?” Lorenzo asked.

Odors from the landfill have been the subject of numerous complaints from neighboring residents for more than a decade.

The draft air quality plan approval and more information is available on the DEP’s community information webpage at dep.pa.gov/WSL.