Schuylkill County Commissioners revealed Wednesday that the state’s Dept. of Environmental Protection plans to host not one, but two public meetings – both likely in November – with concerned locals over Natural Soil Products and the BRADS Landfill.
For years now, residents living near Natural Soil Products, a biosolids processor, and BRADS Landfill, have complained that smells emanating from those facilities have caused them adverse health effects, destroyed their quality of life, and lowered their property values.
BRADS is currently asking DEP to approve an extension of its permit to operate along Burma Rd. in Blythe Township, just outside Saint Clair as well a permit to expand its operation and accept more construction debris.
Residents of Saint Clair say they often smell a foul odor, like rotten eggs, emanating from the landfill. That would be caused by hydrogen sulfide.
People in a wide area around NSP in Frailey Township have similar complaints, though the smells are different. Last month, DEP hit NSP with a Notice of Violation, citing numerous days when putrid smells
Several people have consistently been asking Schuylkill County Commissioners to act on their behalf against NSP.
Commissioners have previously said they’re mostly powerless against the company but some action has started taking place, though nothing official is being done. One thing the Commissioners say they’ve been doing is staying in communication with DEP about residents’ concerns from western Schuylkill County.
Residents have asked to have a public meeting with DEP where they can formally vent their issues with NSP. After several months, it appears that meeting will soon happen.
On Wednesday, Commissioner Boots Hetherington announced that the County and DEP are close to setting up a meeting over NSP. Hetherington didn’t have a firm date but indicated it would happen in the middle of November and likely occur at the former Tremont school.
He also said that DEP has agreed to a meeting with concerned residents of Saint Clair and areas surrounding the BRADS Landfill. That meeting would also likely happen in November and be in Saint Clair, though no firm details were available on Wednesday.
Hetherington said both meetings would happen in the evening hours.
Following Wednesday’s Commissioners meeting, Hetherington told The Canary that he was recently driving by BRADS Landfill and definitely noticed a foul odor. It was so bad that he emailed Roger Bellas, the Environmental Program Manager at DEP’s Northeast Regional Office in Wilkes-Barre.
Hetherington said “Why can’t they be good neighbors,” when speaking of the owners of BRADS Landfill, Waste Connections.