Saint Clair has filed an appeal with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board on May 29 to block a 10-year permit renewal for the BRADS Landfill in Blythe Township.
The legal challenge, filed by Solicitor Ed Brennan on behalf of the borough, targets an April 30 decision by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection which extended the construction and demolition waste landfill’s operating life through Jan. 20, 2035. Saint Clair alleges a severe, ongoing history of non-compliance, public nuisances, and operational failures at the facility, arguing the harms to the community heavily outweigh the landfill’s benefits.
Following the filing, the state board issued a pre-hearing order on June 1 assigning the case to Judge Bernard A. Labuskes Jr. and establishing a legal timeline for the dispute. Under the court-ordered schedule, all parties must confer regarding a potential settlement and file a joint progress report by July 31. The order mandates that all discovery must be completed by Nov. 30.
At a Saint Clair council meeting on June 2, Brennan informed council members that he expects to formally litigate the case in early 2027.
According to the appeal, BRADS Landfill received 10 formal Notices of Violation from DEP between 2021 and early this year, with five of them in 2024 alone. The filing links these enforcement actions to approximately 500 odor complaints submitted by local residents during that timeframe.
Among the specific allegations included in the Borough’s appeal, air quality monitoring tracked seven instances where hydrogen sulfide emissions exceeded permitted thresholds, and an environmental inspection on Dec. 27, 2023, documented a failed sump valve leaking untreated wastewater onto the ground outside a lined disposal area.
Saint Clair also claims three fires occurred at the landfill in recent years, though the operator allegedly only formally reported one to the state. The appeal also raises concerns over the transport of approximately 3,000 tons of artificial turf to the site, citing potential chemical contamination from PFAS, commonly known as “forever chemicals”.
The Borough says these local issues mirror a broader corporate pattern by the landfill’s parent company, Texas-based Waste Connections, Inc.. The filing points to regulatory actions at other Waste Connections properties, including California’s Chiquita Canyon Landfill, which faced more than 26,000 odor complaints and an EPA Clean Air Act violation following a massive underground chemical reaction. The appeal also contends that DEP erred by allowing the facility to continue trucking untreated wastewater offsite, a practice the Borough says violates the landfill’s original operating terms that mandated an operational onsite treatment setup.
Saint Clair’s appeal to the EHB also targets several procedural errors within the renewal paperwork submitted in January 2024. The Borough says BRADS failed to provide required legal notifications to the borough or adjacent property owners, lacked valid corporate officer signatures on a mandatory compliance certification, and falsely claimed inclusion in the active Schuylkill County waste management plan.
Public opposition to BRADS Landfill has grown increasingly louder in recent months, ahead of DEP’s expected decision on whether or not to renew the dump’s operating permit for its Burma Rd. operation.
In May, Saint Clair council members voted unanimously to direct Brennan to appeal DEP’s decision to renew that permit through the EHB. They also voted to have the Solicitor attempt to intervene in a proposed land sale between Reading Anthracite Co. and BRADS Landfill on property neighboring the current dump site.
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