A decision on whether or not BRADS Landfill on Burma Rd., just outside Saint Clair, can continue to operate beyond the end of this month is expected soon.
Back in January, the state’s Dept. of Environmental Protection granted the owners of the landfill a temporary extension of its operating permit through July 31.
BRADS is seeking to renew its operating permit that would keep it open for another 10 years. The landfill is also seeking to increase its daily tonnage intake limit from 1,500 to 3,000.
Last week, Saint Clair officials were urged by one of the landfill’s more vocal opponents and residents, Dr. Erin Portland, to tell DEP that the landfill is no longer welcome in their community.
“We’re at a crossroads right now,” Portland said. “I believe that if our community and our Borough can continue to voice our concerns with the landfill that there is a possibility that they will reconsider and deny their permit.
Portland added that she knows the odds may not be in the hers or the Borough’s favor.
“I’m a realist but I’m still trying to be hopeful that we right these things that were so wrong that happened to our community,” she told Borough Council members.
In a speech to council members, Portland says she’s been following stories from the landfill in Bethlehem, which has the same owner as BRADS Landfill, Waste Connections.
Portland said the company is trying to soothe tension in the community by offering donations to organizations – like bikes for kids and chicken dinners – in an attempt to essentially get skeptics to look the other way.
“It’s my hope that there isn’t any organization locally that would take a donation from BRADS Landfill,” she said.
A portion of Portland’s talking points focused on the ongoing issues with dangerous truck traffic to and from the landfill, with some of those trucks coming through Saint Clair.
In reports from Coal Region Canary, several trucking companies have been cited and fined for some rather egregious safety violations when they were stopped by State Police for spot inspections at the landfill.
Some vehicles had defective brakes, flat tires, cracked frames, inoperable safety signals and more. Drivers were sometimes unlicensed and their vehicles uninspected and uninsured.
Portland echoed comments made by District Magistrate Judge David Plachko recently that it’s only a matter of time before one of these vehicles crashes and causes serious injuries or worse to innocent people in the community.
“I know that it’s just a matter of time. And there’s no chicken dinner or $1,000 or $65 worth of bikes from Walmart that’s going to help reclaim a life that’s going to be taken,” Portland said.
“We need to all stand together and make sure that BRADS Landfill knows that we will not accept any type of donation or any efforts to throw some money at a huge problem,” she added.
Saint Clair Borough Manager Roland Miller said last week that a letter was sent to “state officials” on behalf of the Borough regarding their concerns about the dangerous truck traffic going to BRADS Landfill.
Comments from Plachko that were included in a Coal Region Canary article were apparently included in that letter.
“We’re trying to assist in your fight,” Miller said.
Council President Thomas Dempsey said Saint Clair will draft a letter that echoes Portland’s comments and her concerns and send it with his signature and that of Mayor Richard Tomko to DEP and Schuylkill County’s elected officials in Harrisburg.
TRUCKING SAFETY VIOLATIONS:
- Judge Tells Owner of Unsafe Trucking Company: “Stay Far, Far Away from Burma Road”
- New Jersey Trucking Company Fined for Safety Violations During BRADS Landfill Inspections
- NJ Trucking Company Cited Over Concerning Violations at BRADS Landfill
👉 FOR COAL REGION CANARY’S COVERAGE OF BRADS LANDFILL, FOLLOW THIS LINK
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