CLEARFIELD – Residents of both Lawrence and Boggs townships attended Tuesday’s Lawrence Township Supervisors’ meeting expressing concerns with the proposed Camp Hope Run Landfill, which recently received a permit for construction/operation from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Concerns ranged from the number of trucks that would pass from Interstate 80, along state Route 879 and then up Park Avenue to state Route 153, to the conditions at the site itself, the smell, property values and so on.
Some residents noted that while they were told there would be about 250 trucks per day, there could be more. They also stated that trucks exceed the speed limit along SR 153 now and the additional number of trucks would increase the danger.
There were questions on who would take responsibility for accidents along the route and one resident noted that when the old landfill was operated in the 1980’s, there was a brown stain on the road from I-80 to the dump site from leakage, and there was no way of knowing what was in that liquid.
There was also concern expressed about the numerous application deficiencies that DEP had noted in the past and now there was no word on what happened with those deficiencies.
The supervisors explained that they were not prepared to take any action at the moment and reminded the residents that they had in the past expressed opposition to the landfill.
Township Solicitor James Naddeo added that the county commissioners have already started the appeal process and said that they have a legal precedent under the Delaware Riverkeepers Case as well as the Pennsylvania Constitution, which provides for a clean environment.
The article of the Constitution states: “The people have a right to clean air, pure water and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.
“Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
Naddeo continued by saying that Lawrence Township can file a friend of the court brief in support of the county but does not need to be a party of the appeal itself.
When asked if writing letters to Gov. Tom Wolf would do any good, Naddeo replied that public outcry has been known to have an effect on DEP in the past and that writing to the governor and DEP both would not hurt.
Code Enforcement Officer Deb Finkbeiner added that the documents concerning the landfill, including the permit and listed deficiencies are available on the DEP Web site.