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Members of the Citizens Environmental Association argue that reopening the Tri-County landfill will cause radioactivity to flow into Wolf Creek, a tributary of Slippery Rock Creek.
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Strong opposition voiced to Grove City landfill proposal

Bob Batz Jr./Post-Gazette

Strong opposition voiced to Grove City landfill proposal

The Tri-County Landfill in Grove City, Mercer County, closed in 1990 and speakers at a hearing on a new permit for the facility were unanimous in their desire to keep it that way.

“This is not your father’s landfill,” said Jane Cleary, a member of the Citizens Environmental Association of the Slippery Rock Area, and one of more than two dozen people who spoke at the state Department of Environmental Protection hearing in opposition to reopening the landfill last week.

Like many of the others, Ms. Cleary said reopening the landfill, located 60 miles north of Pittsburgh near the Grove City Premium Outlets mall and the Grove City Airport, will cause problems with odors, truck traffic, bird-plane collisions, odors, and water and air pollution.

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She said the landfill owner, Edward R. Vogel, also is seeking to increase the 40-foot height of the old landfill to more than 100 feet. He also wants to expand the one-time municipal trash landfill to take in residual waste, a classification that includes construction waste, acid mine drainage sludge and radioactive oil and gas drilling waste.

“The radioactivity from gas drilling cuttings and fracking can’t be removed,” she said, addressing the DEP officials and more than 200 attendees on Wednesday. “That will create leachate that carries radioactivity and flows off the landfill and into streams, including Wolf Creek, a tributary of Slippery Rock Creek.”

Mr. Vogel, vice president of Vogel holdings Inc., a family-owned business that operates a handful of landfills and several waste hauling operations, did not attend nor  speak at the hearing, and did not return a phone call Thursday seeking comment.

According to a DEP fact sheet, Tri-State operated from 1950 through 1990, took in approximately 1.5 million cubic yards of municipal trash and covers 44.5 acres. The proposed landfill would dispose of up to 4,000 tons of waste daily off-loaded from more than 600 trucks, operate six days a week, 24 hours a day and have a footprint of more than 79 acres. It could operate under the permit for 10 years.

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Timothy McGonigle, a Mercer County commissioner, said reopening the landfill could also unearth long buried toxic wastes, and noted that Tri-County accepted wastes in the 1950s and 1960s from the same sources as the nearby Osborne landfill. In 1982, Osborne landfill was declared one of the 50 worst toxic dump sites in the U.S. and was later declared a federal Superfund site.

“The DEP should deny a hazardous landfill in this residential community,” he said.

Stephen Shields, manager of the Grove City Airport and a pilot with more than 20 years of flying experience, said the landfill he called “Trash Mountain” is located less that 1.5 miles from the airport’s runway, much closer that Federal Aviation Administration rules allow because of the danger posed by bird-plane collisions.

“If Trash Mountain is allowed to reopen, jet owners at the airport will move their aircraft elsewhere to avoid bird strikes,” Mr. Shields said.

“I’m very concerned. This permit should be denied,” said Carman DeRose, general manager of the 117-store Grove City Premium Outlets, which could be impacted by the additional truck traffic and odors.

Dawn Basil said if approved by the DEP, the proposed landfill will destroy Grove City families, schools, the airport, businesses and families.

“We need to stand up to the family business that wants to destroy all the families sitting here,” she said.

The DEP will continue to accept public comments until Nov. 1. Within 45 days of the hearing it will publish a response document addressing the questions and comments raised during the public comment period.

To make a comment or ask questions about the permit, call Joel Fair, DEP environmental engineer manager at 814-332-6841, or by email at jofair@pa.gov

Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983. Twitter: @donhopey.

First Published: October 18, 2019, 1:00 a.m.

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Members of the Citizens Environmental Association argue that reopening the Tri-County landfill will cause radioactivity to flow into Wolf Creek, a tributary of Slippery Rock Creek.  (Bob Batz Jr./Post-Gazette)
Bob Batz Jr./Post-Gazette
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