Yukon residents oppose expansion of landfill and new toxic waste dump
YUKON, Pa. (KKA) - Residents in Yukon, Westmoreland County say they don't want to see an already massive landfill nearby get bigger.
The company that owns the facility is asking the state Department of Environmental Protection to OK a permit to expand the facility and allow a new toxic waste dump.
The company wants to dump untreated toxic waste in a new $14 million state-of-the-art containment area and it's safe. Residents say they've heard that before and they don't trust the company nor the DEP.
To give you an idea of how big the Max Environmental Yukon landfill is: it's about 160 acres or as large as 121 football fields.
The company is asking the DEP to allow them to construct an additional 14-acre state-of-the-art hazardous waste containment area between Mill Bell Road and Spring Street.
One of the big concerns is the waste will not be pretreated with other chemicals that will neutralize it. The company told residents at a recent public meeting the process is safe. Residents, however, say they're already dealing with health problems they say are a result of living near the dump, especially dust from the landfill that blows over the town. They're also worried about the chemicals getting into the water.
"My mother is laying in bed right now with myasthenia gravis, my dad just had a kidney removed from cancer, I have a nodule on my thyroid," resident Colette Korber said.
"All the pollutants -- arsenic and everything, and I don't think they can keep it contained," Korber added.
"How do we know it's not seeping into the water and my grandchildren have to drink that water?" said Rose Dzubak.
Max Environmental Technologies general manager Carl Spadaro said while he understands residents' worries over the expansion, people living near the landfill will not be harmed by it.
Spadaro said the proposed 14-acre landfill expansion will involve the storage of harmful chemical waste but it will be treated with substances rendering it safer and the actual containment area will be a state-of-the-art layered landfill and its contents will not threaten the water table nor drinking water of residents.
The company also says it's doing its best to mitigate dust from the sprawling 160-acre site. Spadaro also took exception to claims that the landfill has already threatened the health and welfare of the residents of Yukon.
"We have empathy and sympathy for people that have health problems but we don't believe that we are responsible for anyone's adverse health effects. There've been previous studies done several years ago by the Pennsylvania Department of Health in the Yukon area and there was never any exposure pathway found from site operations to individuals, residents and whatnot. So while we have empathy and sympathy for people's health problems, we don't feel responsible for any of that and we take every measure possible to make sure that we're running a compliant and safe operation."
Spadaro also says the company wants to continue a dialogue with residents that are concerned and that they're very early in the permitting process.
Another public meeting is planned for later this month.
