TOWANDA - The Northern Tier Solid Waste Authority (NTSWA) is proposing a 22-acre expansion of its 46-acre landfill in West Burlington Township, which would extend the life of the landfill approximately 30 years, the executive director of NTSWA said.
Unless the expansion goes forward, the landfill will run out of space in eight years, said Scot Sample, executive director of the NTSWA.
A rough estimate of the cost of the expansion is $12 million or more, Sample said.
"This is a big expansion," Sample said. "It will be worthwhile. Over time it will pay for itself."
The expansion would take place on a 26-acre parcel that the state deeded over to NTSWA at no cost over a year ago for the expansion project, Sample said. The parcel had been part of State Gamelands 289, he said.
State Gamelands 289 borders part of the landfill property, and the 26-acre parcel is located just west of the existing landfill, Sample said.
In exchange for the 26 acres, NTSWA has deeded over 112 acres of land next to the landfill to the state, so that it could be incorporated into the gamelands, he said.
The 112-acre parcel was vacant land and it was not located over the landfill itself, he said.
The 22-acre expansion will be developed in phases over time, and it will be double-lined, as required by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, he said.
Both layers of the lining will be 60-millimeter thick high-density polyethylene (HDP), he said. "It's pretty thick stuff," Sample said.
As part of the expansion project, the two oldest sections of the landfill - Field 1 and Field 3 - will be rehabilitated, Sample said.
Field 1 and Field 3, which total up to less than 10 acres, are single-lined, because that was all that government regulations required when they were constructed in the 1980s, Sample said.
As part of the expansion project, the trash in Fields 1 and 3 will be removed and relocated to another section of the landfill, and the liners in Fields 1 and 3 will be removed and replaced with double liners, Sample said.
The rehabilitation of Fields 1 and 3 will provide a net gain of landfill space, which will contribute seven of the 30 years of added life to the landfill, he said.
Sample explained that when Fields 1 and 3 were developed, people did not recycle the way they do today, he said.
Some of the trash that was in Fields 1 and 3 will therefore be separated out and recycled, he said.
In addition, "there is probably a large amount of dirt (that was used in Fields 1 and 3) that we can screen out and use as cover," he said.
Also, the sloped walls of Fields 1 and 3 will be replaced with much more steeply sloped walls that are allowed in double-lined landfills, which will increase the volume of trash that the two fields can hold, he said.
After Fields 1 and 3 are rehabilitated, the entire landfill will be double-lined, Sample said.
There have been no leaks in Fields 1 and 3, Sample said.
"We've never had any kind of problem with them (Fields 1 and 3), and we don't anticipate any," he said. "But we think that it (the rehabilitation) is ... a benefit for the environment."
Other costs
Part of the cost of the expansion is that NTSWA will be required by the DEP and Army Corps of Engineers to create two acres of wetlands to replace wetlands that will be lost in developing the 22-acre addition to the landfill, Sample said.
"A bunch of little sections of wetlands," which total up to less than one acre, will be lost when the 22-acre addition is developed, he said. The new wetlands will be created on land that NTSWA owns a few miles away from the landfill, he said.
As part of the deal with the state, NTSWA acquired the mineral rights on the 26-acre parcel, and the state acquired the mineral rights on the 112-acre parcel, he said.
Also as part of the deal, NTSWA is turning over to the state the signing bonus that it received on its gas lease of the 112-acre parcel, he said. "I think it (the signing bonus) was $446,000," Sample said.
Other costs of the expansion include excavation work and the double liner for the 22-acre addition, he said.
Sample said he expects the cost of the expansion will pay for itself in several years through the tipping fees that the landfill brings in.
While the cost of the expansion is substantial, it is far less expensive than constructing a new landfill at another location, which could cost $100 million, he said. "All the infrastructure (associated with the landfill) is here. All the landfill facilities are still here," he explained.
He said the cost estimate for the expansion is still "rough."
The engineering firm that NTSWA has hired to work on the expansion is still working on developing a better cost estimate, which should be available within a month, he said.
The proposed expansion has been approved by the board of directors of NTSWA, but the project must still be approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Sample said.
Getting the permit approved by the DEP is "an involved process," as it will require the plans for the expansion to be reviewed by the DEP's solid waste, air quality, and water quality divisions, Sample said.
"It will probably be a three-year process before the permit gets approved," he said.
Therefore, it could be three years from now before the work on the expansion will begin, he said.
On Thursday, the Bradford County commissioners voted to write a letter of support for the landfill expansion, which will be included in NTSWA's application for the permit from the DEP.
Formed in 1973, NTSWA serves Bradford, Tioga and Sullivan counties.
James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or email: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com.