IM WANSACZ CommITTEES Pak (717) 7s s056 “Omen ero House of epresertatibes ‘you Free 14772007 COMMONWEALTH F PENNSYLVANIA Ee O P September 18, 2007 Pax eo}250 | Donna Grill, Esq. General Counsel Lloyd's Register North America, Inc. 1402 Enclave Parkway, Suite 200 Houston, Texas 77077 Dear Attomey Grill: 1am writing to you on behalf of my constituents in the 114" Legislative District, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, regarding the pending ISO recertification of the Alliance Sanitary Landfill, ‘Taylor, Pennsylvania. I understand that Lloyd’s Register North America is the Certification Body (CBY/Registrar for Alliance, and that Alliance has asked for a 30-day extension of their ISO recertification which recently expired. While I understand that ISO certification of your clients focuses more generally on management processes than it does on the end product, you must know that it is exactly the end product — toxic and nauseous gas, liquid runoff and its attendant odor, and the attendant flock of birds and their droppings — which has caused life-changing problems for my constituents, all of whom are neighbors of Alliance. Current apparent management practices notwithstanding, you should know - I believe that you do know ~ that in 2002, Alliance was levied a civil penalty of $115,000 by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (DEP) for continuous odor and litter violations, Within a year, Alliance was shut down by DEP for multiple, repeated, and persistent violations of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania environmental policies and regulations. Since their re-start four years ago, the allowed daily tonnage accepted by Alliance has been severely restricted, down from 5,000 ton to 1,200 tons daily. Any apparent success in reducing their harmful byproducts is, | think, directly attributable not to any improved management processes, but rather to the lower volume of waste handled. It's simple, really: less trash, fewer violations. No trash, no violations. Second, you should be aware of pending litigation by Alliance's neighbors ~ “stakeholders” I believe, in ISO terminology. Alliance's neighbors, those most directly affected by the results of their operation, have filed a pending class action lawsuit, Toman etal. v. Waste Management et ® enone on necvereo parenDonna Grill, Esquire September 10, 2007 Page 2 al.; 2003 Civ 964, Lackawanna County, PA, seeking monetary compensation for enormous, long-standing, and continuous damage to their lives, their homes and their property. In addition to this legal action, local residents have filed more than 77 complaints with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection — since Alliance received ISO certification in September 2004. This is what I call local stakeholder feedback. Finally, and this should be most telling, you should know that Alliance only recently responded to requests (most recently, demands) by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) for the installation of additional and more properly placed air monitoring/sampling stations necessary to evaluate the public health impact of their operations. ATDSR is currently reviewing Alliance’s response and, pending that review, they continue to categorize Alliance as “an indeterminate public health hazard.” (Emphasis in the original, copy attached.) Attomey Grill, these folks are not just my constituents, they are my friends and my neighbors. Not one of them deserves to live with the by-products of the Alliance Landfill in their air and water. Not one deserves to look at a mountain of garbage on the hillside overlooking their kitchen window. Not one deserves to live in fear of “an indeterminate public health hazard”. As Lloyd’s Register moves toward completion of Alliance Landfill’s recertification audit, I urge you to take into consideration these important items. All the appropriate management practices and processes on Earth cannot allay the fear of those who must live with Alliance on a dreaded daily basis. I urge you to take into account the facts of Alliance’s impact on its neighbors. I urge you to deny ISO recertification to the Alliance Landfill. Thank you for your consideration Sincerely, State Representative 114" Legislative District ce: Randy Dougherty, Director of Accreditation, ANAB Mike Bedrin, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources Doug Coenen, District Manager, Alliance Sanitary Landfill EnclosureIM WANSACZ COMMITTEES HONE C97 tar atoe Pw ata House of Representatifes Tou. Pree rr 637 COMMONWEAUTH OF PENNSYLVANIA ( = HARRISBURG Prone: (70) 20072 Pax: 7) 847083 September 18, 2007 Mike Bedrin Regional Director Department of Environmental Protection Wilkes Barre, PA Dear Mr. Bedrin: 1 am writing to you today on behalf of my constituents of the 114" legislative District regarding the pending application for expansion by the Alliance Sanitary Landfill. You know of my long-standing position that the Alliance Landfill should close entirely, but the current issue is the expansion of that facility. For many reasons, that expansion should not be approved. As part of your review, I know that you study such items as “stockholder”, or neighbor, input. I know that you are aware that, since Alliance's 2004 ISO certification alone, its neighbors have filed more than 77 complaints with DEP, citing odors, birds, liquid runoff, and other hazards which have been life-changing for those in the shadow of the dump. In addition, there is a pending class action lawsuit in Lackawanna County, Toman et al. v. Waste Management et al,: 2003 CIV 964. In this action, Alliance's neighbors, numbering in the hundreds and potential thousands, are seeking significant monetary compensation the damage which Alliance has done to their homes, their property, and their lives, Finally, as recently as April 16, 2007, the Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry (ATSDR) has “categorized the potential exposure to ambient air contamination in communities near the Alliance Landfill as an indeterminate public health hazard” (Emphasis in the original, attached) based on their on-going refusal to additional and properly-sited air monitoring/sampling stations, ® rawsre0 on ncovcueo parenMike Bedrin September 10, 2007 Page 2 T know that the DEP process is thorough and methodical, and that no piece of relevant data will go unexamined in a critical matter such as this. I urge you, at the end of that Process, to deny Alliance any expansion room, and I further urge you to take whatever regulatory steps are necessary and proper to bring about the ultimate closure of this ‘eyesore and nuisance. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. Sincerely, Qat— Jim Wansacz State Representative 114" Legislative District Ce: Randy Dougherty, Director of Accreditation, ANAB Donna Grill, Esq., Lloyd’s Register North America Doug Coenen, District Manager, Alliance Sanitary Landfill Enclosureoy. i Nae DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Public Heath Service ‘Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Alenta GA 30333, COP im tem Mr. Doug Coenen APA 20 2007 | District Manager Wy Alliance Sanitary Landfill, Ine. i Waste Management P.O. Box 28 398 S. Keyser Avenue Taylor, Pennsylvania 18517 Dear Mr. Coenen: Purpose The purpose of this letter is for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PADOH), to follow-up on discussions that took place during the December 12, 2006 meeting with representatives from Waste Management/Alliance Landfill in Taylor, Pennsyivania regarding possible air emissions from the Alliance Landfill. Present at the meeting on December 12, 2006 were representatives from ATSDR, PADOH, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), Waste Management/Alliance Landfill and Waste Management consultants. This letter puts forth recommendations from ATSDR and PADOH regarding the perceived data needs that are necessary for ATSDR and PADOH to fully evaluate the potential public health exposures of the communities in the vicinity of the Alliance Landfill Background For the past several years, ATSDR and PADOH have worked with PADEP to address ‘community concerns regarding air quality and odor concerns in the Taylor community. ATSDR prepared a health consultation concerning the Alliance Landfill in August 2004 The conclusion in the 2004 health consultation was that no current sampling data existed to identify and quantify landfill-related air contaminants and their potential for any public health exposures in nearby communities. Because air monitoring/sampling data were lacking, ATSDR categorized the potential exposures to ambient air contamination in communities near the Alliance Landfill as an indeterminate public health hazard. Asa result, ATSDR recommended the following actions: conduct off-site ambient air sampling for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), hydrogen sulfide, and particulate ‘matter in the community to evaluate the potential health impact on nearby populations; ensure continued compliance with required landfill gas emission controls and odor- control practices; continue the monitoring of Alliance Landfill to ensure that the impact on the surrounding communities is minimal; and continue to maintain a record of all odor complaints to characterize their nature, location, time and frequency.Page 2 - Mr. Doug Coenen Per discussions with PADEP and statements by Waste Management/Alliance Landfill, Waste Management/Alliance Landfill has taken many remedial actions at the landfill to address the odor complaints since 2004, as well as other actions addressing ATSDR’s recommendations in the August 2004 health consultation. PADEP has installed, calibrated, and maintains an air monitoring station at Keyser Avenue. This station began collecting air sampling data in June 2006, and the results are posted at http://www dep state. pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/ag/toxics/sites/taylor.htm. ATSDR and PADOH provided an email containing a preliminary evaluation of the first quarter of Keyser Avenue air monitoring data on February 20, 2007 to community members, PADOH, with ATSDR’s cooperation, will be evaluating the subsequent quarterly Keyser ‘Avenue air monitoring data as well as any additional data collected regarding the landfill after approximately a year’s worth of air monitoring information is collected and available. ‘The Keyser Avenue monitoring station is at a suitable location for collection of regional/area air quality data; however, ATSDR and PADOH believe that community- based or landfill perimeter monitoring locations are also needed to more fully evaluate public health impacts of possible exposure to air-borne contaminants potentially associated with landfill emissions, The community-based air monitoring stations may also confirm the effectiveness of remedial actions at the landfill that were intended to prevent the off-site migration of contamination to the communities surrounding the site. The collection of this information is necessary in order to more fully evaluate the ‘exposures in nearby communities. December 12, 2006 Meeting ATSDR and PADOH have recommended in prior discussions and again in the December 12, 2006 meeting to PADEP and Waste Management that additional air monitoring/sampling stations are needed to more fully evaluate public health impacts of possible exposure to communities in areas near the Alliance Landfill Recommendations In light of this need for additional air contamination monitoring/sampling information and in order to attempt to resolve the community concerns in a reasonable time frame, ATSDR and PADOH recommend: + Two to four community-based or landfill perimeter air monitoring locations, and cone background air monitoring location, be established; © Each community-based or landfill perimeter monitoring station should collect PMjo, PM2.s, SO2, and H2S and possibly mercury (see below) ‘measurements; © Method detection limits at these community-based monitoring stations should be below health-based comparison values for each chemical of concern; and © Monitoring duration will need to be on the order of several weeks/months.Page 3 - Mr, Doug Coenen + A formal monitoring protocol to include the monitoring program’s objectives, QA/QC measures, monitoring/sampling type(s), sampling duration and schedule, detection limits and health-based comparison values be developed. PADOH, PADEP, and ATSDR should review and comment on this plan prior to its implementation. ‘These recommendations are specific to current landfill conditions. However, if in the future the landfill conditions change, then additional recommendations may be needed. ATSDR and PADOH seek to have additional discussions with Waste ‘Management/Alliance Landfill and PADEP on the following additional issues and needs: © There may be a data gap that exists regarding mercury emissions at the landfill ATSDR and PADOH would like to discuss methodologies that could be used to estimate mercury emissions from the landfill to further assess if mercury air monitoring at the site is warranted. ATSDR and PADOH would like to further discuss the air pollution control ‘measures onsite and the achieved efficiencies of the onsite flaring system. Other topics that should be included in these discussions are methane gas migration, VOC emissions, and combustion by-products. ATSDR and PADOH would like to further discuss community outreach plans at this site, such as the existing nuisance and minimization plans (e.g., responsiveness, thresholds, and action levels). + ATSDR and PADOH would like to discuss how operating information for daily landfill activities might be obtained. This information would be needed to coordinate with any future sampling, efforts. Please call Tammie McRae, ATSDR, at 404-498-0437 if you have any questions. TM de Tammie McRae Environmental Health Scientist The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registrybe: Barbara Rogers, ATSDR Washington Office NCEH/ATSDR/OD Daniel Zeleniak, Borough Manager, Taylor Borough Council ‘Anthony F. Pero, Old Forge Borough Council Kenneth Mickaviez, Taylor Borough Council Ransom Township Board of Supervisors Dr. Benjamin Hoffman, Waste Management The Honorable Paul E. Kanjorski PA, Congressman Bill Tomayko, PADEP ‘Ana Pomales, ATSDR Region 3 Lora Werner, ATSDR Region 3 Dr. Mark White, PADOH Chad Clancy, PADOH Paul Marmo, PADOH (Wilkes Barre Office) Debra Gable, ATSDR Tammie McRae, ATSDR Youlanda Outin, ATSDR EBISAB ATSDR Record Center