Residents, environmental activists and local officials say they’re fed up with mud and odors emanating from the Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill in Rostraver.

They’re also concerned about radioactive materials they say are present in leachate resulting from waste material the landfill accepts from fracking sites.

Rostraver Commissioner John Lorenzo, speaking Thursday at a virtual press conference hosted by community advocacy group Protect PT, said trucks from the landfill have been tracking mud onto adjacent Tyrol Boulevard, causing many motorists to avoid the road. He speculated that departing trucks may not be “staying in the wash bay long enough.

“It’s disgusting that surrounding communities have to deal with this,” Lorenzo said. “It’s been a nightmare with this landfill, regardless of who has owned it over the years. We’d love to have our community be able to address issues with them.”

Protect PT Executive Director Gillian Graber said 70% of 110 residents who responded to a recent survey by the group reported seeing landfill “sludge” on roadways and 37% feel their family’s health is being negatively affected by the site.

Neighbor Debby Fought said a gaseous odor wafting from the landfill can cause a burning sensation in residents’ eyes.

Spokesperson Ro Rozier said the landfill’s operator, Noble Environmental, has a “commitment to the highest environmental standards.”

Rozier said the landfill staff “mitigate immediately” when mud is tracked from the site during wet and rainy conditions, adding that “recent and significant rain and snow prompted us to bolster existing infrastructure to ensure mitigation of these concerns going forward.”

Rozier said the mud is not hazardous. And, contrary to information presented at the press conference, maintained there is no radioactive waste at the landfill. “Any waste that would be deemed hazardous through onsite radiation detection equipment or laboratory analytical testing would not be disposed of within the landfill,” Rozier said.

John Stolz, a professor of environmental microbiology at Duquesne University, said he found radium-226, a radioactive isotope that produces radon as it decays, when he tested samples of leachate from the landfill and sludge from the Belle Vernon Municipal Authority sewage treatment plant.

“Radium-226 has a half-life of 1,600 years,” Stolz said. “This stuff is going to be around forever.”

Landfill leachate had been taken to the Belle Vernon plant for treatment until June 1, 2019. The district attorneys in Washington and Fayette counties obtained a court order ending the practice, following concerns that the material had become untreatable and was threatening water quality in the Monongahela River.

Protect PT and others are concerned about potential environmental and health impacts of proposals to treat and evaporate leachate at the landfill and to convert methane emissions from the landfill into compressed natural gas.

The organization in June filed objections to the evaporation plan with the state Department of Environmental Protection and requested a hearing on the proposed project.

Opponents have expressed doubt about the landfill company’s ability to safely conduct the new processes, citing its record of past environmental violations.

Noble Environmental and the DEP last year entered into an agreement requiring the company to pay $24,000 to resolve outstanding violations and to take corrective measures to properly dispose of leachate liquids generated by oil and gas waste deposited in the landfill.

The Westmoreland County commissioners in October agreed to have the county redevelopment authority apply for a $1 million state grant, on behalf of Noble, to help with the $10 million cost of the methane conversion system.

County Commissioner Doug Chew, a former biochemist who visited the landfill last summer, said he feels “pretty comfortable” about the methane conversion process. “The three mechanisms they have for scrubbing the gaseous mixture that comes out of the landfill were sufficient to remove the bulk of impurities,” he said.

Chew said he’s not sure the leachate evaporation plan would work at the landfill.

“I’m not convinced they have the wherewithal to follow the spirit as well as the letter of the regulations that exist for these types of facilities when they have a hard time keeping mud off the roadway,” he said.

Chew said he hopes to meet quarterly with Noble officials to keep tabs on how the company is addressing community concerns about the landfill.

Lorenzo and Belle Vernon Mayor Gerald Jackson are among those arguing that state environmental oversight of the landfill is insufficient.

Spokeswoman Lauren Fraley said the DEP “understands the frustrations raised by residents and has required the landfill to take numerous short, medium and long-term measures to improve operations, reduce the nuisances it creates and become compliant with environmental regulations. While the landfill is working on corrective actions to address past violations, it is responsible for any new violations found by DEP.”

She said the plan for the proposed evaporation system is under review; the DEP is awaiting more information from the landfill.

In response to residents’ concerns about possible radioactive materials, Fraley said, DEP’s Bureau of Radiation Protection on Jan. 6 found that mud tracked from the landfill “meets background levels.”

Graber said Protect PT will continue to watch conditions surrounding the landfill and offered to conduct air quality monitoring for residents.

Visit protectpt.org/air-quality for details.

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