DUNMORE, PA — The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has denied a formal request from Dunmore Borough officials to permanently station an inspector in Lackawanna County to address persistent odor complaints at the Keystone Sanitary Landfill.
Every member of the Dunmore Borough Council and the mayor had signed a letter to DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley in August, sharply criticizing the department’s odor-reporting process and response times.
According to the officials, response times from inspectors dispatched to odor complaints within the borough can "vary anywhere from 15 minutes to a number of days." This variability, they argue, makes timely confirmation of odor violations nearly impossible.
The DEP's denial means the borough will continue to rely on the current system, despite local leaders pushing for a dedicated presence to ensure faster and more effective regulatory oversight of the highly scrutinized landfill.