Landfill committee reviews quarterly operations, methane exceedances and capping progress

Lower Saucon Township’s Landfill Committee on July 16 heard quarterly operations data, including monthly waste tonnages, leachate and PFAS treatment volumes, and results of DEP surface‑emission monitoring that triggered corrective actions at multiple well locations.

Aster Lawson, representing the landfill operator, reported that municipal solid waste for April–June ran about 12,100–12,842 tons per month and that out‑of‑state deliveries accounted for roughly 41% of the incoming stream in April, 28% in May and 34% in June. "Our case handles all the routine and non routine maintenance to maximize the landfill gas production and minimize odors," Lawson said while reviewing gas‑collection and flare metrics.

The committee was given plant and flare flow figures for April–June: plant average flow rose from about 2,648 standard cubic feet per minute (SCFM) in April to roughly 3,095 SCFM in June; flare average flows were reported in the 3,200–3,500 SCFM range. Lawson said a planned outage in early May reduced plant operating hours and affected monthly averages.

Lawson also summarized leachate and PFAS‑treatment throughput: April leachate discharge totaled about 597,289 gallons (PFAS plant treated ~593,111 gallons), May about 1.43 million gallons (PFAS plant ~802,370 gallons), and June about 1.17 million gallons (PFAS plant ~758,064 gallons).

Surface emissions monitoring (SEM) by the state on May 12 covered 29 sites (mostly gas‑collection wellheads); 15 locations exceeded 500 parts per million (ppm). The landfill completed remedial work and performed 10‑day rechecks; a May 22 recheck showed seven exceedances and later rechecks left six locations entering the 120‑day corrective action period. Committee materials and staff named the wells entering the 120‑day window — EWSE‑12, EWSE‑13, U‑3, EWSE‑14, HCE, EWSE‑19 and U‑2 — and set a remediation deadline of Sept. 9, 2026 unless an alternate remedy and timeline are approved.

Committee members asked whether some SEM exceedances were driven by active construction. Lawson said the DEP monitoring occurred while crews were laying cap materials in the southeastern construction area, which can temporarily disconnect wells from the collection system and produce higher readings; he said capping and reconnecting wells is a principal remedy and that additional collectors were being installed in some areas.

On the southeast cap work, Lawson said temporary caps were placed earlier and the final cap was completed in late June. "The final cap was officially put down, like, June 26," Lawson said, and staff reported they were placing soil and preparing for vegetation establishment.

The committee also recorded two radioactive loads disposed on‑site during the quarter (April 7: iodine‑131; June 25: technetium‑99) and reviewed enforcement and inspection visits from DEP and engineering consultants across April–June. Aster provided commercial‑vehicle and overweight enforcement totals for April–June and noted ongoing litter‑control, erosion‑repair and daily cover photo requirements identified by inspectors.

Council member Victoria Ophoff Cordero asked staff to obtain and share the DEP PFAS sampling records referenced in an external sampling report and requested follow up from DEP on specific monitoring spreadsheet/map details. Lawson and committee staff said they would follow up with DEP and provide the data when available.

The committee did not take formal votes at the meeting; members were informed that six well locations had entered the 120‑day corrective action process and that staff would submit required corrective‑action plans or alternate remedies for DEP approval by the Sept. 9 deadline.