Throop conditionally approved an expansion for a renewable natural gas plant at the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, establishing seven conditions intended to safeguard the community.
Borough council recently held a special meeting to consider a conditional use application for the Assai Energy facility at 1150 Marshwood Road, which is inside the Keystone Sanitary Landfill property, to expand into an adjacent lot as it processes gas from decomposing garbage and turns it into pipeline-quality methane. The plant collects gas from both the Louis and Dominick DeNaples-owned Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Dunmore and Throop and Waste Management’s Alliance Landfill in Taylor and Ransom Twp.
Assai Energy is a subsidiary of Houston, Texas-based Archaea Energy, which was acquired by London-based BP in December 2022.
The borough held a public hearing in March to get public feedback on the proposal.
Council then voted during an April 22 special meeting to approve the conditional use application for the expansion, council President Rich Kucharski said.
“As I understand it, it’s simply an expansion of the existing plant, and some upgrades,” he said.
Throop officials characterized it as the plant seeking to expand by 25%.
In a statement Thursday afternoon, BP spokeswoman Christina Audisho said the proposed expansion will consist of renewable natural gas processing equipment and associated utilities.
“Once online, the new plant will increase the existing plant’s capacity to convert landfill gas into RNG, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing increased fuel for use in homes, businesses and transportation in the area,” she said. ”Archaea Energy looks forward to working with the borough throughout the land development process.”
Prior to Assai applying for the expansion, at the request of a Louis DeNaples company, borough council voted in December to rezone two parcels near the existing Assai plant from light industrial to heavy industrial because the other surrounding properties, including the landfill, were zoned for heavy industrial uses.
According to Dec. 1 and 8 public notices in The Times-Tribune, the borough rezoned about 11.15 acres across two parcels at 1201 Marshwood Road at the request of Quaker Terra LLC of Dunmore. Quaker Terra purchased the land from Marshwood Enterprises LLC of Throop for $3 million, according to a property transaction recorded July 29. A subsequent 30-year lease agreement between Quaker Terra and Assai Energy that went into effect Aug. 30, which was recorded with the Lackawanna County recorder of deeds on Sept. 26, lists Louis DeNaples as the sole and managing member of Quaker Terra.
Although Assai would fall under a permitted use in heavy industrial districts, Throop’s zoning ordinance requires conditional use approval for structures exceeding 30,000 square feet, or projects that disturb more than 80,000 square feet of earth.
The seven conditions council established for approval include: 90-day notification to the borough for any other landfill gas to be processed at Assai, other than gas from Keystone or Alliance; that Assai provides Throop with copies of the reports that it is required to submit to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as part of its air quality permitting, including annual compliance certification and semi-annual monitoring reports; giving Throop copies of any notices of violation or consent decrees received by the DEP or U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including any corrective actions; requiring that Assai encloses a proposed new flare to minimize the presence of a visible flame, with a designated Throop official to receive text notifications whenever the facility uses its onsite burn-off flare, along with informing Throop anytime it exceeds permit limits; and that Archaea will prepare and submit a landscaping plan to the borough under its land development.
Kucharski called the conditions additional, appropriate safeguards.
The Assai plant operates by piping in landfill gas from both the Keystone and Alliance landfills, which use networks of pipes extending down into their waste piles to draw the gas out of the ground.
Landfill gas is composed of about 50% methane, 50% carbon dioxide and water vapor; small amounts of nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen; less than 1% hazardous air pollutants and volatile organic compounds, which can react with sunlight to form smog; and traces of inorganic compounds, including pungent-smelling hydrogen sulfide, according to the EPA. Hydrogen sulfide produces a rotten egg smell often associated with landfills. As a condition of Assai’s air quality plan, the facility cannot allow malodors to escape its property.
Assai purifies the landfill gas until it contains more than 94% methane and then injects it into UGI’s distribution system.
Kucharski characterized the expansion as a “win-win for everybody” because the landfills will produce gas from their decomposing garbage regardless.
“It’s taking this out of the atmosphere,” he said. “From what we’re told, the gas going into the pipeline, it can heat over 100,000 homes and, hopefully — ideally — bring the cost of the natural gas down.”
Assai previously received approval in August 2023 from the DEP to expand its landfill gas processing from 20,000 standard cubic feet per minute to 25,000 — enough to inflate a nearly 298,000-cubic-foot Goodyear Blimp in just under 12 minutes.
Assai also previously applied with the DEP in December for its expansion, but the agency sent the application back “for lack of necessary information such as land approval letters regarding expansion,” the department said in March.
There have been no stormwater management or land development permits submitted or issued, which is the next step to begin construction, Throop zoning and code enforcement officer Andy Hegedus said in an email Thursday.
Conditions for Assai
In approving the Assai Energy plant’s conditional use application, Throop Borough Council established seven conditions. Those are:
1. Ninety-day notification to the borough for any other landfill gas to be processed at the approved facility from another landfill other than Keystone Landfill (Dunmore/Throop) and Alliance Landfill (Taylor/Ransom).
2. Assai Energy LLC will provide electronic copies of reports submitted to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) required in the facility’s air permit, in accordance with Title 25, Part I, Subpart C, Article III, §127.511(c). Reports include annual compliance certification, semiannual monitoring reports, and annual emission inventory, if required. Copies of these reports shall be provided to Throop borough within 30 days of the applicable due date of each report to PADEP.
3. Assai Energy LLC will provide any copies of notices of violations or consent decrees received by PADEP, or EPA, if applicable. Copies of any corrective actions submitted by Assai to PADEP shall also be provided to Throop borough.
4. The proposed new flare for Assai 2 shall be enclosed to minimize the presence of a visible flame; further, Throop borough shall designate at their discretion an individual to receive text notifications from the facility whenever the onsite burn-off flare is in operation. Additionally, Assai 2 will inform Throop borough anytime it exceeds their permit limits.
5. Archaea will prepare and submit a landscaping plan in compliance with Section 5.02 – General Standards, Part L – Vegetation and Street Trees, of the Throop Borough Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (“SALDO”) to the borough planning commission for review and comment under its land development.
6. The applied-for premises remain subject to compliance with Zoning Ordinance and SALDO for the land development.
7. The conditions are intended to provide information exchange between the applicant and the borough on third-party permits, not the basis for independent enforcement actions or revocation of the conditional use. In the event of disputes or concerns, the borough and applicant shall consult with one another and if there is still a dispute with regard to conditions the borough may request the Court of Common Pleas to compel such information, reserving to the applicant the right to defend.