Letter to voters for November 2 Supervisor Election

 


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Waste Management holds informational meeting to promote rezoning proposal rejected two years ago

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  A week ago, Waste Management sent a mailer to the citizens of Pen Argyl, Wind Gap and Plainfield Township, extending an invitation to an informational meeting on June 21 st to explain a request that Plainfield Township expand its solid waste zoning district by 211 acres so that Grand Central Sanitary Landfill may install a second landfill across Pen Argyl Road from the existing one. Waste Management Mailer, inviting citizens to attend meeting to explain proposal that was officially rejected two years ago  Missing from Waste Management’s invitation, and related materials on its website, is the fact that this request was officially rejected almost two years ago in a 3-0-2 vote on July 8, 2020 by Plainfield Township supervisors following discussion at two lengthy in-person public meetings.  No modified request has been submitted.  The supervisors who voted against expansion are all senior natives of this area – they are not what some refer to as “transplants” from N...
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Election topic: The Mysterious Black Box Known as Green Knight Economic Development Corporation, a Non-Profit Land Development Company

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  In 1999 Waste Management wanted to burn landfill gas from Grand Central Sanitary Landfill, and sell the electricity generated to the grid.  It created the Green Knight Economic Development Corporation (GKEDC).  Landfill spokespeople said that this entity was designed to be "apolitical".  A consequence of this is that Board members of GKEDC are not appointed by the three communities that GKEDC is supposed to represent: Pen Argyl, Wind Gap and Plainfield Township.  Originally, there were to be three Board members representing and living in each of the three communities.  Soon after inception, however, GKEDC changed its own charter so this was no longer a requirement.  Today, five board members live in Plainfield Township, one in Wind Gap and two in Pen Argyl.   There have been eight board members since two resigned four years ago during the Synagro sludge plant public relations disaster, and only one replacement was appointed by autonomous Gr...
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Election Topic - the Economics of a Landfill, the Importance of Avoiding Conflict of Interest, and Who's Garbage is That, Anyway?

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The financial stakes for the planned closure of Grand Central Sanitary Landfill as it consumes the last available portion of space that was carefully planned and zoned for solid waste disposal are huge.  Let's look at 2009, the latest year for which statistics are publicly available for the amount of waste generated by Northampton County, disposed of in the landfill. The Northampton County Municipal Waste Management Plan 2010-2020 shows that in 2009, 43,046 tons of municipal solid waste generated in the county were disposed of at GCSL.  The Plan also shows that tipping fees received by GCSL were $105 per ton. For that year, Plainfield Township records reflect that 371,290 tons of solid waste were disposed of in the landfill.  Since the landfill operates roughly 5-1/2 days a week, this works out to 1298 tons per day.  At $105 per ton, the 2009 average daily income for an operating day is $136,290, and the income for 2009 is $38,985,450. It should be noted that in 2009...
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