The company that owns a landfill in Elk County where a waste slope failure resulted in a death earlier this year has agreed to a $600,000 civil penalty, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced Friday.
On Feb. 8, Advanced Disposal landfill employee William Pierce of DuBois was trapped –– and later died –– following a slope failure at the Greentree Landfill in Kersey. An estimated 15.5 acres of solid waste shifted and an estimated five acres of solid waste slid off the lined disposal area.
Pierce, who was operating a large compactor, was found dead two days later inside the vehicle under the trash. Other workers escaped.
Advanced Disposal agreed to the DEP’s consent order, said Mark A. Nighbor, vice president of marketing and communications at Advanced Disposal.
“We continue to mourn the loss of one of our team members and since the date of the accident have been working with the DEP and OSHA to resolve the issues surrounding the accident,” he wrote in an email to The Era on Friday. “We thank the DEP and OSHA for their focused and professional efforts and our team continues to work closely these agencies to comply with the corrective actions outlined in the Consent Order and worker safety.”
In addition to paying $600,000 for violations, Advanced Disposal must submit a “root cause” report to the DEP on or before Dec. 31 that details the company’s investigation and conclusion in relation to the cause of the slope failure.
Advanced Disposal has also agreed to operational changes that are intended to improve safety. Those include limiting municipal sewage sludge and approving non-hazardous waste with flowable characteristics to 10 percent of the monthly scaled tonnage with a maximum of 15 percent of the total scaled tonnage on any one day until the slide has been remediated and limiting municipal sewage sludge and approving non-hazardous waste with flowable characteristics to 15 percent of the monthly scaled tonnage with a maximum of 20 percent of the total scaled tonnage on any one day for three years after the slide has been remediated.
Also as part of the agreement, the company would remove and dispose of waste outside the lined area of the landfill by March 31, 2018; improve its odor control plan; and employ an individual or individuals to serve as the primary engineering and environmental compliance contact for the landfill.
“The agreement provides additional stipulated penalties if Advanced Disposal fails to comply with its obligations in a timely manner,” state officials said in a prepared statement.
