Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill
This landfill produces significant health and environmental impacts to nearby residents in Rostraver, Monessen, and Belle Vernon.
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Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill (WSL) has been the subject of five Consent Decrees with the DEP in the past six years. The latest decree dealt specifically with the leachate problem that exists at the landfill.
Leachate is the water that naturally drains out of landfills as a result of rain falling on the landfill and the liquid contents of the refuse leaking out and flowing away from the site. In the case of WSL, this leachate is radioactive and contains multiple hazardous chemicals because WSL accepted drill cuttings and other unconventional gas well waste into the landfill.​
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Neighbors surrounding the landfill are experiencing myriad health impacts, as well as the nuisance of air, water, and noise pollution. ​
WSL applied for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to discharge treated landfill leachate into the Monongahela River on June 17, 2024, which provides drinking water for residents across the region.
The DEP released a draft of the permit on February 14, 2025. The leachate at the site is radioactive and dangerous to human health, and WSL's extensive history of violations creates great cause for concern for their ability to effectively treat this highly dangerous leachate.
The DEP held a public comment hearing on March 20, 2025, to allow residents to share their comments regarding the potential issuance of this permit.
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​Protect PT is working to prevent this permit from being issued.
Download our PowerPoint
Read Protect PT's Comment
Download our Fact Sheets
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Recent Updates: Increased Air Pollution
The May 23, 2026 issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin contained a notice that the Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill (WSL) had applied for a “minor modification” of their air permit to allow additional air pollution. This application was submitted “to 'determine whether additional options can be explored regarding off-site final treatment' and to 'explore the potential, if the leachate can qualify, for it to be disposed via the site's direct sewer connection.’”
What WSL is proposing is additional equipment to treat their radioactive leachate, which will create additional air pollution, in order to be able to send this leachate into their sewer line, which flows to the Belle Vernon Water Authority.
This is particularly egregious because in 2019 the WSL was the subject of a preliminary injunction and finally a consent order prohibiting WSL from disposing of leachate into the Belle Vernon Water Authority’s sewer line. Belle Vernon and the district attorneys of Westmoreland and Fayette Counties brought this lawsuit against WSL because the landfill’s radioactive leachate was killing the beneficial bacteria in the waste treatment plant, which required the water treatment plant to shut down, denying clean water to the people in those areas.
Now WSL wants to resume this disposal process and the DEP is allowing it despite how the landfill has previously placed the waste treatment plant and the clean water of the residents living in this area at risk.
Recent Updates: NPDES Permit
WSL's Reapplication for a Title V Permit
In late 2024, WSL has reapplied for a Title V Air Permit. This permit will allow the landfill to continue operating, endangering the surrounding communities. Protect PT wrote a comment to the PA Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) to encourage them to hold a public hearing regarding the issuance of the Title V Permit. Read the comment to the right to learn more.
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Why WSL's Title V Permit should NOT be renewed:
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It would allow increased pollution in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas while attempting to avoid local responsibility
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Because WSL continues to create a nuisance by permitting uncontrolled fires and dispersing noxious odors, dust, mud, and dirt outside the boundaries of the landfill
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Because there is no present, viable plan for dealing with the radioactive leachate present and accumulating at the landfill
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WSL is presently in violation of a November 2023 Consent Order issued by the DEP, indicating a propensity to violate DEP regulations and permit fugitive air emissions from open-air contaminated liquids
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Because the permit application does not aggregate and consider changes in emissions from the Monessen Coke Works in compliance with federal regulations
Improperly covered waste at Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill July 2020. Picture taken by resident.
Resident Impacts from Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill
My only enjoyment was sitting outside on the porch. I can’t even do that because of the smell. My quality of life is terrible. I have no quality of life here. I’m an asthmatic. So are half my neighbors. We can’t open our windows to get fresh air. We’re prisoners in our own house. ~ Carol
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I have garbage that flies into my yard and trees because of the landfill. The smell keeps my family and I inside most of the time because we can't enjoy the outside of our house I worked so hard to get because of the trash and horrific smell! The "air neutralizer" has not helped at all we feel. Thank you for listening. ~ Charlie
Why Residents Are Concerned about the Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill
Learn More About Leachate
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