The following article has been submitted by County Councilman David Marks about a meeting to discuss a new discharge permit for the Days Cove rubble landfill.
On Tuesday, September 16, the Maryland Department of the Environment will hold a hearing at 5 p.m. at the Perry Hall public library to consider a new discharge permit for the Days Cove rubble landfill.
The landfill is located at 6425 Days Cove Road in White Marsh. The location is on top of a hill in a peninsula surrounded by Department of Natural Resources property.
It takes concrete, brick, and other masonry debris, as well as materials such as wall coverings, roofing materials, and plumbing fixtures. The permit would allow for a discharge of an average of 12,500 gallons per day of treated leachate.
To view the full permit, visit https://mdewwp.page.link/wwpportal. At that Web Site, search for State Number 19DP3782.
I would like to thank the Gunpowder Riverkeeper for alerting us to this proposal. To the best of our knowledge, we received no notification from the state government or the private operator. The lack of communication is an issue, since according to the neighboring community association, there have been no regular meetings since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eastern Baltimore County is linked to the tributaries and rivers that feed into the Chesapeake Bay, yet some of our most sensitive shoreline is very close to the highest concentration of landfills in the region. The most visible is the Eastern Sanitary Landfill. Baltimore County has proposed expanding the height of this landfill to add more than three million tons of additional capacity. There is also the Honeygo Run landfill on Philadelphia Road, which handles more than 1,000 tons of waste per day, or more than 250,000 tons annually.
It is this intense concentration of landfills and dumps that prompted my office to strongly oppose an organic recycling facility planned for another location on Philadelphia Road. In the fall of 2022, under community pressure, PEH Organics Recycling, Inc., announced that it would not be leasing the property at 11235-11239 Philadelphia Road for a composting facility.
I urge the community to learn the facts about the Days Cove proposal by attending the meeting on Sept. 16
