In December 2020, the supervisors of Lower Windsor Township unanimously rejected Republic’s bid for a new landfill because, in their words, they felt they needed to be good stewards of the land and nothing the landfill offered compensated for the additional footprint required. Unable to respond directly to the supervisor’s logic, Republic Services have retaliated by frightening the residents with untruths combined with plausible deniability (it’s not us saying this. . . ) in a way that would make Vlad Putin proud.
Questionable Mailings
In June 2021, most residents of Lower Windsor Township received a mailing from “Lower Taxes for Lower Windsor” asserting that the township supervisors were planning to raise taxes, and asked for phone numbers and email addresses and whether the residents were in favor of higher taxes. The person, group or corporation responsible for the mailing was obscure as they were hiding behind a PO Box number, however the style of photos (e.g., smiling models in uniforms) on the flyer was similar to those in recent emails from Republic.
Misleading Web Site
Around the same time as the mailing, a web site went live. The website is registered to a proxy company, which is a method used when the owner doesn’t want to be identified. There’s no other reason to use a proxy. Coincidentally, the address of the proxy company is 4 miles from Republic Services’ corporate headquarters in Phoenix, AZ.
The website has only one page. On a background photo of rolling hills and scenic farmland (ironic because this is what Republic proposes to destroy) there is another plea to sign a petition and send personal information. [Click to View Website Screenshot – Website Screenshot 2]
The main claim offered on the website is that Lower Windsor Supervisors have an unacceptable plan to raise taxes, and “Taxes on the average home would increase from $2734 a year to $9244 under the proposed tax hike.”
Well, that’s a shocker – a completely unexpected 238% property tax hike. $6510 more dollars out of the average homeowner’s pocket each year! Of course, this is a completely unknown source putting words in the supervisors’ mouths, so the first thing to do would be to check with the supervisors to see if this is so. However, not everybody has the supervisors’ cell phone numbers.
Fortunately, anyone with a mastery of third grade math can check to see if this even remotely makes sense. The web site author is suggesting that the reason for the tax hike is to replace the annual tipping fees that will no longer come from Republic if it closes up shop in 4 years. Republic, in its emails and literature, says these fees currently amount to $900,000 per year. There are about 3000 residential units in Lower Windsor Township. Using Republic’s numbers, let’s see if the alleged tax hike is adequate to replace the tipping fees from Republic:
$6510 X 3000 = $19,530,000
Yes, that just about covers the tipping fees and leaves a little for a supervisor’s convention in Vegas.
Now, once again using Republic’s numbers, let’s use a bit more advanced math to see what kind of percentage increase in property tax would be necessary to completely replace the tipping fees:
$900,000 / 3000 homes = $300 $300 X 100% / $2734 = 11%, NOT 238%
Using numbers supplied by Lower Windsor Township in their November 2020 survey, (the township should have a better grasp on their own budget numbers than Republic does) the percentage increase comes out to 7%.
We can all stop hyperventilating now.
Still, it would be nice if there would be no tax increase at all. The supervisors have publicly stated this is their wish and there are no current plans for a tax increase. Suggestions have been offered that would on paper accomplish this in the long run. On top of that in the last few months, $260,000 of cost savings, that is ¼ of annual tipping fees, have been identified by the township through sharing the police department with E Prospect borough and savings on some insurance policies (a few details yet need attention on the latter.) The minutes of the 12 August 2021 Board of Supervisors’ meeting, item #4 in Public Comment, [Click to view – page from 8-12-2021 Minutes] document an additional $200,000 potential savings from asking a few residents to mow their own road frontage. This is a great start, and because the $900,000/year income from tipping fees won’t disappear for 4 – 5 years the township has plenty of time to figure it all out.
In addition, the Republican nominee for supervisor in the Fall election is a finance guy, is the CEO of a large concern and comes with budget management experience that the township has rarely if ever had on their staff, so we’ll have the skills to pull this off.
The vast majority of municipalities in PA don’t have a landfill and most of them manage to balance their budgets without overuse of property taxes. We’ll do fine. No 238% tax hike. Maybe none at all.
Misleading Facebook Page
The mysterious entity “Lower Taxes for Lower Windsor” has also established a Facebook page. There is very little actual information on the page. Every few days a new post comprising fancy graphic art goes up. Initially it was vacuous slogans telling you what to think, e.g., “Quit handing over your home to higher taxes!!” or “Balance the scale! Lower our taxes!” More recently it consists of scare tactics regarding the amount of taxes to expect. An example from “the man behind the curtain” appears below and yes, 576 pounds of coffee is about $6510. Same story as their web site. It’s called the “Illusory truth effect.” Keep repeating false information and some folks will believe it’s true. [Click to learn more – Illusory truth effect – Wikipedia]
Another scare tactic on the Facebook page is the claim that supervisors plan to make this 238% increase in taxes (it’s really 7% maximum, probably much less if any) effective next year so taxpayers must act immediately to stop it. Republic’s proxy offers “proof” of this by directing the reader to the minutes from the October 29, 2020 budget meeting in which the township decides there will be no tax increase for 2021 and the topic will be discussed again at the next annual meeting. First of all, that’s not the same as a plan for a big increase in 2022. Secondly, according to people at the meeting and several newspaper articles, the topic of discussion was not lack of landfill revenue, but how to replace the drop in earned income tax in 2020 due to COVID’s effect on the economy. Earned income tax is a larger contributor to LWT’s budget than real estate tax. Third, by Republic’s own admission, there will be no revenue shortfall from the current landfill for at least another 4 years. Beyond that, LWT has a rainy-day fund of $5million earmarked for landfill issues that could be used to replace the shortfall for at least 5 more years beyond the 4 years just mentioned, so the township has plenty of time to figure out how to proceed and no reason to act for many years. Republic’s sponsored candidate for supervisor appears to have little familiarity with reality. Do you really want this person running Lower Windsor Township?
In its early days the transparency function of the Facebook page identified the owner of the site as Digital Platform Solutions in Dallas, TX. Digital Platform Solutions is a social media marketing company. You tell them what message you want to convey. They spam the internet for a hefty fee.
After residents pointed this out the page ownership was changed to an unidentified entity in the small town of Craley PA, home of Republic Service’s candidate for supervisor in the Nov. 2021 election.
Somebody who doesn’t want to be identified is spending a lot of money on a disinformation campaign and it’s not likely to be a local candidate for supervisor with limited means. Republic Services is the only establishment that would benefit from such an effort, and they have a long history of doing exactly this. [Click to See an Example – Repugnant Practices by Republic Services]
Republic’s eBlasts
An eBlast is a spam-type email marketing campaign.
Since January 2021, Republic Services has, under its own name, sent eBlasts every few weeks to LWT email addresses. Because these are associated with Republic directly, they avoid blatantly obvious untruths and the emails resemble a typical marketing campaign, polishing the company’s image, lots of happy talk, etc. Some examples of their eBlast themes:
- 6/25/21 – WE SUPPORT SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS because we pay taxes.
- Sure, doesn’t everybody, including farmers?
- 5/10/21 – COMMUNITY SUPPORTS MODERN LANDFILL
- Well, yeah, some employees and a few others that are financially compensated directly do, but the rest of us think you’re disgusting.
- 3/3/21 – Modern Landfill has enabled progress and development in this region for nearly 50 years, and continues to believe that the SAFE, RESPONSIBLE development of this project will enable prosperity and ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.
- Wait, what?! Safe? Responsible? Environmental stewardship? Check out the home page articles on this website under “Modern Landfill Today” and report back on that one.
- 2/25/21 – OUR NEIGHBORS COME FIRST!
- A list of 12 organizations that received donations totaling $11,500, representing about 20 minutes of third-party tipping fees paid to Republic, but it’s still nice.
- One recipient was the York County Farm and Natural Lands Trust. One wonders how they felt about accepting that.
- 2/5/21 – Modern Landfill is an integral part of the local economy. . . THE FACILITY RECEIVES APPROXIMATELY 50% OF ALL MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE GENERATED IN YORK COUNTY…
- Modern receives exactly 0% of York County’s MSW from curbside trash. What they may be referring to is that they happily take some of the inert ash from York’s WTE plant, which is what is left after burning MSW, so they don’t have to pay for soil to cover the real trash from New Jersey every night.
- 1/29/21 – Modern Landfill’s economic impact – Modern Landfill pays. . . $900,000 in payments to Lower Windsor Township.
- This represents $0.97/ton tipping fees. Statutory fees of $1/ton (which can be split between municipalities) were required by PA Act 101 of 1988 as compensation to municipalities for damage to infrastructure (e.g., roads and bridges by heavy waste haulers,) loss of income from ruined land, and to cover the costs of future environmental disasters due to the landfill. Accounting for inflation, this fee should be $2.26/ton today. This is not a gift by generous landfill operators to be spent on luxuries. The landfill is a liability to the township. If it did not exist, there would be no need for the fees to compensate for the damage.
In their zeal to boast in their eBlasts about how much money they’ve used to influence certain groups in PA ($500 to Hellam Fire Co, $500 to Wrightsville Fire Dept., etc.,) Republic reports “almost $10 million in state-mandated tipping fees over the last two years,” and tips their hand on a secret weapon they have over local residents. As do many other multibillion dollar corporations that operate controversial businesses (e.g. fracking, Facebook, pharmaceuticals, etc.,) Republic employs lobbyists, and their investment has paid off. For many years the PA state legislature has defunded PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to the point that today DEP is dependent on the fees they collect from the industries they regulate to stay relevant. In January of 2021, DEP had 2394 filled positions. 18 years prior it was 3311, 38% higher. Republic currently pays Lower Windsor Township $0.97/ton dumped to compensate for the damage to the infrastructure, loss of revenue generating land, and funds for future environmental clean-up. At the same time, Republic pays PA $6.25/ton tipped into Modern Landfill to fund Environmental Protection at the State level (the $10 million mentioned above.) This sets up a perverse incentive system, to the detriment of residents. Not to imply that the rank and file of DEP aren’t doing their best under the circumstances, but closing down Modern Landfill with today’s funding shortfall could result in the loss of a lot of DEP jobs.
Lower Windsor Township’s Answer to the Disinformation
Residents’ concerns prompted the Township to respond to disinformation spread by Republic Services and their proxies. From the 2021 Fall/Winter Newsletter [Click to view – Front Page of Newsletter] and minutes from the August 12 Board of Supervisors meeting, [Click to view – page from 8-12-2021 Minutes] here are some comments from Township officials:
In response to a resident who had heard a rumor we would no longer have a police department if the landfill closed, Chairman Miller replied that the police department was staying. The newsletter stated: This Board has never discussed disbanding or regionalizing our Police Department.
The same resident expressed concern about the huge property tax increase she had heard was coming. Supervisor Schock explained that the township only gets 3% of resident’s property tax to begin with. The Board expressed to please research anything you are being told.
Another resident questioned the newspaper article about raising taxes. The Board said it has not determined if taxes will be going up next year. The newsletter stated: At this time the Board has no plans to raise taxes.
Several residents asked if the questionable mailing had come from the township. In response, the newsletter stated: A mailing was sent out to most residents of our Township from an unknown source, indicating that your taxes will go up considerably and asking that you sign a petition to keep your taxes low. That postcard was NOT sent out by Lower Windsor Township. We do not spend taxpayer money to send out propaganda or false information. At this time the Board of Supervisors has no plan to increase taxes.
Bottom Line
Republic’s misleading lies …pardon… hyperbole over taxes, their attempt to whitewash their environmental record and their claims regarding the dependance the township has on cash handouts are obviously intended to get their candidate for supervisor elected this Fall for an eventual retry to approve their new landfill and make more easy cash off the backs of LWT residents. Republic’s bogus claims are attempts to divert attention from the legitimate reasons the current supervisors stated for making the only decision they could have made as protectors of the health, safety and welfare of their constituents. After 50 years of living with a landfill that has ruined hundreds of acres, destroyed aquifers, and polluted the air and streams, supervisors expressed concern about the consequences to the township of the footprint of a new dump, and felt it was their duty to be good stewards of the land. It’s time for other people’s trash to be their own problem, not ours.
But the Trash Still Has to Go Somewhere, Right?
50 years after Modern Landfill applied for their permit, a vastly superior way of managing trash is making landfills obsolete worldwide. It is now unnecessary to accept the damage to the township that would result from another pile of trash on prime farm soils. Lower Windsor Township’s own Municipal Solid Waste is processed using this proven method, but the township itself suffers from the consequences of garbage from outside York County. It’s time for New Jersey, New York and others to take care of their own waste. The technology is called Waste-To-Energy (WTE).
Read about it here: [Click to View – There are Better Ways to Dispose of Trash]
Or view the summary chart below. Modern Landfill specific information appears in italics:
|
| MSW Landfill | Waste-To-Energy Plant |
| Wells | • Landfills will always leak leachate into groundwater – documented by EPA 1981 & since • Modern Landfill has contaminated at least 7 residents’ wells with known carcinogens and other toxins | • Trash isn’t stored. It goes directly from curbside into the process. No groundwater is contaminated |
| Streams, Rivers | • As a practical matter, PA DEP can only enforce rules the PA legislature allows them to. • Modern has contaminated Kreutz Creek well beyond even the nominal control limits set by DEP for many years | • Because trash isn’t stored, no leachate forms and there is no opportunity to pollute surface waters |
| Climate Change | • Landfills emit methane, 26 times worse than carbon dioxide • Landfills divert carbon neutral fuel from WTE, requiring fossil fuels to be used to generate electricity | • Mostly carbon neutral • Generates electricity without fossil fuels • Closing Modern Landfill and sending the MSW to WTE is equivalent to taking 300,000 gasoline cars off the road |
| Jobs | • Landfills provide jobs • Landfills permanently eliminate livelihoods of farmers and staff. Society needs more farmers and farm land • Modern provides 35 jobs before accounting for farm loss | • WTE plants also provide jobs • Several people living in LWT work at York’s WTE plant. Their earned income taxes support LWT’s budget |
| Footprint | • Typically, 280 acres every 30 years • The land cannot be farmed or built upon for many generations • Cannot be located close to occupied property | • Typically, 15 – 20 acres for a large one • No need to expand to continue processing MSW |
| Transportation | • Often hundreds of miles from source of MSW, requiring handling at transfer stations and long-distance trucking • None of Modern’s MSW comes from York County. Much comes from out of state | • Can be located at the source of MSW, even in cities close to businesses and residential areas. Trash can be processed hours after picking up from curbside |
|
Health & Safety
| • Documented clusters of cancer, respiratory disease, heart disease, birth defects, immunodeficiencies, low birth weight and other dire conditions near landfills • More Superfund sites in PA are landfills than any other facility • Modern has been on the National Priority List of Superfund sites since 1986 | • A 2008 study shows that an average WTE Plant will cause at least 600 times fewer cancer cases and at least 1900 times fewer chronic non-cancer illnesses than an average MSW landfill in the nearby community • As of 2020, no health problems in nearby communities have been associated with modern design WTE Plants |
| Societal Contribution | • Makes trash somebody else’s problem for 100’s of years | • Makes trash go away safely, efficiently and ethically and powers the electrical grid |
The above chart is from a June 8, 2021 presentation by John Bowser, retired President of Compact Membrane Systems. compactmembrane.com During his tenure, CMS received 150 grants to conduct R&D into new products and processes, mostly to prevent the pollution of or to clean up already polluted air, water and soil.
Here’s what a Waste-To-Energy Plant Looks Like
This is Baltimore’s 2250 ton/day WTE plant. Notice the neighborhood trash pickup trucks in line to enter the building and dump the waste directly into the process. Also note the close proximity to occupied space and the tiny footprint compared to a landfill.
To learn more about WTE, read this recent article from York County Solid Waste Authority’s web site:
[Click to View — Scientific Truth about Waste to Energy]
Finally
If you are deciding whether to support Lower Windsor Township or Republic Services on the issue of a new landfill, consider the following:
- There is a much safer, more efficient, more ethical way to deal with trash than the ancient practice of landfilling.
- Be mindful of:
- Who is looking out for the health, safety and welfare of you and your children, and
- What entity, driven by corporate greed, has to make stuff up to capture the hearts and minds of the residents.