{"id":56116,"date":"2025-12-09T12:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T12:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/56116\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T12:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T12:47:07","slug":"northampton-county-court-ruling-halts-bethlehem-landfill-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/56116\/","title":{"rendered":"Northampton County Court ruling halts Bethlehem Landfill expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Northampton County court decision on a controversial expansion of the Bethlehem Landfill<\/a> puts, for now, a halt to that plan, a lawyer representing township residents said Monday.<\/p>\n

Judge Abraham P. Kassis\u2019 ruling reinstates some 200 acres in conservation easements in Lower Saucon Township, and prohibits them from being released from that designation without approval from county orphans\u2019 court.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge win for all the citizens in Lower Saucon who have fought the expansion at township meetings for years,\u201d attorney Gary Asteak said Monday.<\/p>\n

He said Kassis\u2019 decision protects the land around the landfill on Applebutter Road<\/a>, near the Steel City section of the township, which also abuts the Lehigh River and Bethlehem Township. It also sheds light on \u201cabuses of the prior [township] council.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plaintiffs in the case argued the township removed the conservation easements without court approval when council voted to rezone a 275-acre portion of the landfill in 2023 as part of its expansion plan.<\/p>\n

The council, which in 2023 consisted of a Republican majority that supported expansion, also adopted an ordinance rezoning the expansion property to allow landfills and waste disposal facilities as a permitted use. The council shifted in 2024 to a Democratic majority, with more board members opposed to an expansion.<\/p>\n

Republicans, including outgoing Council member Jason Banonis, defended the landfill, saying it provides a sizable portion of tax revenue<\/a> for the township, making up 35% of its budget.<\/p>\n

But opponents, including those on council, argued a landfill expansion would degrade the area\u2019s health and overall value.<\/p>\n

The judge noted in his decision that Bethlehem Landfill \u201casserts that material issues of fact remain\u201d regarding the landfill, despite Monday\u2019s judgment favoring residents and intervenors. Landfill officials did not return email and telephone messages seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Asteak said Monday he anticipates Bethlehem Landfill will appeal Kassis\u2019 ruling. There has been a flurry of lawsuits by the landfill and opponents, including, Asteak said, one by residents involving a previous council approval over land development plans for the expansion.<\/p>\n

But he said Monday\u2019s ruling is key because, unless an appeal is won, the landfill cannot expand on land that is designated as scenic and environmentally protected.<\/p>\n

Besides several residents listed as plaintiffs, intervenors supporting the residents were St. Luke\u2019s Hospital-Anderson Campus in Bethlehem Township and the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor.<\/p>\n

The landfill was owned by Bethlehem when it opened in 1941, but Bethlehem sold the site, and it became privately acquired in the 1990s. It is owned by Waste Connections of The Woodlands, Texas.<\/p>\n

Contact Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone at asalamone@mcall.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Northampton County court decision on a controversial expansion of the Bethlehem Landfill puts, for now, a halt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,60,1131,182,205,139,434,28,432],"class_list":{"0":"post-56116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-lower-saucon-township","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-northampton-county","17":"tag-pennsylvania","18":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}