After several Steel City residents vocally complained again about noxious odors in their neighborhood at last week’s Lower Saucon Township Council meeting, council agreed to send a letter to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to ask for additional help with investigating the ongoing issue.
In an emailed response to township and IESI Bethlehem Landfill officials Tuesday, Solid Waste District Supervisor for DEP’s Waste Management Program and Operations Compliance Enforcement, Dean J. Fisher, said his agency is now on the case.
“PADEP (Air Quality and Waste Management Programs) is currently responding to reports of strong offsite gas odors in Steel City and the area of IESI PA Bethlehem Landfill,” Fisher said.
The source of the odors remains a mystery, although residents have been advised to report them by calling the DEP whenever they smell them.
The residents who spoke at the meeting Wednesday expressed frustration with the call-in process, which they said hasn’t yielded tangible results. As a result, some residents have stopped calling to report the bad odors, they said.
Steel City lies on the north side of a ridge that separates it from IESI Bethlehem Landfill, which is located on Applebutter Road in Lower Saucon Township.
