EASTON, Pa. — A Northampton County judge has upheld easements blocking a planned expansion of Bethlehem Landfill, the latest legal victory for activists opposing the plan.
In 2023, Bethlehem Landfill put forward plans to build 86 acres of new disposal area on land the company owns along the Lehigh River in Lower Saucon Township.
However, a pair of conservation easements prohibit landfills on more than 200 acres set to house the expansion.
“By releasing the conservation and woodlands easements without court approval, the Township failed to fulfill its obligations as trustee of its interests in the land to manage it for the public's benefit,”Northampton County Judge Abraham Kassis
After Lower Saucon Township Council voted to void the easements at a 2023 meeting, a group of residents filed a lawsuit asking a judge to intervene.
St. Luke’s Anderson Campus hospital, Bethlehem Township and the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor soon joined the suit.
In a ruling dated Monday, Judge Abraham Kassis sided with the activists, holding that an Orphans’ Court judge, not Lower Saucon’s township council, has the power to release the conservation easements.
“By releasing the conservation and woodlands easements without court approval, the Township failed to fulfill its obligations as trustee of its interests in the land to manage it for the public's benefit,” Kassis wrote.
Though Kassis did not block Bethlehem Landfill’s proposed expansion outright, the protected land can't be used for a dump as long as the easements are enforced.
The landfill company may file an appeal challenging Kassis’s ruling; it also may ask the Northampton County Orphans’ Court to void the conservation easements, which would touch off a new legal process governed by the state’s Donated and Dedicated Properties Act.
Representatives for Waste Connections, Bethlehem Landfill’s parent company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The dump is running out of time to complete the planned expansion without closing down.
A recent study from the landfill company found that the Bethlehem Landfill will run out of space for trash in 2028.
