Northampton County Council affirms opposition to Bethlehem Landfill expansion

• Northampton County Council voted Thursday to once again oppose the expansion of Bethlehem Landfill, and to seek a role in lawsuits aiming to block those plans
• The 5-2 vote got less support than a similar measure passed earlier this year, 8-0
• Bethlehem Township already joined a suit challenging the landfills expansion, along with the St. Luke’s Hospital Anderson Campus

EASTON, Pa. — Northampton County Council voted Thursday to affirm its opposition to expanding Bethlehem Landfill, potentially letting the county seek a role in ongoing lawsuits that could determine the landfill’s future.

Members voted 5-2 in favor of a resolution opposing the landfill’s expansion.

When plans for the landfill expansion first were going through zoning hearings in March, council voted unanimously to authorize a role in proceedings.

That process ended when a Northampton County judge ruled in May that changes to zoning rules that allowed the expansion and governed the hearings were adopted incorrectly.

The landfill expansion project essentially started over in August, this time with a change to allow landfills by right in parts of the township zoned for light industry — including the land slated to become landfill.

A group of Lower Saucon Township residents living near the landfill asked county council Thursday to reaffirm its opposition to the expansion, and reauthorize its representatives to seek a role for the county in ongoing legal challenges to the planned expansion.

Urging members of the council to approve the measure, landfill opponent Victoria Opthof-Cordero said that because the new proceeding is completely separate from the ones nullified by the court earlier this year, the council needed to affirm their willingness to intervene.

Bethlehem Township already joined a suit challenging the landfills expansion, along with the St. Luke’s Hospital Anderson Campus.