Editor's note: The story has been corrected to note the DEP Environmental Hearing Board ruled against the appeal.

For the past few years, people living in the Grove City area have been working to try and stop a waste landfill from reopening after it closed back in the 90s.

From pollutant concerns to a nearby airport being a potential roadblock, the DEP Environmental Hearing Board ruled against citizens' appeal for the permit. This means the landfill company now has the green light to set up shop, but residents aren't giving up.

"It's a beautiful little town that is now going to have a trash mountain hovering over top of it," said Dawn Baselj of Pine Township.

On top of radioactive fracking waste concerns, Grove City's Airport is just 4 miles from the site. With fears the landfill would attract birds, potentially causing engine failure, airport employees, people living around town and the Citizens Environment Association of the Slippery Rock Area attempted to appeal the company's permit.

"The Department of Environmental Protection isn't protecting our community," Baselj told 21 News. "Instead, the wealthy person that had all the lawyers won and now our small community is going to pay the price to have this trash mountain in it."

On January 8, the State's Environmental Hearing Board ruled in favor of the landfill. This means Tri-County can now operate the waste landfill on 99 acres in Liberty and Pine Townships.

CEASRA Director Jim Highland told 21 News Thursday the state cares more about money than citizens' well-being.

They sent us this statement saying they believe they have a good case of new information to fight this battle:

"Tri-County Landfill in Mercer County may soon be bringing radioactive fracking waste to Grove City. Granted a permit by the Department of Environmental Protection in December 2020, the landfill has been in the court for three years – unable to open. The Citizens’ Environmental Association of Slippery Rock Area (CEASRA, Inc.) along with Liberty Township filed an appeal in January 2021 with the DEP Environmental Hearing Board and the judges finally announced their decision last Monday, January 8, 2023. They ruled in favor of the landfill.

However, with a Right–to–Know request and two file reviews at the DEP, the citizens recently learned many facts that had been kept secret during the last few years. They hope to use this new information to continue their fight to preserve their community. The CEASRA Executive Board met last night and voted to take this appeal to the next level into the Commonwealth Court. CEASRA will hold a public meeting soon to answer community questions, and to ask residents to invest in the future of the area by supporting the appeals.

Vogel Holdings owns both Tri-County Landfill and Seneca Landfill in Butler County. The Seneca Landfill is one of the most radioactive landfills in the state, according to the DEP’s own 2016 TENORM study. Seneca Landfill dumps the leachate from the landfill into the Connoquenessing Creek, with radium-226 twice as high as would be allowed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Plans are to dump the radioactive leachate from the Tri-County Landfill into nearby Black Run, which flows through a local brewery and Keystone Safari. Endangered species at Keystone Safari can drink directly from the creek. Most residents in the area have well water and are concerned that their wells could be contaminated.

Liberty Township and CEASRA have another appeal before the EHB to overturn the plans to put the radioactive leachate into the creek. Leachate is the liquid that is created when rain moves through the garbage, picking up radioactive elements like radium and uranium. Radium-226 has a half-life of 1,600 years – so the effects of this decision will be felt for centuries.

There is a glut of radioactive fracking waste in Pennsylvania. Rather than shipping the waste to hazardous waste sites in the nation, the oil and gas drillers have been allowed by the DEP to dump the waste into municipal landfills across the state. Residents believe legislators should step forward to keep radioactive wastes out of local communities." -Jim Highland, CEASRA Board

But options and time may be running out for those wanting to put a stop to the landfill.

"My prayer is that it won't go through," Baselj added. "That someone will stand up and say it's more important to save the town and environment and people's health."

As CEASRA does plan to appeal the board's ruling, Highland told 21 News an upcoming meeting is in the works to establish their plan of action moving forward.

The tentative dates include Wednesday, January 31, or Thursday, February 1.

The next step for residents will be to take the fight to the Common Wealth Court.

Click here to view the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board's court records on the landfill.