Site History
With the start of the Industrial Revolution, the nation had an ever-increasing demand for the energy to light and heat our cities, fuel our factories and build the standard of living we enjoy today. One of the principal sources of energy for the Industrial Revolution was anthracite coal that was found in great abundance under the Lackawanna Valley. Beginning more than 150 years ago, deep-mine operators began removing coal from veins beneath Alliance's property. By the late 1930s, deep mining gave way to strip mining and its telltale culm piles. The property began to resemble the surface of the moon.
Early in the 1950s, the property was used as an unregulated dump. Refuse was dumped into unlined mine pits where it was exposed to the weather and left to create untold contamination. As regulations became more strict, dumping operations on the site ceased and the mine spoils and waste pits were left alone and became overgrown. Construction of the current landfill began in 1986. Alliance Landfill was purchased from its private developer in 1996 and became a part of Waste Management during a 1998 merger of USA Waste and Waste Management.
In an effort to further environmental protection, as Alliance Landfill is developed the contents of the decades-old waste pits are being relocated onto our liner system and the mine spoils are being used as fill, eliminating them as a source of acid mine runoff.