Pre-trial testimony in Bethlehem Landfill suit to stretch into third day

EASTON, Pa. — Court hearings to determine whether eight people and several local institutions can sue Bethlehem Landfill and Lower Saucon Township continued Friday.

The group is seeking to revive conservation easements that would block the landfill's proposed expansion.

Eight township residents plus St. Luke's Anderson Campus hospital, the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor and Bethlehem Township are asking the court to revive a pair of 1994 conservation easements protecting about 200 acres in Lower Saucon Township.

Much of that land, currently a forested hillside along the Lehigh River, is on track to become an 86-acre expansion of the Bethlehem Landfill.

Township Council voted last year to void the agreements, which specifically prohibit landfills on the protected land.

The lawsuit, brought by county residents in August 2023, argues that the council lacks the authority to do so.

But before Judge Abraham Kassis gets to the question at the heart of the case — whether the Lower Saucon Township Council had the power to remove the easements — he first must decide whether each participant in the suit meets the legal threshold to join.

Eager to move Friday's proceeding along, Judge Abraham Kassis urged the attorneys to stick narrowly to the issue of standing.

"We're getting to the point where I feel like we're having the actual trial right now," Kassis said. "Counsel, we need to stay focused."

Despite his efforts, testimony on the issue of standing will stretch into a third day.

'An experiential gap'

Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Executive Director Claire Sadler testified for more than two hours Friday, emphasizing that the proposed landfill expansion could affect the D&L Trail and the Lehigh River.

The area protected by the 1994 easements is among the three largest remaining forested areas along the Lehigh River, Sadler told the court, which provides environmental and other benefits.

She testified that the formerly protected land is visible from a section of the D&L Trail used for the D&L RaceFest.

The planned landfill expansion would negatively affect the trail experience, she said, and potentially reduce the number of people who use it.

"I feel like it would be an experiential gap" if the currently wooded area became a landfill, Sadler said, and removing the easements runs counter to the group's mission.

Gretchen Peterersen, an attorney representing St. Luke's Hospital Anderson Campus in the case, argued that the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor is mentioned by name in the easements, giving it a clear right to intervene in the lawsuit.

Bethlehem Landfill attorney Maryanne Garber countered that the easements reference the corridor area, not the nonprofit that runs it.

The organization as it exists today is separate from the organization that oversaw the corridor in 1994, she said.

At the time, she argued, the body that oversaw the corridor declined to take on an official role in the easements, which would give the corridor the right to object to their removal.

Sadler again will take the stand when the hearing resumes, followed by Bethlehem Township Manager Doug Bruce.