Update: Comment Period for Days Cove Rubble Landfill Permit has been Extended
The comment period to voice your opinion on the Days Cove Rubble Landfill Discharge Permit has been extended by 30 days. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) is now accepting public comments until October 22nd. More information on both the permit and how to write an effective comment letter can be found on this page.
Please join us on September 16th at 5:30 PM for a Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) hearing on the Days Cove Rubble Landfill Discharge Permit at the Perry Hall Library, 9685 Honeygo Boulevard, Perry Hall, Maryland 21128.
The Gunpowder Riverkeeper asserts that MDE should deny the current permit because it is weaker, not protective of water quality and the facility’s compliance record is of concern. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database, Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) Exceedance Report database, the Facility has 123 alleged violations between January 2024 and April 2025 for Biological Oxygen Demand And Trivalent Arsenic with no enforcement from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE).
Clearly, public support is needed to strengthen the Days Cove Rubble Landfill permit. As written, the new permit is weaker and has the potential to exceed the “pollution diet” or Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay as set by the EPA in 2010. According to the draft Permit, the permit application seeks to increase the pollution diet of nitrogen to 366.42 lbs/yr, which is just under the Chesapeake Bay TMDL limit of 380.5 lbs/yr.
To account for this increase, MDE is allowing an “allocation” of the unused nitrogen loads from two nonoperational facilities with expired permits that are 8 to 12 years old and the nitrogen load from one current unused permit from Days Cove that has been unused since 2013 (because the treated leachate wastewater was formerly sent to Back River for treatment. According to the draft permit, doubling the flow by 12,500 gallons per day will increase the total annual nitrogen load to 2,648.3 lbs/year. Of particular concern is that he draft permit provides no specificity as to how the Landfill will account for the additional 2,281.88 lbs/year created by the increase in volume other than a vague reference to “treatment, re-use, recycling, land application, and trading.”
This permit condition would allow the potential to increase in the amount of nitrogen flowing into the basin from Days Cove raising concerns about potential for eutrophication and related algal blooms and further impairments to the Gunpowder and Bird River basin that currently supports spawning habitat for 26 species of finfish, and is protected under designated uses as: a fish and shellfish (crabs) nursery ground, Submerged Aquatic Vegetation(SAV) habitat (aka: bay grasses that support ecological function) and recreational waters.
The draft permit weakens limits on ammonia and total discharge volume. Importantly, the permit that is being renewed, expired on December 16, 2018 and has since been administratively continued by the Maryland Department of the Environment. Promised plans to build a reverse osmosis treatment system at the facility to treat the leachate to drinking water standards have also been withdrawn since the application stage.
Of particular concern is that in 2024, the receiving waterbodies, (Gunpowder and Bird River segments) were not fully supporting ecological function, were listed as hosting Endangered Aquatic Species, (likely Atlantic Sturgeon) and that the water quality is currently impaired by nutrients. Based on the facility’s compliance history, MDE should only issue a stronger, revised permit with an enforceable consent decree to address past, current and future violations for the following reasons:
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database, since 2023, the Facility has self reported exceedances over permit limits of:
- 131% over permit limits for alpha-terpineol
- 221% Trivalent Arsenic
- 65% Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD)
- 122% over Copper
- 100% over Nitrogen
- 51% over Zinc
- Limit violation for pH
Additionally, the facility has also reported Benchmark Threshold exceedances of 1, 230 % for Total suspended solids and 760% for Iron. These numbers could indicate potential problems at the site from instances because stormwater pollutant concentrations exceed levels that could adversely affect receiving water quality.
If you can’t attend the hearing, please send in a comment opposing the permit:
Contact: Mr. Paul Hlavinka at (410) 537-3631 or 1-800-633-6101, or by email at paul.hlavinka@maryland.gov
or write:
Maryland Department of the Environment, Water and Science Administration
Attn.: Paul Hlavinka, Chief, Industrial Stormwater Permits Division
Reference State Discharge Permit 19DP3782 NPDES Permit MD0071587
1800 Washington Blvd.
Baltimore, Maryland 21230-1708
Here are some suggestions on how to send an effective comment:
My name is…My address is…I have lived on the area for X years;… I use the waters in, around, or in close proximity to the Days Cove Discharge for recreational pursuits, such as, (list all that apply) fishing, swimming, crabbing, birding, boating, kayaking and am concerned that my interests, such as, (list all that apply) property, recreational, environmental, and/or aesthetic, will be harmed and therefore oppose the MDE State permit 19DP3782, NPDES Permit MD0071587 as written. Please strengthen the permit to protect my interests and:
- Deny an increase in discharge volume and Ammonia concentration at the plant and at discharge
- Deny an increase in Nitrogen discharge* above the TMDL cap using credits from close facilities with expired permits.
- Require a no discharge alternative for the facility.
- Require Biomonitoring so plant performance can be assured
- Require that leachate is treated to a drinking water standard
- Require Weekly grab samples, (instead of monthly) and require annual inspections
- Require that the discharge not occur in a swale in the critical area
- Require PCB monitoring of discharges
- Require monitoring of iron
- Require that all discharges, whether trucked to Back River or applied as dust suppressant are counted towards the total nitrogen volume of permit.
- Require the applicant to assess water quality in receiving waters ** (for instance and MDE is using a buoy 8,584 feet from the receiving water to characterize salinity, pH, Dissolved Oxygen and temperature which inform permit conditions).
