GVC Opposes the Days Cove Rubble Landfill Discharge Permit

DaysCove_Riverkeeper_Map

Our Waterways Need Your Voice

The Gunpowder River and its tributaries connect us to the Chesapeake Bay. And yet the Bird and Gunpowder Rivers host three landfills along their shores. Earlier this year, Days Cove Rubble Landfill in White Marsh applied to Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to revise its discharge permit. On September 16th, over 150 people showed up to the public Permit Hearing to share their opinions.

Now through October 22, 2025, you have the opportunity to join the conversation by submitting a statement to MDE. Thank you again to Gunpowder Riverkeeper for calling the permit to our attention, requesting the hearing, and providing the suggested text below.

Click here to view suggested language for an effective comment

Gunpowder Valley Conservancy (GVC)’s testimonial in opposition to the permit

Good evening. My name is Lindsay Crone, and I am Executive Director of Gunpowder Valley Conservancy.

We urge MDE to deny the proposed Days Cove Rubble Landfill permit and strengthen it to meet the criteria laid out by Gunpowder Riverkeeper.

This weaker permit allows more pollution with less oversight and abandons the promised treatment upgrades. This would be a major setback to the Gunpowder, which already is battling three landfills on its shores, a superfund site, a recent onslaught of mud from a development and is preparing for an Amtrak project. We. Cannot. Go. Backward.

Days Cove Rubble Landfill has shown that without attentive oversight they will do harm. From January 2024 to April 2025, 123 alleged violations for pollutants were logged without consequence. The landfill’s own reports show pollution levels 221% over legal limits for arsenic, 122% over legal limits for copper, and more than 1,200% over for legal limits suspended solids. These are not minor slips. These are dangerous levels of contamination flowing into our rivers.

The people and animals who depend on and enjoy these waters deserve better. The Bird and Gunpowder provide critical habitat for fish, crabs, bay grasses—like the Atlantic Sturgeon. At the rate at which this river is being destroyed we are quickly approaching a river in which our children cannot swim, our dogs cannot drink, and no one would dare eat a crab from. And this is not hyperbole—we already are warned not to swim 48 hours after rain, which is already an unacceptable and shameful standard.

Weakening protections now would undo decades of progress.

If you share this concern, I invite you to raise your hand — let’s show MDE we stand together.

Bottom line: This landfill is already harming our rivers. MDE should not issue a weaker permit. We need a stronger one, with strict enforcement, to hold this facility accountable. Thank you.

Submit a Statement to MDE

You can still make a difference! Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) is accepting statements through Wednesday, October 22nd in regards to the Days Cove Rubble Landfill Discharge Permit. Please refer to State Discharge Permit 19DP3782 and NPDES Permit MD0071587

Your correspondence should be sent to Mr. Paul Hlavinka, Chief, MDE Industrial Stormwater Permits Division

  • Call (410) 537-3631 or 1-800-633-6101
  • Email paul.hlavinka@maryland.gov
  • Write to address provided in sample letter below

Please feel free to use the following text to personalize your statement to MDE:

Maryland Department of the Environment, Water and Science Administration

Attn: Paul Hlavinka, Chief, Industrial Stormwater Permits Division

1800 Washington Blvd

Baltimore, MD 21230-1708

Re: State Discharge Permit 19DP3782 and NPDES Permit MD0071587

My name is *** and my address is ***. I have lived in 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 (fishing, swimming, crabbing, birding, boating, kayaking). I am concerned that my interests (property, recreational, environmental, and/or aesthetic) will be harmed and therefore oppose the MDE State Permit 19DP3782 and 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 total maximum daily load (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 within the critical area
  • Require monitoring of PCBs and iron
  • Require that all discharges count towards the total nitrogen volume of permit. This includes discharge that is trucked to Back River or applied as dust suppressant