An eastern Baltimore County landfill that angered local residents with its request for a “trash juice” permit has struck a deal with the state to close within eight years, according to the terms of a new lease.

The lease agreement between Days Cove Rubble Landfill and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is awaiting approval from the state’s top spending board, meaning the timeline for closure is not yet final.

The landfill, a 114-acre construction waste site, sits inside Gunpowder Falls State Park in White Marsh on land that it has leased from the DNR since 1986.

Its previous lease agreement ran for 10 years and expired Monday. The arrangement has been lucrative for the state, which has collected around $20 million in lease payments over the past three decades

But the facility faced a fierce backlash and calls for closure in recent months as it sought a new state environmental permit that would allow it to release around 25,000 gallons of treated leachate a day into tributaries of the Gunpowder River.

That provision of the proposed permit , which would more than double the daily discharge allowance under its existing permit, has been withdrawn by the operator, said Jay Apperson, spokesperson for the Maryland Department of the Environment, in an email Wednesday.

The permit application remains under review, and a final decision from MDE is expected after the new year. The updated permit will include additional monitoring and evaluation requirements, Apperson said.

Also known as “trash juice,” leachate is a potentially toxic runoff formed as rainwater seeps through waste in a landfill.

The new lease does not specifically address the community’s concerns about leachate discharge. But it does provide, for the first time, a hard deadline for shuttering the landfill, following decades of complaints from local residents about the environmental impact.

Under the agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The Banner, the operator, Days Cove Reclamation Co., may continue to accept waste at the facility for five more years.

It must then spend up to three years capping, closing and restoring the site as recreational parkland, or face a penalty of $5 million.

“There shall be no further extensions to the Lease for operation of the Landfill and closure beyond December 18, 2033,” the agreement reads. It adds that the operator will pay for the closure and cleanup work.

“It’s a huge win for the east side, and an example of government working,” Republican County Councilman David Marks said. “The Bird River and the Chesapeake Bay will be healthier because of this decision.”

The lease requires final approval from the Maryland Board of Public Works, made up of Gov. Wes Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Treasurer Dereck Davis.

The agreement was initially set to go before the board on Wednesday morning. But after around 200 community members submitted written comments, many of them seeking stricter environmental protections in the lease, the matter was postponed.

DNR spokesperson Gregg Bortz said in a statement that the delay will give the agency more time to negotiate with the operator over the community’s concerns.

“DNR remains committed to closing and capping the rubble fill in 8 years or less, as the current proposed lease would do,” Bortz said. “The draft lease includes specific language that would not enable it to be renewed as it had been under previous administrations. We want to make sure the lease provides a seamless transition of the property into public use.”

The board will next meet Jan. 7, and the lease is likely to be reintroduced in early 2026. In the meantime, the landfill will continue to operate under the terms of the previous lease, Bortz said.

Days Cove Reclamation Co. did not respond to a request for comment.

The agreement requires the operator to pay the state 12% of its gross revenue as rent over the next five years, which DNR projects will total $3.75 million. It must also pay an additional $40,000 per year.

The money goes towards DNR’s Forest and Park Reserve Fund, which supports the purchase and management of state parks, forests and other public lands.

The towering rubble landfill abuts waterways long used by Baltimore County residents for swimming, boating, crabbing and fishing. Local residents say the facility, along with two other landfills that operate nearby, have contributed to a steady erosion of recreational and economic life in their communities.

Calls to close Days Cove Rubble Landfill intensified in recent months, following an outcry from residents, community leaders and elected officials over its new leachate permit.

The facility has been cited 20 times for exceeding pollution limits, resulting in a $15,000 fine from MDE in 2023. Apperson, the MDE spokesperson, said the landfill is currently in compliance with its existing permit.

Two local environmental watchdogs, the Gunpowder Riverkeeper and the Gunpowder Valley Conservancy, requested that the lease require a comprehensive environmental study assessing the landfill’s impact on local waterways and homes.

The groups also asked either to compel the operator to treat its leachate to drinking water standards or prohibit it from discharging its treated leachate. Until April 2023, the landfill trucked its waste to Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Essex.

“We commend the decision to move toward closing the landfill and recognize the proposed five-year operating lease as a compromise in response to strong community calls for immediate closure,” Lindsay Crone, executive director of the conservancy, said in a statement. “However, closure alone is not enough. This landfill must be closed safely and responsibly, with long-term, enforceable protections for water quality, public health, and the surrounding environment.”

In response, Apperson said the state cannot require a facility to eliminate discharge entirely.

“There is no evidence that the discharge is harming aquatic life or interfering with recreational use of the river,” he said. “Discharge to surface waters is an authorized option, and no applicable water quality standards support a complete prohibition.”

Many community members said the new lease does not go far enough in addressing their longstanding environmental concerns. Some said they’d like the facility to close sooner than eight years from now.

Kathy Martin’s family has lived on the Oliver Beach waterfront, just downriver from the site of the Days Cove landfill, since the 1940s. She said longtime residents, including her nonagenarian mother, Vera Reiner, have heard promises of the landfill’s closure for decades. None of them have materialized.

“We’re tired of getting dumped on,” Martin added. “Now’s the time to fulfill the promises to the community.”