By Amy Batista, Special Writer
The township has made public records requests and is waiting for information to be supplied before making any decisions about a proposed hazardous waste treatment facility in Falls Township, Pennsylvania, which might impact their residents as well as many others.
”I have a letter prepared to send off,” said Mayor Craig Wilkie at the Jan. 7 council meeting. “As we know, last month (Township Administrator) Richard (Brook) brought us up to date about that.”
The council on Dec. 17 unanimously approved a resolution to oppose the hazardous waste treatment facility being proposed by Elcon. It wants to construct and operate the commercial hazardous waste treatment facility at 100 Dean Sievers Place to treat liquid waste from the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.
The site is near the former Fairless Steel Works in Falls Township, just north of the Tullytown Landfill.
According to information posted by the League of Woman Voters and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the groups have reviewed the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection files at the Norristown Hazardous Waste Management Office through Right to Know laws and have found “the Elcon application plans include treating 210,000 tons of raw wastewater per year that will include mercury, cadmium and lead. The treatment process includes incineration that will produce over 39 tons of air emissions containing, among other pollutants, nitrous oxide, ammonia, hydrochloric acid, volatile organic compounds, sulfur oxide and total particulate matter,” according to the Florence Township website.
The public comment deadline on the proposed facility was extended from the end of January after concerns were raised about a According to a letter sent to the hazardous waste facility siting team leader at the Pennsylvania DEP Southeast Regional Office on Jan. 8, a concern was raised that the “limited extension over a holiday period allows little substantive time to accomplish a thorough review of a proposal that could seriously impact residents of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.”
”They gave us a whopping extension till Friday (Jan. 9),” Mayor Wilkie said. “Great.”
He said the township did an Open Public Records Act request, and Tullytown said the amount of information requested “was so voluminous that they won’t be able to give it to you until Jan. 21.”
”Really ridiculous,” the mayor said.
”So we’ve drafted a letter — as long as council is still opposed to it, I assume you’re still opposed to it, — saying ‘come on, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, give us a break,’” he said. “No. Tell us no if you are not going to give us a chance to review it.”
A letter also was sent to communities in Burlington County, once again requesting their help.
Even though someone from Florence Township would go to Falls Township to pick up the documents, “we need a reasonable amount of time to evaluate the information,” the letter said.
According to the DEP, one of the purposes of the Phase 1 siting criteria is to examine the “location of hazardous waste treatment facilities based on the proximity of such things as area water supplies, wetlands and flood hazard areas.”
Florence Township operates several public wells that are not located far from the Delaware River. These drinking wells could be severely and, possibly, irreparably impacted by a chemical hazardous waste treatment facility, according to the letter.
Florence Township also is concerned about the “lack of clear and qualified information regarding materials to be accepted for treatment, air emissions and discharges to the Delaware River. The DEP cannot determine that a chemical hazardous waste treatment facility could meet siting criteria without closely examining these quality of life concerns in a thorough manner that allows for substantive public involvement,” according to the letter.
”At the Jan. 7. council meeting, the Township Council and I reaffirmed Florence Township’s strong opposition to the proposed liquid hazardous waste treatment facility in Falls Township,” Mayor Wilkie said. “We urge the DEP to deny Phase 1 siting approval for the hazardous waste treatment plant. Residents in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania should not have to be worried about their health and the future well-being of their family members as a result of commercial hazardous waste facility.”
For more information about DEP’s waste program, visit www.dep.state.pa.us; keyword: waste management.
