Waste material OK’d for Hazleton mineland
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Waste_material_OK_rsquo_d_for_Hazleton_mineland_12-13-2010.html
Waste material OK’d for Hazleton mineland
A company spokesman sees job creation, but a critic fears a hazardous waste dump.
STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com
HAZLETON – The state on Monday approved the use of waste material from coal-fired electric generation plants as fill for some abandoned mineland in southern Luzerne County.
Edwardsville-based Hazleton Creek Properties began the controversial reclamation project five years ago at the 277-acre site bounded by state routes 93, 309 and 924.
Some have opposed using certain types of fill at the site, believing they could harm local water supplies.
Hazleton Creek Properties spokesman Frank Keel said the privately funded reclamation project is arguably the most vetted of its kind in the state. He is sure the application was thoroughly examined and reviewed by the state Department of Environmental Protection and looks forward to the project moving ahead.
“Not only will the HCP project provide much-needed jobs for Hazleton area residents, it will also safely reclaim one of the most dangerous abandoned mines in Pennsylvania and turn it into developable land that will spur the local economy and create still more local jobs,” Keel said.
Todd Wallace, acting director of DEP’s Bureau of Waste Management, said the work will improve public safety and the environment by eliminating about 1.2 miles of dangerous highwalls and reducing acid mine drainage.
Under the terms of the permit, Hazleton Creek Properties will use up to 550,000 cubic yards annually of a mixture of dry flue gas desulfurization waste and coal ash to reclaim 53 acres of the site.
Dry flue gas waste is produced when a lime powder spray mixes with sulfur dioxide emissions in the air pollution control systems of coal-fired power plants.
“This permit will allow Hazleton Creek Properties to begin reclaiming a portion of the site and return it to productive use,” Wallace said.
The project does have detractors.
Bill Lockwood, president of local environmental group Save Us From Future Environmental Risk (SUFFER), said he was not surprised by DEP’s approval, given the agency’s past approval of other site permits despite opposition from environmentalists and some elected officials such as state Rep. Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township.
“It looks like instead of being the future site of an amphitheater, it’s going to be nothing but a hazardous waste dump,” Lockwood said.
A spokesman for Eachus, who has vehemently and vociferously opposed the use of dredged and other materials as fill from the project’s inception, did not return a call seeking comment.
This is the fourth permit regulating fill that DEP has issued. Since 2006, Hazleton Creek Properties has been using regulated fill material such as concrete, bricks, blocks and dredged material to build rail sidings and access roads, and to cap two old landfills at the site.
Two other permits issued this year authorize Hazleton Creek Properties to accept dredged materials, coal ash, and cement and lime furnace dust, as well as crushed construction and demolition material for use as fill.
Hazleton Creek Properties applied for the flue gas desulfurization permit in June. DEP held an informational meeting Aug. 31 and accepted public comment through the end of September.