Phase II Application Submitted For Proposed Elcon Facility

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) confirmed Thursday that Elcon Recycling Services submitted their Phase II application for a proposed hazardous waste treatment and storage facility that would sit not far from the Delaware River in Falls Township.

The state DEP said the submission gives them 90 days to determine if the detailed application is “considered administratively complete.” The state regulators will look at the submitted application and move forward to a technical review if the paperwork is sufficient.

“If the application is incomplete, it will be returned with a letter citing deficiencies. The applicant may resubmit the application, restarting the 90-day administrative review process. If the application is deemed administratively complete, it will undergo a technical review. It is during the technical review that full details of the proposed operations and design will be evaluated,” according to a DEP statement.

“Our review of any material submitted by Elcon will be rigorous and thorough, and we intend to be transparent in all aspects of our review,” said Acting DEP Southeast Regional Director Anderson Hartzell.

A DEP spokesperson said the Phase II application will be posted online at this site. As of 6 p.m. Thursday, the information was not yet available online.

Hard copies of the application will be available for public review at the DEP’s office in Norristown, Montgomery County, the Levittown Library off New Falls Road in Bristol Township and the Westampton Branch of the Burlington County Library in New Jersey.

DEP officials said public meetings and hearings are in the works.  

Click here to read past Elcon coverage

Elcon wants to construct the hazardous waste treatment facility at 100 Dean Sievers Place in the Keystone Industrial Port Complex.

Here’s how Elcon explained their plan in a public notice from last month:

Elcon will use environmentally sustainable technology that is more eco-friendly than other liquid waste treatment technologies on the market today because zero liquid waste is discharged by the process and significantly lower solid waste is generated. The organic waste is transformed into energy that is sustainably used in the process. Elcon’s technology is not an incinerator, and it will not use solid or liquid waste incineration. Volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutant emissions will be controlled through a thermal oxidizer to meet the federal EPA and Pennsylvania’s air regulations. This technology is commonly used throughout Pennsylvania and the country because of its effectiveness and reliability.

Last year, Elcon officials said the development of the proposed facility will occur outside wetlands and the flood of record. The facility is proposed for  22 developed acres of a larger 33 acre property.

Opponents to the plan from Pennsylvania and New Jersey have pointed out that the site is not far from the Delaware River and poses a drinking water risk. They also have raised concerned over the fact that large tanker trucks would travel on local roads to get to the proposed facility. The trucks would potentially carry hundreds of chemicals in untreated water sent to the facility.

“The proposed facility has tremendous opposition from the community for the pollution and hazards it would cause,” Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper and leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said Thursday evening.

Supporters of the project has cited an increase in jobs for the plant and construction while opponents say the facility isn’t worth the risk.

“Elcon is still claiming that the facility is a mile away from the Delaware River, but you can easily check any map and see that the facility would be less than half a mile away from Biles creek, a tributary of the Delaware River. We also know from Elcon’s own Wetland Delineation reports that there are wetlands on the Elcon site that are hydrologically connected to Biles Creek. This information from Elcon is clearly deceptive and inaccurate. Why would we allow a company to bring hazardous waste into the community when they are lying about something that can be so easily fact checked and debunked,” Fred Stine of the Bristol Borough-based Delaware Riverkeeper Network said.

Elcon has been looking to construct their facility in Falls since 2014. After public outcry, they altered their plan in 2015 to remove a pipeline that would supply water purified by their sanitation process to nearby businesses.