Elcon’s Phase II application to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was returned to the Tuesday due to “deficiencies.”
The DEP said in a statement that although the application has been returned as incomplete, it was not denied. Elcon officials are entitled to resubmit their application after correcting the numerous deficiencies found by the DEP. If the application is resubmitted, the DEP will again have 90 days to determine if the paperwork is administratively complete.
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“DEP remains committed to the thorough, rigorous and transparent review of this application,” said DEP Southeast Regional Director Pat Patterson. “These are applications that can be very complicated, and I applaud our staff for ensuring that we have all of the information that we need before moving forward with a technical review.”
In its letter in response to Elcon’s plan to construct a hazardous waste treatment facility at the Keystone Industrial Port Complex in Falls Township, DEP officials noted six “deficiencies” and left four additional comments.
The listed deficiencies included issues related to land use and zoning, ownership of the property at 100 Dean Sievers Place, the movement of a proposed storm water basin, documents relating to Elcon’s name and license in Pennsylvania and documentation on a geologic analysis.
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The comments from the DEP related to several administrative issues with the filing, including the facility name missing from checklists.
The letter was addressed to Dr. Rengarajan Ramesh, who has previously identified himself as a consultant for Elcon.
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Elcon’s long-proposed a hazardous waste treatment facility has faced problems and this attempt is the second to build at the site.
After the initial attempt to build a facility in Falls failed, Elcon revised their plans and scrapped a pipeline that would dump treated waste water into the Delaware River. Their most recent plan, which saw its Phase II submission in February, would see the treated waste water evaporated after being placed into an indoor closed-loop system. The left over distilled water would be reused to cool equipment at the facility.
Last year, Elcon representatives said the proposed facility would be built outside wetlands and the flood of record. The facility is proposed for 22 developed acres of a larger 33 acre property.
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Although Elcon officials have worked hard to relay their belief that their facility would be safe and has operated safely in the Middle East, residents and environmental groups in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have raised objections to the facility. They have noted the distance of the plant to the river and the unprocessed waste being transported locally to the facility via roads and rail lines.
