The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will have 90 days to review Elcon’s updated Phase II application to see if it is complete.
The DEP announced Monday they received an October 13 letter from Elcon, which wants to build a hazardous waste treatment facility in Falls Township, stating that they have submitted additional information after state regulators found “deficiencies” in the previous Phase II application filed earlier this year.
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If the DEP finds the detailed Phase II application from Israel-based Elcon administratively complete, a 10-month-long technical review will begin. The months-long review will carefully review the full details of the company’s proposed 100,000-square-foot facility and evaluate whether the project can move forward.
The Phase I portion of the plan was approved in November 2015.
In their May letter, the DEP listed deficiencies that 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. The comments from the DEP also related to several administrative issues with the filing, including the facility name missing from checklists.
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In a 181-page packet of information submitted to the DEP this month, Elcon gives details on their facility and the process that would handle the hazardous waste water. The process would treat the wastewater and use a thermal oxidization to evaporate water and a drying process to reclaim salt that was in the waste.
The 24-7 facility would be built on 22 developed acres of a larger 33 acre property. According to filings with the DEP, Elcon expects to employ about 55 people at the automated facility that can handle about 410 metric tons of waste a day.
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Elcon officials have presented their plans to the public in the past and have made alterations based on public feedback. At one point, water cycled through the plant would be pumped back into the river, however, plans were updated to have treated water evaporated.
DEP approval of the Phase II review is expected to make way for the plans to come before Falls planners and supervisors.
Over the past two years, Bristol Borough, Middletown, Morrisville, Newtown Township, Tullytown, Upper Makefield and Yardley have passed resolutions opposing the proposed Elcon facility. Bucks County officials have stated they trust the DEP process, and the Falls Board of Supervisors said they would not consider any resolutions until the DEP vetting process was finished.
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Environmental groups and a number of local residents have spoken out over the past few years in opposition of the Elcon facility, which would sit slightly more than a mile away from the Delaware River.
DEP officials said a digital copy of the Elcon application and subsequent amendments are available on their website. Paper copies are open for review at their office in Norristown, the Levittown Library and the Westampton Branch of the Burlington County Library in New Jersey.
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