A 10-month technical review of Elcon Recycling Services’s plan will commence, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced Thursday.
The approval of the Phase II Part B portion of Elcon’s lengthy application comes after several previous starts and stops for the firm, which is seeking to build a hazardous waste treatment facility at 100 Dean Sievers Place in Falls Township.
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Moving forward with the technical review means that Elcon has provided all requested documents for the proposal to the DEP. Previously, the state had request additional information from Elcon relating to several issues, including real estate.
The latest hurtle crossed by Israel-based Elcon does not mean the facility will move forward to construction at this point, but it will allow further review by experts on the technical aspects laid out in the application and allow opportunities for public participation.
Elcon’s plans have them constructing their hazardous waste water recycling facility on a 22-acre portion of a 33-acre property in the Keystone Industrial Port Complex.
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According to past 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. The facility has been expected to process 150,000 to 210,000 tons of chemical and pharmaceutical waste that would be transported to the facility every year.
The Elcon facility is proposed to treat imported waste water through evaporation after being placed into an indoor closed-loop system. The left over distilled water would be reused to cool equipment at the facility. Elcon calls their process “thermal oxidation.”
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Documents to state regulators have indicated that the 100 Dean Sievers Place lot would be purchased by Elcon for $2.9 million under the proposal. Currently, the land is owned by U.S. Steel and the site was previously was part of the Fairless Plant.
Elcon has been looking to construct their facility in Falls Township 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.
Opponents to the plan from Pennsylvania and New Jersey have pointed out that the site is not far from the Delaware River and raised alarm that the facility could pose a drinking water risk if there was a spill. 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.
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Elcon officials have said at past public events that their facility would be safe.
Over the past three 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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