At NJ Meeting, Activists Raise Alarm Over Elcon Facility

While Elcon Recycling Services’s plan to construct a hazardous waste treatment facility is undergoing a technical review by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials, those opposed to the facility continued their efforts to block it at a meeting in Burlington County in New Jersey.

Bordentown Deputy Mayor John Brodowski and Fred Stine, citizen action coordinator of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, told the crowd Wednesday evening in Bordentown about the background on the project to build a hazardous waste treatment facility at 100 Dean Sievers Place in Falls Township. Stine also noted the other various companies in the same area that could cause environmental problems if there was a disaster and spill.

“We’re not against developing this site … we’re just saying [Elcon] isn’t the right type of industrial for this location,” he said, citing the millions of people who drink water from the Delaware River.

The proposed Elcon facility is about a mile from the river but Biles Creek is even closer.

In filings and public statements, Elcon has said they aim to open their hazardous waste water recycling facility on a 22-acre portion of a 33-acre property in the Keystone Industrial Port Complex. 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.”

Russell Zerbo of the Clean Air Council explained Wednesday that the process would leave behind sludge and salt that will have to be trucked off-site.

Among the concerns Stine mentioned are spills that could happen while hazardous waste is off-loaded to the facility. He did note Elcon has proposed building a containment wall around the storage area.

Stine said an expert has been hired by activists to look at how sea level rise and environmental changes could impact the site Elcon is seeking to building on.

“Is this designated 500-year flood plain safe enough for any facility? But for one where 194,000 tons of chemicals will be brought in and stored?” he asked aloud.

Brodowski said residents and towns on both sides of the river have make their opposition to the plan known.

Stine said activist groups have found possible technical problems with Elcon’s Phase II submission.

There was also talk of possible legal action against the plan. However, details were hashed out at the public forum.

“They have kids with two heads, dogs with two heads,” one member of the audience said about Falls Township officials. “They don’t care.”

The man called for opponents of the plan to tell Falls Township officials how they feel about the Elcon project, implying that officials might be swayed by the economic impact of the facility.

In recent years, Bristol Borough, Middletown, Morrisville, Newtown Township, Tullytown, Upper Makefield and Yardley have passed resolutions opposing the proposed Elcon facility. The Bucks County Commissioners Bucks  have said they trust the state regulation process, and the Falls Board of Supervisors said they would not consider any resolutions until the state vetting process was finished.