Residents Sound Off To State Regulators About Elcon Plan

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officials did their best to answer questions from residents who wanted to know more about the proposed Elcon hazardous waste treatment facility in Falls Township.

Inside the large ballroom at the Sheraton Bucks County on Oxford Valley Road in Falls Township, hundreds listened as state regulators answered their questions and updated the public on where Elcon’s proposed facility stands during the three-hour-long meeting.

The meeting was pretty informal, but DEP spokesperson Virginia Cain said the next meeting will likely be a more formal hearing on the application that is being reviewed by regulators.

“We want to answer all the questions that we can,” Cain said.

DEP officials are reviewing Elcon’s lengthy application for construction of a facility on a 22-acre portion of a 33-acre property in the Keystone Industrial Port Complex, which is made up of U.S. Steel’s massive Fairless Works site. The Israel-based company has applied for a Solid Waste Management Permit for a Commercial Hazardous Waste Treatment and Storage Facility, an Air Quality Plan Approval, and a General Stormwater Discharge permit.

The facility will accept only liquid waste via truck from pharmaceutical manufacturing, petroleum refineries, chemical facilities, and semiconductor manufacturing. It will process between 150,000 to 210,000 tons a year of wastewater using chemicals, sludge filtration, thermal treatment, steam stripping, distillation, salt concentration, salt crystallization, and salt drying processes. The leftover solid waste will be transported by truck to an off-site permitted hazardous waste landfill.

After being asked by the public, DEP Program Manager James Wentzel said the Waste Management landfills in Falls Township are not permitted to accept waste from Elcon and can only take what is termed municipal refuse.

Elcon officials have previously said the water processed at their proposed facility will be clean, but it will not be released into area waterways or water systems. Instead, the treated water will be used to cool the facility’s equipment or evaporated through a closed-loop system.

“Any wastewater that is generated will be reused within the operation itself,” Wentzel told the crowd.

Although there will be no dumping of treated water, DEP officials said they will monitor stormwater that flows from the site twice a year.

DEP Air Quality Program Manager James Rebarchak told the crowd that Elcon submitted an air dispersal model and risk assessment for the proposed facility last week. He said the “complex” model estimates where emission and pollutants from the site would disperse in the air based on weather and wind patterns. The model will allow officials to see how the emissions could impact the area.

Throughout the meeting, numerous residents asked about and referenced concerns over trucks carrying hazardous waste to Elcon’s facility. They raised concerns over the trucks and what could happen if they crashed or spilled their load on area roadways and near the many creeks and waterways.

DEP officials said the off-site transportation is not part of their Elcon review process and said that is a municipal issue. They also said they have response teams and experts ready if there is a crash.

Based on questions, DEP officials said the application from Elcon affirms the company will screen to make sure there is no radioactive waste, fracking waste, laboratory waste, dioxin and polychlorinated biphenyl, cyanide, and medical waste.

DEP permitted facilities are regularly monitored and subject to unannounced inspections. Records related to limits set in the permit would have to be turned over to DEP regulators quarterly and officials will determine if there is compliance with their rules.

“If there is a complaint about a facility, we would certainly do an inspection,” one DEP official said.

Violations of regulations would allow for penalties of up to $25,000 per day, per violation for the most extreme cases, DEP officials said.

DEP officials stressed that they don’t have control over zoning and development issues and said that is handled by the municipality. They noted that the site Elcon has looked at was not excluded by their regulations.

One major concern from residents has been the fact that the Elcon facility is proposed for 100 Dean Sievers Place, which sits about 1 mile from the Delaware River and Van Sciver Lake.

DEP officials answered questions about air quality by stating the local levels are within regulations and said Elcon would be monitored and need to fall within mandated levels.

An official from Bordentown, New Jersey, asked if the site that Elcon was looking to build on had been previously cleaned of any contamination. DEP officials said U.S. Steel is responsible for remediation of the property, but an agreement of sale with Elcon would give that company responsibility if the plan goes forward.

Cain replied to a question that DEP was unable to comment on other facilities outside of the state and country that Elcon has been involved in. She said those were not matters related to the Pennsylvania permitting process.

Falls Township resident James Mayger raised concerns about how strict DEP regulations were and called them “bullsh*t.” He claimed that his kidney cancer was a result of state environmental regulations not being strong enough.

A Morrisville resident got up to the microphone and called the area the “armpit of Bucks County,” adding the smell from the landfills should be tackled before Elcon.

After being asked, DEP officials said it was not relevant whether they lived in the area near the Elcon facility as they look to either approve or deny the Elcon proposal. Several members of the public did not take kindly to their response.

“This is crap,” one woman said loudly in response.

DEP will have to propose their decision on the plan by late May. At that point, a formal 45-day comment period would open before a final decision.