SMETHPORT – Speculation that out-of-area waste would be shipped by rail to the Casella-owned McKean Landfill was confirmed during the McKean County Commissioners’ regular meeting Tuesday.
Recently elected commissioner Marty Wilder sought additional information regarding the rail siding at Casella-owned McKean Landfill.
“My intent was basically to let the people know what’s going on. I haven’t read through everything yet, but one of the things (the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection) determined through the departmental evaluation, of which harm-benefit analysis is a part, is that ‘the benefits clearly outweigh the known and potential harms,’ which I thought was pretty interesting,” Wilder said.
As reported in the Dec. 16 edition of The Bradford Era, the Shapiro administration had recently announced funding for rail projects across the state. Funds included $7.6 million benefiting Berks and McKean counties, for 25 Caster Way Owner LLC to construct the Berks Waste and Rail Transfer Station, which includes rail infrastructure and loading equipment.
Speaking to The Era in December, Casella spokesman Jeff Weld said Casella wasn’t directly linked to the project, but added, “It is likely that McKean Landfill would be a qualified outlet for that project.”
It was made clear Tuesday, from Casella representative Donald Shonts in attendance at the meeting and in response to Wilder’s inquiry, that waste from outside the area will be brought by both truck and rail to McKean Landfill. Waste could include municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition (C&D) debris from Casella’s service areas in New England, upstate New York and Pennsylvania.
“We haven’t done this sneakily; it has been advertised numerous times in the newspaper (legal notices), we’ve had two open houses, a chicken barbecue where everybody gets to take a tour and have a one-on-one with our engineers as to what the projects are that we’re doing,” Shonts said. “We’ve been getting the word out with articles in The Bradford Era, Kane Republican; I’ve been down here numerous times to talk to commissioners and get our project out in the public. It’s out there. It’s not a secret.”
Wilder said, “I don’t think, generally, people have any idea. I realize that notification is difficult in this county, but I’m not sure how well known the project is. I’m not saying it’s your fault for lack of trying, but it’s a fairly large expansion and I think that the public needs to be fully informed about it.”
Shonts emphasized that the project is not technically an expansion, stating that the landfill has always had a permit for 6,000 tons per day, going back to when Rustik LLC owned the 235-acre landfill.
Wilder said, “The scope of the project is going to be greatly expanded, and it is garbage coming in from outside the county.”
Shonts said currently McKean Landfill accepts 180 to 250 tons a day, mostly from Bradford City, the Smethport area and Elk County.
“Our volume coming into the facility by highway was 1,000 tons a day, and it was raised to 2,000, but we are allowed up to 6,000 tons, which is unchanged. Four-thousand of that could come via rail, but 2,000 could be highway.”
Wilder asked how many railcars Casella anticipates receiving per day.
Shonts said they initially plan to accept one to two cars per day from its transfer station in Holyoke, Mass., and acknowledged it “could go as high as 6,000 tons, 100 tons a car.”
Wilder said, “Maybe you’re right and people are advised, but people I’ve run into, just anecdotally, people are not aware of it. Not saying there’s nothing out there. I just think people need to be more fully informed.
“Talking to DEP, they made it clear that even though it’s been approved it’ll still be undergoing pretty rigorous scrutiny before anything is accepted into the landfill,” Wilder said.
In another matter of county concern, Jim Giordano noted that dozens of people attended the town hall meeting held Saturday in Cyclone to address the appeals process regarding approval of a wastewater injection well there.
The DEP has approved Catalyst Energy Inc.’s underground oil and gas wastewater injection well off Pithold Road. Catalyst intends to transport more than 30 loads of oil and gas wastewater per day, in semi-sized tankers, along Route 646 to the well site.
Residents are concerned about the project’s approval, citing insufficient notification from either Catalyst or the DEP.
“60-plus people showed up at this meeting,” Giordano said. “There’s real concern about this injection well.
“I went online and viewed a lot of the permit applications, there are inconsistencies across the paperwork — I don’t see how the permits went through with the inconsistencies in well I.D. numbers, latitude and longitude, and errors in their descriptions of the wells.
“The purpose of the meeting (Saturday) was to help people understand the paperwork; it was extremely complicated. There’s major interest up there.”
The deadline to file an appeal to the DEP is Feb. 22. Sen. Cris Dush, R-Brookville, has forms available in his Smethport office. Otherwise, a Notice of Appeal form and the Environmental Hearing Board’s rules of practice and procedure can be obtained online at http://ehb.courtapps.com or by contacting the Secretary to the Board at (717) 787-3483.
