October 19, 2006
http://www.tnonline.com/node/81469
By DONALD R. SERFASS dserfasstnonline.com
Those 700,000 tons of river dredge will not be coming this way.
The Army for a Clean Environment (ACE) appears to have snared a key victory through its appeal filed on Feb. 16, 2005, essentially winning the battle against dredge dumping without stepping foot inside the courtroom.
Coaldale Energy LLC, which assumed responsibilities for Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. (LCandN) in April, has informed the Department of Environmental Protection that it no longer intends to pursue the use of dredged materials at Springdale Pit.
The open pit is 3,600-ft. long and 1,800-ft. wide and touches two counties. It impacts the communities of Tamaqua and Coaldale in Schuylkill County, and Summit Hill in Carbon County.
In a communication submitted to the DEP on Tuesday, the company said it is not seeking reauthorization of a pending permit renewal of special conditions that would allow the dumping of a mixture of dredged sediment, coal ash, cement kiln dust and lime kiln dust.
The firm is asking the Environmental Hearing Board for a temporary stay. Specifically, the firm stated that it will be unable to obtain or use dredge mixture at the Springdale site and that the DEP will not allow it. The motion also indicates that LCandN's request to have a suspension of permit conditions lifted in September was denied by the DEP.
The DEP ban was an attempt to force LCandN into compliance with reclamation requirements to use existing, on-site material for mine reclamation.
In the meantime, the firm has decided that continuing to pursue dredge operations would divert needed resources from the company's primary mining and reclamation activities.
LCandN attorneys Charles Gutshall and Kenneth Joel could not be reached for comment.
The ACE appeal of a site-specific permit was working its way through the legal system over the past 19 months. In fact, fourteen members of the ACE group, representing a sampling of impacted residents in the Tamaqua/Panther Valley area, were scheduled to testify in court on November 7.
Wednesday's news brought sighs of relief to local residents and environmental advocates who fought hard to protect the area's natural resources.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's over," said Dr. Dante Picciano, founder of the 1,000-member ACE group. Picciano told the TIMES NEWS that a follow-up meeting with Judge Labuskes of the state Environmental Hearing Board will take place Friday morning.
Picciano and John Wilmer, Esq., spearheaded the legal battle on behalf of the ACE contingent.
The firm's decision does not affect a statewide general permit already issued.
The state DEP said in a release issued Wednesday that "the company's decision to forgo the use of dredge has no implication for the general permit that the Department issued in March, 2004, in association with the use of a mixture of dredge and other materials for mine reclamation in Pennsylvania."
There was a certain amount of legal wrangling leading up to the mining company's decision.
Earlier this year, LCandN, Pottsville, had filed a motion of summary judgment, claiming that the ACE group hadn't filed its appeal within a mandatory 30-day window. However, the ACE group countered that the permit failed to specifically mention Springdale Pit.
The mining operation has been in the news in recent weeks.
In September, LCandN had asked Tamaqua Borough Council to make its support known to the DEP for the company's plans to haul to Springdale Pit some or all of 700,000 tons of river dredge from Fort Mifflin Containment Basin near the Philadelphia Airport.
Tamaqua Borough Council members not only refused to do so, but instead rescinded, by 4-3 vote, an earlier agreement that provided for local control measures and $1-per-ton tipping fees. Some had called the pact "blood money" while supporters of the agreement said it provided important safeguards.
Environmentalists say dredge contains heavy metals and toxin-forming substances. In addition, Springdale Pit is a deep, unlined excavation, a situation that environmentalists say would allow toxic substances placed inside to leach into the water table.