By William J. Cluck, Attorney for TRRAAC
What are the project partners doing with the stormwater and wastewater generated during the excavation of the landfill? We had about an inch of rain during Monday, April 20 storm event. Did that rain accumulate in open excavation containing waste material? What about the dirt washed off the trucks as they leave the site to transport the waste to the Frey Farm Landfill? How is that wash water being handled? TRRAAC has been trying to find out, but F&M’s web site contains no information about this potential source of contamination. So, TRRAAC submitted a Right to Know Request to the Lancaster Area Sewer Authority (LASA) on March 2, 2009. On March 9, LASA provided TRRAAC with copies of the following documents:
- Sewer Capacity Lease Agreement among LASA (represented by Barley Snyder LLC), LCSWMA (represented by Hartman Underhill & Brubaker LLP) and F&M College (also represented by Barley Snyder LLC);
- Application for Sewer Discharge Permit prepared by ARM Group on behalf of F&M College submitted January 15, 2009;
- Permit No. 380 issued by LASA to F&M on January 30, 2009.
The permit authorizes F&M to discharge to the sanitary sewer system stormwater that collects in the excavation ditches. That stormwater is pumped out of the excavation and through a filter to remove suspended sediments then into a roll off container before discharge to the sewer system.
TRRAAC wrote to LASA on April 2, 2009 expressing its concerns about the documentation, including the failure of the applicant to disclose the presence of asbestos containing material in the landfill, the failure to require analytical testing for the presence of fibrous asbestos in stormwater, the use of the wrong size filters and questioned how wastewater from the truck washing area is being handled.
LASA responded by letter dated April 15, 2009 with the following:
“The water from the truck wash is not covered by the current discharge permit. The truck wash is a self contained unit and has no discharge. It has a large sump and a makeup water system. All sediment is deposited at the bottom of the sump. It is expected that the sump is large enough that it will not need to be cleaned out until the end of the project.”
“ARM Group is aware that they would need to request a modification or amendment to the existing permit to discharge the wash water to LASA. To date no request has been made to discharge this material.”
The response from LASA did not respond to TRRAAC’s concerns about the failure to address the asbestos issues. Have the workers at the sewage treatment plant been notified? Will the public ever be provided the right to comment on this aspect of the project?
These documents (the agreement, application and permit) were provided to an LNP reporter in mid-March and found not to be newsworthy.
Sigh. Strange that he’s worried about runoff from the excavation work, but none if the waste material in that unmonitored landfill were left to sit, leaching forever into the Little Conestoga and the surrounding neighborhoods. Billy, you’re doing a heck of a job.