DREDGE PLAN LIKELY TO IMPACT COMMUNITIES AROUND HAZLETON

(Wilkes-Barre Times Leader) 9/1/05)

There are approximately 700,000 people living within 25 miles of Hazleton who should be very much interested in the present proposal to use millions of cubic yards of Delaware River and other river dredge material to fill coal land excavations in Hazleton. After the lands are filled with the river sludge, it is proposed to build an amphitheatre on the land.

The surrounding communities should be concerned because Hazleton is the highest city in the area. Wind and rain storms would cause the water containing some of the dredge material to run into the lower areas surrounding the city. It should be noted that the sludge removal, under the control of the Army Corps of Engineers was originally

supposed to use the material for wetlands, airport runways, and other public facilities. However, the Corps has not been using the material but has been storing it on mounds which are filling up. The States of New York and New Jersey have refused to accept the dredge material even if there is no cost.

It should be mentioned that the Army Corps will probably have to pay tens of millions of dollars to truck the material over 100 miles to Hazleton where it has to be processed and mixed with flyash and coal refuse and pay $2 per cubic yard to the city.. If it were so safe for usage, why haven’t other prospects a much shorter distance been willing to accept the material? The reason is probably that the dredge material contains waste which was dumped into the river and contaminated the material. Some of the sludge may come from the Hudson River, which is highly contaminated with chemicals and minerals and probably poisons.

The prospective users maintain that the material will be inspected before it is delivered, but there is a question as to whether the testing will be for all of the possible contaminants which could be in the material. It is not only only Hazleton which could be at risk for some unknown possible virus, but all of the surrounding communities into which the water could run down in the creeks, rivers and Jeddo Tunnel to the lower places.

For their own protection against harm to their water supply and the health of their people, the officials of the surrounding communities should also be involved with the millions of tons of dredge material planned for Hazleton.

Before the application is approved for the project on Sept 9, written comments can be mailed to Ronald C. Hassinger, General Permits/Beneficial Use Section, Division of Municipal and Residual Waste, Bureau of Land Recycling and Waste Management, PO Box 8472, Harrisburg PA 17105-8472 .