Company proposes waste landfill in Smith Township
This graphic shows the area in Smith Township where waste treatment company MAX Environmental, which primarily treats Marcellus Shale waste, plans to expand its facility south of Route 22 to include a waste landfill. Before applying for a DEP permit, the company will hold an informational meeting at 7 p.m. June 23 at Slovan VFW. Below, a graphic that depicts a landfill at the proposed Smith Township site is shown.
BULGER – A waste treatment company will host a meeting this month to solicit public input on a proposed residual waste landfill in Smith Township.
MAX Environmental, which primarily treats Marcellus Shale waste, will submit a plan to the state Department of Environmental Protection to expand its Bulger facility south of Route 22, which has been in operation since 1958. The company also operates a facility in Yukon, 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
Before applying for a DEP permit, the company will host an informational meeting at 7 p.m. June 23 at Slovan Veterans of Foreign Wars post. Public comments will be submitted to the DEP, and a public hearing will be held after the application is submitted.
If DEP grants a permit, the construction process could take as long as five years, according to a fact sheet mailed to local residents. Company manager Carl Spadaro said a site plan has not yet been outlined, but the expansion would, at a minimum, include a landfill and two additional waste treatment facilities.
MAX’s treatment facilities are used to solidify materials before they are disposed into a landfill. Wastes are stabilized by chemically binding metals so they don’t leach, and neutralized by adjusting the pH levels.
The proposed 21-acre landfill would hold wastes that have been treated and solidified, including waste soils, debris from brownfield site development and road expansions, oil and gas drilling waste, slag, and used acids and caustic solutions.
Spadaro said the proposed landfill would be a “state-of-the-art” facility with liners, detection zones and groundwater monitoring.
“The design standards and the regulatory standards for this kind of thing have changed significantly over the years,” Spadaro said.
Spadaro said the closest residential property is about 500 feet from the proposed landfill. He said truck traffic – currently averaging abound 30 trucks per day – would not increase.
The company also plans within the next five years to reclose an impoundment that initially was closed in 1980 as a landfill. Spadaro said the goal is to place “a more permanent cap and cover system” on the impoundment, which will remain on-site. A second impoundment was closed in 2005 as a landfill and also will remain on-site.
According to the company’s fact sheet, the expanded facility “would generate approximately $1 million in benefit fees to Smith Township and in excess of $10 million total in regional and state fees, taxes, local services and employment” over a 10-year period.
If approved, the company would hire between six and 10 employees to staff the facility.