ELIZABETH SKRAPITS / PUBLISHED: JANUARY 8, 2016

 

ASHLEY — In February 2015, the state Department of Environmental Protection gave the owners of the former Huber Breaker site 45 days to clean it up.

But more than 10 months later, the site is still a mess.

An inspection by the state agency in December showed contaminated waste remains at the site, including asbestos, according to DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly.

She said a departmental order is in the works, which will lay out what DEP is asking of the owners.

Their attorney, Jonathan Comitz, did not return messages for comment.

Philadelphia-based Paselo Logistics LLC and New Jersey-based Reivia Ashley LLC bought the 26.58-acre former Huber Colliery property in bankruptcy court for $1.27 million in October 2013, then tore down the buildings a few months later. The idea was to salvage scrap metal, and possibly mine coal — DEP granted a permit for exploration.

But after the demolition, Paselo left the property as it was.

DEP issued a notice of violation after demolition started, due to failing to notify the department about asbestos removal. The state agency issued another notice of violation on May 13, 2014, after an inspector observed “excessive amounts of fugitive dust coming from the sorting of demolition waste piles and from vehicle traffic inside the Huber property,” with nothing being done to control it.

From Dec. 22, 2014 on, DEP inspections showed violations related to air pollutants, according to the agency’s records. After an inspection on Feb. 26, 2015 turned up still more violations, including waste mismanagement, DEP issued a compliance order.

Under its terms, Paselo had five days to secure all drums and other containers of waste, 20 days to excavate and consolidate the contaminated soil around them, 30 days to specify the types of waste at the site, and 45 days to properly dispose of it.

That didn’t happen.

Connolly said the notice of violation asked Paselo to identify the debris in the maintenance building and dumpster, including drums with unspecified contents.

“We asked them to characterize what was in there, and they haven’t,” she said.

She noted that DEP tries hard to work with property owners: “We made a good faith effort to give them even extra time to do the work, and nothing was done.”

Some of the waste at the Huber site includes asbestos. Connolly said there is some in bags and on the maintenance building floor, which DEP has asked Paselo to clean up.

“But as far as asbestos flying all over, no, that’s not the case,” she said.

Asbestos is only a danger if people are in close proximity to it — and they shouldn’t be, because the site is private property, she said.

Complicating the matter is a federal suit filed in September 2014 by Reivia Ashley LLC against Paselo Logistics over the alleged theft of money and metal from the site.

The case is scheduled to go to trial in federal court in front of U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 29, having been rescheduled from the original trial date of Nov. 20, 2015.

http://citizensvoice.com/news/huber-breaker-site-still-a-mess-1.1992521