ELIZABETH SKRAPITS / PUBLISHED: MARCH 15, 2016
The state Department of Environmental Protection has reached an agreement with the owners of the former Huber Breaker in Ashley to start getting the site cleaned up.
Monday morning, attorneys for DEP and for Philadelphia-based Paselo Logistics LLC worked out a deal in front of Luzerne County Judge Fred Pierantoni that gives Paselo 10 days to begin work on the grounds where the hard coal processing facility once stood.
“All parties agreed it was an acceptable course of action,” Ashley Borough solicitor William Vinsko said.
Jonathan Comitz, attorney for Paselo, declined comment.
In October 2013, Paselo, with New Jersey-based Reivia Ashley LLC, bought the 26.58-acre Huber Breaker property and tore down most of the buildings a few months later in order to salvage scrap metal.
However, Paselo did not clean up after the demolition, sparking worries about potential contamination by hazardous substances, including asbestos.
On Feb. 26, 2015, DEP ordered Paselo to get rid of the demolition debris, as well as identify and remove any contaminants.
This past February, DEP took legal action to have the compliance order, which Paselo had ignored, enforced. The state agency also sought to have the Luzerne County courts issue a new order to get the site cleaned up.
DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said the department’s order is still in effect. Monday’s agreement gives Paselo until next Wednesday to begin moving equipment in, characterizing the waste at the site — whether hazardous or non-hazardous — and bringing in containers for the material, Connolly said.
After that there is a timeline for the work to be done, including showing proof that any hazardous substances have been properly disposed of.
“Basically, what it is, there are a series of compliance dates,” Vinsko said.
In the meantime, DEP has been active at the site. Last week the agency took five soil samples, which Connolly said will be sent to DEP’s Bureau of Laboratories in Harrisburg for analysis of any contaminants.
In addition, the DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation is investigating an opening in the ground to determine what it is, Connolly said.
The 1938-vintage Huber Breaker was the facility where “blue coal” — a well-known brand of anthracite which was colored with a harmless blue dye — was broken up, sorted by size, cleaned and processed. Besides bringing coal in from its other mines, the Glen Alden Coal Co., which built and ran the breaker, mined the site around it.