Fire hall full of interested citizens
Sponsored by the Harford Township Supervisors and spawned out of the Supervisors June meeting on the 21st, the gathering was billed as an “informational” session The Supervisors also invited their solicitor, Jamie Hailstone. Mr. Hailstone opened the session by declaring that, while the Supervisors may take one or another position on the issue as individual citizens, the township as a political entity can have no position at all, particularly since the proposed development would be located in New Milford Township and not at all in Harford. He said that the meeting represented the kind of “engagement” that characterizes our democracy, and that he brought along his son to see how it works. Mr. Hailstone said that he had been in touch with New Milford Township’s solicitor; Sue Furney said that she and her fellow Harford Township Supervisors had also been in contact with their counterparts in New Milford Township.
Joanne Smith acted as informal chair of the meeting. With her at the head table were Mr. Hailstone; Ms. Furney; Eliot Ross, Supervisor in Herrick Township; and Hugh Coombs. Neither Ms. Smith nor Mr. Coombs offered any professional affiliations or credentials.
Several speakers allowed that there was “no information” on the project, and that no permit applications have been filed with state or federal agencies. The property at the proposed location, on 100+ acres of land on the East side of Interstate 81 at the Gibson exit (exit 219) behind Armetta’s restaurant, has not yet been transferred to the reputed developer, Tyler Corners, LP, “a privately held company based in King of Prussia, Pa.” According to Ms. Smith, the deed to the property seems to be missing.
Yet a loud contingent declared themselves prepared “to try to stop this any way we can…. We want it stopped … in its tracks.” There is a move afoot to have New Milford Township enact an ordinance – perhaps in the form of a “clean-air” measure – that would block the project. Some would like all municipalities “within a 50-mile radius” to adopt similar ordinances. It is unclear how such a measure could be drafted that would inhibit this development without affecting, for example, the continuing development of natural gas resources in the area from which many residents and municipalities benefit financially.
Mr. Ross noted that “what we have here in Susquehanna County is pretty darn good” in terms of quality of life and the environment, a quality that he is concerned would be impaired by a large industrial waste incinerator. Yet even he conceded that “it’s all conjecture at this point … no plans have been submitted.”
Several people, in particular Mr. Coombs, spoke of what he considered “toxic” residue that might be emitted and dispersed over a wide area from the burning of industrial, medical and other sorts of waste at high temperature. Potential health hazards were described, often in emotional terms. (The developers’ website claims that the incinerator “WILL NOT be processing Radioactive or Regulated Medical Waste.”) There have also been rumors of a related rail terminal in New Milford Borough.
One person claimed that such incinerators were illegal in Canada, which is not actually the case. Another claimed to have seen a map of incinerators in Pennsylvania that showed the proposed facility at the Gibson exit, yet as of this writing no such site could be found on the Internet except for the map on the Tyler Corners website itself.
So far all that is known for certain is that representatives of the developers have met with one or more county Commissioners and the county Department of Planning and Development. The developers’ website at http://tylercorners.com is simple and similarly uninformative.
There have been several public meetings on the issue in the past couple of months. A group called “Stop Susquehanna County Waste Incinerator” has been established on Facebook, and videos of these sessions are available on YouTube; Vera Scroggins, a local environmental activist, also recorded this meeting. Another public session is scheduled for August 16, 2016 at Blue Ridge High School at which Dr. Paul Connett is expected to speak. Dr. Connett, retired professor of chemistry and toxicology at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Dartmouth College. As founder of the Flouride Action Network, he has been an outspoken critic of the fluoridation of the public water supply.
After about an hour Harford Supervisor Sue Furney stood to say that the meeting had not met her expectations as a way to inform the Supervisors about the project. The meeting broke up shortly thereafter.
