News

August 13, 2010

Plan to fill Hazleton pits remains a work in progress

Hazleton Creek Properties awaits word from the state A public meeting is set Aug. 31.

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
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HAZLETON – The abandoned mine pits are deep enough, but they appear to be getting deeper for Bill Rinaldi with delays and misconceptions about his plans to reclaim and build on them.

The co-founder of Hazleton Creek Properties LLC is awaiting approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection to use up to 200,000 tons a year of the material made from the emissions of coal-fired power plants and the ash of the spent fossil fuel to fill five pits on land along South Church Street.

HCP’s eventual plan is to make the nearly 280-acre site suitable for a 20,000- to 30,000-seat outdoor amphitheater and commercial development.

“I’m looking to fill these holes as quickly as possible,” said Rinaldi.

A public meeting is scheduled for Aug. 31 at Hazleton Area High School on the company’s application to use a mixture of coal ash and dry flue gas desulfurization gypsum in a section of the property.

The gypsum is the end result of a limestone powder spray reacting with sulfur dioxide emissions in the smokestacks of the power plants. It could be used alone, but when combined with the ash and water, it forms a cement-like substance that appears to be ideally suitable for use in the pits.

“It’s a great material,” said Barry Scheetz, a Penn State University professor of engineering and consultant to Rinaldi.

At Hawk Labs Inc. in Hazleton tests have been under way to come up with the right mix. If approved it will be tested regularly according to the permit regulations.

 The lab was one of several stops Friday for a media tour conducted by Rinaldi and engineering and environmental consultants working on the project.

Other stops were at the site and the nearby Cranberry Creek property that was reclaimed with funding from the DEP.

Rinaldi pointed out that the HCP site is largely done with private funds. He and his partner in HCP, Marvin Slomowitz, expect to recoup their investment and more once the project is completed.

Rinaldi declined to provide a dollar figure on what the project will cost, only saying it’s more than he expected. The developers must pay for the testing of fill material and the monitoring of groundwater wells. The water that flows into underground mine tunnels and comes out as polluted acid mine drainage will be diverted into Cranberry Creek once the site is reclaimed.

He also declined to comment on the search by government investigators of HCP’s offices and those of Fort Mifflin Reclamation Associates Inc. in April. The companies share office space in a Kingston building.

Fort Mifflin Reclamation has been working with HCP to bring river sediment from Philadelphia to the Hazleton site. Investigators are reportedly looking into the 2006 contract Fort Mifflin received to dispose of the sediment dredged from the river bottom.

In areas of the property where the sediment was used, sunflowers sprouted. The rough terrain had been made level with the sediment and other approved clean-fill from construction activities, Rinaldi said.

The materials have been transported to the site by truck and rail. A single rail car sat at a siding, next to an active railroad line that runs through the property. The lack of shipments Friday kept the heavy equipment silent and parked in the yard near the entrance to the property.

It’s a common misconception that the material can just be dumped into the holes, said Mark McClellan, a consultant with Evergreen Environmental and former DEP official. The bulldozers and dump trucks will be used to build roads to the pits so that they can be filled, he added.

“It’s 53 acres,” he said of the area where the ash and gypsum mixture would be used. “It’s already approved for coal ash.”

The tour stopped at Pit No. 5. The hole where coal was dug is approximately 190 feet deep and will take almost a million cubic yards of material to fill.

The pit is located behind a shopping center and dirt bike trails rim the top of the gaping hole, said Rinaldi.

His project would eliminate the dangers left behind from strip mining, improve the property and create jobs, he said.

“If someone has a better idea, come forward,” said Rinaldi.

 

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