Agents with the State Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Section are seen at the site of the former Huber Breaker in Ashley in 2017.
Times Leader file photo
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ASHLEY — An owner and company that tore down the Huber Breaker — and who rebuffed efforts to turn the historic site into a museum — have been charged with violating the state’s Solid Waste Management Act by allegedly storing and dumping asbestos hazardous materials throughout the 25-acre property for years.
Pasquale J. Scalleat, 48, and Philadelphia-based Paselo Logistics LLC, refused numerous Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection orders and ignored a Luzerne County judge’s order to properly dispose containers filled with asbestos materials and liquids from 2014 through 2018, according to charges filed.
Scalleat and Paselo Logistics each faces three counts of unlawful conduct and a single count of unauthorized process of hazardous materials.
The state Office of Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Section filed the charges with District Judge Joseph Halesey in Hanover Township on Wednesday.
Paselo Logistics was formed by Scalleat and another person in 2012 and purchased the Huber Breaker site in 2013, razing the breaker and other buildings for scrap metal in 2014.
Court records say Paselo Logistics failed to notify DEP prior to the start of demolishing buildings regarding permits. Demolition of the buildings disturbed materials containing asbestos causing the “release of fugitive emissions ” that either leaked into the ground or released into the air, court records say.
DEP conducted numerous on-site inspections finding containers filled with asbestos that were stored in a maintenance garage. DEP advised Paselo Logistics to properly dispose of the asbestos filled containers from 2014 through 2018, according to court records.
Asbestos filled containers were allegedly moved within the property and not properly disposed as ordered.
A former employee at the site alleged he was told to dump asbestos materials in a 1,000 above ground water tank in an attempt to hide the hazardous substance but leaked into the ground during rain storms as the drain cap was removed.
Court records say the employee and Scalleat transferred fluid from a power transformer into five gallon buckets that they then dumped into an airshaft and an abandoned mineshaft on the property.
When the employee advised Scalleat he was taking waste oil to a processing center to properly dispose of the substance in February or March 2018, Scalleat told him, “absolutely not,” and was told the substance was “linseed oil,” court records say.
DEP during on-site inspections found deteriorating drums and large oil-storage tanks filled with unknown contents and a large pit filled with contaminated soil and debris.
Scalleat and Paselo Logistics ignored numerous warnings and orders from DEP to clean up the property and dispose of hazardous materials, court records say.
In November 2017, Luzerne County Judge Fred Pierantoni III issued a court order to Paselo Logistics to properly clean up and remove hazardous materials within 30 days.
Court records filed against the company and Scalleat say they ignored the court order.
The charges filed alleged Paselo Logistics and Scalleat were operating a waste transfer station without proper permits and DEP approval.
The former Huber Breaker property was sold at a tax sale in August 2019.
Built in 1938, the Huber Breaker constructed of steel and glass stood 208 feet high and began operations in February 1939. For the next 37 years, the breaker processed and sorted 7,000 tons of anthracite coal per day.
Efforts to turn the breaker into a museum, including an eminent domain takeover by Luzerne County in 2008, were unsuccessful.