August DEP hearing on Synagro proposal will not provide Q & A - only a chance to speak

Tonight, the Synagro land development plan review continues before the Plainfield Township planning commission.  This may be one of the last meetings, possibly there will only be one more to hold a vote on what recommendation to make on the proposal.

There are important remaining issues to discuss tonight - namely water quality and the nuisance mitigation plan.  Then the planning commission will have to decide if it is ready to make a recommendation.  To an extent, Synagro is in the driver's seat, since they have to approve extensions of the deadline for a decision - currently that deadline is July 31.  By the deadline, the planners must make a recommendation and the Board of Supervisors must vote taking the recommendation into account.

Producing a recommendation will take some thought, since either a lengthy list of conditions for approval or justification for denial will have to be included.  The township will likely provide an update of of the May 9 memorandum of suggested items for these two lists.  One might expect that after tonight's discussion, that list can be updated, and at one additional meeting the planners could have a final discussion and consider motions for a vote.

DEP hearing in August may provide no opportunity for discussion

Solid Waste Program does not plan to attend

There is a DEP public hearing scheduled for August 12 from 6 to 9PM at the Wind Gap Middle School.  Recall there was a DEP public meeting and hearing in October 2018, during which there was a question and answer period, followed by a hearing at which citizens put testimony into the record.  The hearing was initially advertised to be only for Air Quality, but in the last few weeks prior to the hearing DEP made the decision to add Water Quality and Solid Waste.  DEP representatives from each of these programs attended.

Once again, the August 12 hearing is advertised to be only for the Air Quality permit.  However, DEP has not yet issued draft permits for the Solid Waste Modification or Solid Waste Facility or an modified NPDES permit.  Might they add one or more of these to the list at the last minute, giving the public little notice that it can attend this hearing and testify towards those as well?  Fool me once, shame on you...
EDIT July 12 - It was announced at the July 11 review meeting that the modified NPDES draft permit was issued by DEP on July 10, and it will be added to the August 12 hearing agenda.

A DEP representative has stated that testimony on any issue related to the project will be accepted at the August hearing.  The question is, what kind of answers might be expected if it turns out that the Air Quality permit application is the only one officially noticed for consideration.

Furthermore, unlike the October hearing, there is not planned to be a Q&A period.  After the end of the Q&A portion of the October meeting, Senator Mario Scavello made a plea for DEP to hold an additional hearing for further questions to be asked.  In DEP's notice to the public for the August hearing, it is holding this (optional) hearing due to public concerns.  But it does not appear that the hearing will provide the opportunity Senator Scavello envisioned when he made his request, since there is no QA planned.  The public can appear and testify and include questions during their 5 minutes of testimony, but not expect answers?

This representative also stated that in addition to the Air Quality program, the Water Quality Program plans to attend, but he "is not sure why", and that no representative from the Solid Waste Program plans to attend this hearing.  Here is DEP's opportunity to take public feedback on a solid waste processing facility, and the Solid Waste Program will not be sending anyone?  Could it be that the Solid Waste Program Manager, Roger Bellas, does not want to subject himself to further public scrutiny and questions about his controversial decisions regarding the filling of a quarry on the site?

How to tell DEP that you plan to testify at the August 12 hearing

Send an email to Mark Wejkszner (pronounced WECKS-NER), Air Quality Program Manager, at mwejkszner@pa.gov.  DEP requests that you include your name, address and phone number, and a brief description of what you intend to testify about with the request.