Expert: Soil cleaned at Weatherly site

A retired official with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection appeared before Weatherly Borough Council Monday night amid concerns about an industrial site where a new administration building and police station is rising.

Joseph Brogna served as DEP’s regional environmental cleanup program manager before retiring about 15 years ago. As part of his job, he signed off on the completion of the cleanup of a former industrial site at Plane and West Main streets, which was operated at different times by Federal-Mogul, Wagner Electric and Tung-Sol.

Brogna said that his approval in 2002 meant that the contaminants at the site had been cleaned up to the point that the site could be redeveloped under the state’s Land Recycling Act.

“We were in a program of taking existing industrial sites, loosely speaking, looking at them, cleaning them up and reusing them as opposed to developing green sites, our agricultural areas,” Brogna said.

As part of the approval, Brogna said the site cannot be used for residences, schools, nursing homes or any other residential function. But he said the proposed administration building and police station are a good example of the kind of development that the Land Recycling Act promoted.

Weatherly borough officials asked their engineer to address concerns which have been circulating on social media about whether the contamination at the site still poses a threat.

“Because of the activity on Facebook in regards to that there’s still contamination on the Tung Sol property, we just wanted to clear the air,” said borough manager Harold Pudliner Jr.

Some residents have recently posted online old reports, generated before DEP said the cleanup was finished, showing the presence of contaminants.

Brogna said that the purpose of his program was to assess former industrial sites to identify the level of contaminants then oversee remediation until the contamination levels were at a safe level.

Brogna said that when he signed off on the project, the level of contaminants in the soil at the site had been cleaned up to the point that they were within the levels set by the state for redevelopment.

During the cleanup of the Weatherly site, approximately 2,000 tons of contaminated soil were removed during the remediation process, borough engineer David Fife said.

Brogna said that the contaminated material was transported off site.

Carolyn Martienssen, representing a group called the Citizens Environmental Team, brought up the potential impact of the contaminants on the borough’s public water system.

As part of its 2002 approval, DEP said that any future uses of the site could not use the groundwater on site, meaning they couldn’t drill a private well. But Brogna said that wasn’t an issue because the borough has public water.

Martienssen said that the existence of a stripping tower, built at one of the borough’s public wells during the remediation process, suggested that the groundwater may have been contaminated.

Fife said that the stripping tower was constructed during the remediation to clean up any possible water contamination that existed in the ’90s.

“From what I read in the report, the levels were below Pennsylvania standards, however they still wanted to put a stripper on to make sure there were no issues,” Fife said.

Pudliner said borough regularly tests the well where the air stripping tower is located, and it meets state standards. When someone asked if the tower is operating 24/7, Pudliner said it only operates when that well is pumping water to refill the borough’s holding tanks.

Brogna said that he was proud of the work DEP did and continues to do under the Land Recycling Act. He said one of the most important projects was the reuse of the 2,000-acre Bethlehem Steel site which became a casino.

Brogna said the Weatherly administration building will be a similar showcase of the program’s success.

“I encourage Weatherly Borough, once this project is completed, to get some press coverage to show how a former industrial site which was once contaminated, is now the proud housing for Weatherly Borough’s administration building and police headquarters. I’m sure the publicity will be appreciated,” he said.