Land apologizes for conduct at prior township meeting

A businessman at the center of a yearslong dispute over water extraction operations in West Penn Township has apologized for his conduct at a recent meeting.

Board of Supervisors’ Chairman Tony Prudenti read a letter at Monday’s board of supervisors meeting from Jay Land, president and owner of Ringgold Acquisition Group II.

In his letter dated Sept. 20, Land apologized for his actions at the Aug. 20 meeting, adding, “I will only say this is not who I am and my behavior is out of character.

“I will not retract my statements as requested by Mr. (Donald) Moore in his Aug. 20 email correspondence to the board,” Land said. “But, I will take the time to elaborate on my comments to clarify why I vehemently dislike and lack intolerance for this type of person.”

Land said that from mid-2016 to June 13, 2017, Moore wrote a blog that drew attention to water extraction in the township.

“Suffice it to say, that Mr. Moore did not miss a single member of three sitting boards or any of our professionals. Sadly, Mr. Moore also personally attacked a volunteer in this community. Mr. Moore penned articles accusing members of this group of self-dealing, conspiracy to misrepresent to the community, and in one case intentional misconduct.”

Land calls Moore’s “wild use of profanity” as “repugnant.”

“Despite the very fact that many of these folks do not support my industry, I remain disgusted by the anonymous rhetoric and character assassinations of township officials. I strongly believe that it serves only to drive a wedge further into an issue dividing a fractured community.”

He added, “I can get over Mr. Moore calling me a pimp or implying I am the devil.

“However, I cannot, and will not, tolerate Mr. Moore’s defamatory and baseless attacks of our companies, myself or the products we sell. Mr. Moore repeatedly states that our Pine Valley Source is untested and operating in violation of certain laws. These statements have no basis, in fact are fiction, and serve no purpose but to injure the integrity and character of our products, the sources, the companies and me personally.”

Land cited a letter to Prudenti on Aug. 21, in which “Mr. Moore climbed out of the mud and has renewed his attacks. In what can best be described as a reckless disregard for the truth and the public record, mixed with the arrogance and the incompetence of someone practicing law without a license, he uses his imagination to conjure up the conclusion that Pine Valley is operating outside of the DEP permit process.”

Land disputed the assertion that he doesn’t have permits for water harvesting projects. “The mere suggestion by Mr. Moore or Miss (Allison) McArdle that I am obligated to get any is fiction and defines incompetence and ignorance.”

In fact, Land said, “All of our sources, to the best of our combined 165 years (of) industry knowledge and experience, have all the required approvals, licenses, and permits in place to operate as sources of water for bottling plants. These approvals are issued in the name of the responsible entity, which is determined by the agency involved. For example, the West Penn use permit is issued in the landowner’s name rather than the tenant, as required by (township engineer) Bill Anders.”

He added that Pine Valley source is not an exception to these rules, and is included as part of a regulated water system permit issued by the Department of Environmental Protection.

“The last regular sanitation audit of Pine Valley by the DEP was about four weeks ago, and no items were noted for improvements or citation at that time,” Land wrote.

He added that the last FDA inspection of Pine Valley was about five years ago.

“No action items were recommended.

“The last DOA inspection of Pine Valley was two years ago, and approved Pine Valley Spring as a source for food products; there were no deficiencies.”

“As a point of clarification, I will not specifically speak to the Fort Franklin property, although I will repeat one and two above, as there is current active litigation in which I have personally filed a claim against Miss McArdle, her attorney, and 20-plus/minus individuals, and an ongoing zoning appeal,” Land said.

McArdle was in attendance at Monday’s meeting. Moore was not.