The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Protection Northeast Regional Director Michael Bedrin announced that Core Construction & Remediation Inc. will pay a $40,000 penalty as part of a consent order and agreement to settle solid waste violations at the company’s Whitehall Township quarry in Lehigh County, PA.
“The company placed fill material in a portion of the quarry without fully characterizing and sampling all of the material as required by state regulations,” Bedrin said. “DEP’s action today will ensure that the company follows clear procedures when it accepts clean fill, and that it analyzes material already placed in the quarry.”
Since January 2004, Core had been accepting material that it believed to be clean fill, placing that material in its inactive quarry. The company did not meet the requirements of the state’s clean fill management policy and could not demonstrate compliance with that policy to DEP’s satisfaction. Following a series of meetings between DEP and the company, Core voluntarily stopped accepting the fill material in April 2005.
The company then developed a sampling and site characterization plan that DEP approved. Sampling determined that most of the material met the clean fill requirements.
The consent order allows the company to resume accepting clean fill material in its inactive quarry. However, Core must remove any material previously placed in the quarry that does not meet the clean fill policy, and it must implement an operations plan at the site. That plan includes a fill material acceptance and sampling plan; erosion and sedimentation controls; final grading designs; and cover plans.