Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty announced that the DEP has appealed a Schuylkill County, PA Court’s decision to dismiss summary criminal citations filed by the department against Marks Contracting Co. of Lebanon, PA, and one company employee for blasting violations committed during a sewer installation project in McAdoo, PA.
The violations, which occurred between August 2002 and January 2003, resulted in the revocation of the company’s blasting activities permit for the project and the suspension of three employees’ blasting licenses. The blasting may have caused damages to about 12 homes.
In an opinion and order issued Sept. 17, Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin dismissed the charges against Marks Contracting Co. and blaster Ralph Mase on the basis that DEP was not specifically authorized by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to institute summary criminal prosecutions by filing citations under the 1957 blasting act regulating the use of explosives. Mase was cited with 30 summary criminal charges and Marks Contracting Co. with 331.
“The Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas too narrowly construed our authority under the statute,” McGinty said. “The 1957 act pertaining to the use of explosives clearly grants DEP the authority to institute summary prosecutions against those who are in violation of the law and therefore endangering public safety, and it also clearly states the penalties to be levied against those convicted in a summary proceeding.”
Two other employees of Marks Contracting Co. originally were cited with summary charges.
After receiving complaints in January 2003, DEP investigated cracks in the foundations and walls of several houses in McAdoo, and the department issued a notice of violation against the company, halting blasting activities for the course of the investigation.
After an investigation into the company’s blasting records, DEP charged Marks Contracting Co. and several employees with a multitude of violations.
The violations included blasting too close to nearby houses, exceeding allowable vibration limits and exceeding the maximum number of holes allowed per blast. The company’s permit prohibited the company from blasting closer than 30 feet from houses but the company blasted within that distance 156 times, including blasts as close as seven feet from a house.
In addition to suspending the blasters’ licenses and revoking the company’s blasting activities permit, DEP also filed about $62,000 in summary citations against the blasters and Marks Contracting Co. in Schuylkill County Court.