Click here to subscribe today or Login.
ASHLEY — The owners of the Huber Breaker site have not complied with a 30-day cleanup order, drawing criticism from residents of the borough and council members.
A Luzerne County judge issued the order on Nov. 7, giving Paselo Logistics LLC, owner of the site, 30 days to clean the property. That cleanup has not been completed, according to state Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Colleen Connolly.
Borough resident Ron Wickizer voiced his concern at Tuesday’s council meeting about piles of tires left on the property.
“If the tires catch on fire, we don’t have the man power in this town (to put the fire out),” Wickizer said.
Councilman Joe McGlynn, also the borough’s fire chief, agrees with Wickizer, but added that it’s up to the county courts to take action. “It needs to go back to a judge,” McGlynn said.
The most recent site inspection occurred Dec. 8, Connolly said.
As part of the cleanup order, Philadelphia-based Paselo was to provide secondary containment for containers at the site that were found containing an unclassified liquid. Some of the drums were put in the site’s administration building, which is still standing, McGlynn said.
“Placing them in the building is an effort to address this requirement, but not complete it. The contents must be sampled and disposed of lawfully,” Connolly said, noting a container with asbestos was removed and someone from Paselo signed an affidavit stating it was disposed of properly.
The order also requires Paselo to cover $4,704.04 in costs incurred by the Department of Environmental Protection. The department has received only $1,000, Connolly said.
DEP’s legal staff is going to petition for a hearing to inform the court that Paselo is out of compliance, Connolly said.
The November order stems from an agreement that Paselo and DEP entered into in March, in which Paselo agreed to have the nearly 27-acre site cleaned up within 45 days.
“It’s a hellhole,” Councilman Gerald Maldonado said, noting that Paselo also owes back taxes on the site. “It just continues on. … It’s like a soap opera.”
Paselo owes $49,552.63 in back taxes for the years 2014 and 2015. Borough Solicitor William Vinsko said the property will go to the county first-stage tax auction, known as an upset sale, in September 2017 if the taxes are not paid. Anyone who purchases the property at the tax sale would be responsible for paying the back taxes.
Paselo’s Wilkes-Barre-based attorneys, Comitz Law Firm LLC, didn’t respond for comment.