F&M: Rail yard foes' legal work 'incompetent'
Says DEP properly approved plan, calls dumping charge unjustified.
Lancaster New Era
Updated Oct 10, 2008 11:18
Lancaster
By JACK BRUBAKER
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
A dump is a dump is a dump is a dump.
Except when a rail line runs through it.
Then the dump has two parts — and a potential for confusion.
Franklin & Marshall College officials are disturbed that a lawyer for opponents of the college's plan to relocate the Dillerville rail yard confused two sides of a dump and thereby dumped on F&M.
"They should retract everything that was said and apologize to the neighborhood," F&M President John Fry said Thursday.
The issue arose Tuesday night when The Rail Road Action and Advisory Committee held a public meeting. TRRAAC represents residents of the School Lane Hills and Barrcrest communities near the planned site of the relocated yard.
TRRAAC's environmental attorney, Bill Cluck, questioned the validity of F&M's plan to relocate Norfolk & Southern Railroad's yard from Dillerville to the new location.
That site is behind the U.S. Post Office on the northern part of the two-section dump. The land is owned by the Lancaster County Solid Waste Municipal Authority.
Cluck said F&M had provided documents that showed that dump was last used in 1962.
But then he read from "Preliminary Assessment for Lancaster Brickyard Dump" — a document prepared in 1987 by the Department of Environmental Resources. It noted that F&M was dumping materials at the site as late as 1987.
He said if F&M was dumping that late, the Department of Environmental Protection, successor to DER, could not extend liability protection to the college's planned excavation of the dump in preparation for creating a new rail yard.
In fact, DEP approved the excavation plan a week ago and F&M is moving ahead with the project.
So F&M officials were not happy when they determined that Cluck had confused the two sides of the dump.
"This is really incompetent," commented Fry.
The 1987 DER document Cluck quoted said F&M was dumping on the south side of the tracks — land it owns.
That clearly is not the north side of the tracks, land LCSWMA owns, said Keith Orris, vice president for external affairs at F&M.
"There is no denying that this is the brickyard property that is owned by the college and not the project-related property owned by LCSWMA," Orris said.
Fry said he questions TRRAAC's "credibility and capability" because of the error.
"Anything in the future that TRRAAC puts out has to be met with immediate skepticism and disbelief," he said.
Fry and Orris also took issue with Cluck's contention that F&M and its project partners, Lancaster General Hospital and Norfolk Southern, have been too "cozy" with DEP and PennDOT officials while developing the relocation plan.
Working closely with government agencies to comply with regulations is a "virtue, not a vice," Fry said. "That is clearly a false accusation."
In response, Cluck said Thursday that he never differentiated between sides of the dump when he discussed the dumping question Tuesday night.
"The 1987 dumping appears to be only the south side, but that doesn't mean the overall issue isn't what I said it is," he said.
He said the 1987 document shows that Armstrong was dumping liquid refuse on the south side of the tracks. Other documents show that Armstrong dumped asbestos-bearing waste on the north side.
"If Armstrong's able to put things on both sides of the tracks, who's to say F&M didn't?" he asked.
He said he has asked for information about whether F&M dumped on the north side and has not received it.
Orris replied to Cluck this morning.
"It appears that Mr. Cluck is just making things up as he goes along," he said. "To infer facts about property not even mentioned or covered by the DER report is disingenuous and again intentionally misleading."
Orris said Cluck's defense of his original remarks suggests "he can't admit to his wrongdoing."
Help us improve: suggestions, corrections, clarifications, added information welcome
Except when a rail line runs through it.
Then the dump has two parts — and a potential for confusion.
Franklin & Marshall College officials are disturbed that a lawyer for opponents of the college's plan to relocate the Dillerville rail yard confused two sides of a dump and thereby dumped on F&M.
"They should retract everything that was said and apologize to the neighborhood," F&M President John Fry said Thursday.
The issue arose Tuesday night when The Rail Road Action and Advisory Committee held a public meeting. TRRAAC represents residents of the School Lane Hills and Barrcrest communities near the planned site of the relocated yard.
TRRAAC's environmental attorney, Bill Cluck, questioned the validity of F&M's plan to relocate Norfolk & Southern Railroad's yard from Dillerville to the new location.
That site is behind the U.S. Post Office on the northern part of the two-section dump. The land is owned by the Lancaster County Solid Waste Municipal Authority.
Cluck said F&M had provided documents that showed that dump was last used in 1962.
But then he read from "Preliminary Assessment for Lancaster Brickyard Dump" — a document prepared in 1987 by the Department of Environmental Resources. It noted that F&M was dumping materials at the site as late as 1987.
He said if F&M was dumping that late, the Department of Environmental Protection, successor to DER, could not extend liability protection to the college's planned excavation of the dump in preparation for creating a new rail yard.
In fact, DEP approved the excavation plan a week ago and F&M is moving ahead with the project.
So F&M officials were not happy when they determined that Cluck had confused the two sides of the dump.
"This is really incompetent," commented Fry.
The 1987 DER document Cluck quoted said F&M was dumping on the south side of the tracks — land it owns.
That clearly is not the north side of the tracks, land LCSWMA owns, said Keith Orris, vice president for external affairs at F&M.
"There is no denying that this is the brickyard property that is owned by the college and not the project-related property owned by LCSWMA," Orris said.
Fry said he questions TRRAAC's "credibility and capability" because of the error.
"Anything in the future that TRRAAC puts out has to be met with immediate skepticism and disbelief," he said.
Fry and Orris also took issue with Cluck's contention that F&M and its project partners, Lancaster General Hospital and Norfolk Southern, have been too "cozy" with DEP and PennDOT officials while developing the relocation plan.
Working closely with government agencies to comply with regulations is a "virtue, not a vice," Fry said. "That is clearly a false accusation."
In response, Cluck said Thursday that he never differentiated between sides of the dump when he discussed the dumping question Tuesday night.
"The 1987 dumping appears to be only the south side, but that doesn't mean the overall issue isn't what I said it is," he said.
He said the 1987 document shows that Armstrong was dumping liquid refuse on the south side of the tracks. Other documents show that Armstrong dumped asbestos-bearing waste on the north side.
"If Armstrong's able to put things on both sides of the tracks, who's to say F&M didn't?" he asked.
He said he has asked for information about whether F&M dumped on the north side and has not received it.
Orris replied to Cluck this morning.
"It appears that Mr. Cluck is just making things up as he goes along," he said. "To infer facts about property not even mentioned or covered by the DER report is disingenuous and again intentionally misleading."
Orris said Cluck's defense of his original remarks suggests "he can't admit to his wrongdoing."
We welcome opinions and information from all points of view. They enrich our news coverage.
We ask that your comments respect the opinions of others. Personal attacks and hate speech are not acceptable and, when reported, will be edited or removed. Offenders will be banned from making comments.
To post comments, you must provide us your real name and contact information. Sign up takes only a moment. You can do it here.
TalkBack comments about this article
Comment on this article
Comment on this article
Featured Jobs
Click Here to create and publish your ad in minutes! Best of all, it's FREE for the next 10 days.
Of course F&M president John Fry would say something like that.
It's the only defense he has.
Report Abuse
The report goes on to say that:
"Since the site constitutes a solid waste management area that ceased disposal operations prior to September 7, 1980, its closure (and the long-term use of this site) is not regulated by the Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act, but instead, is regulated under the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law."
The truth? The entire properties has been used for some kind of dumping from 1955 to almost 1990.
The properties were used together since March of 1926, when the Lancaster Brick Company bought the ground that is collectively known today as 'the brickyards.' The land was on both sides of the railroad tracks, and used an underpass underneath the tracks to allow the brick-making company to operate into the mid-1960’s.
According to meeting minutes from the regional public trash authority, the property was also used as a trash dump for municipal waste, as well as industrial waste from Armstrong starting in 1955, and lasting until 1961. By 1959, a Lancaster Brick Company complaint was printed in the trash authority minutes, saying that "their drinking water has been useless since we (the trash authority) are performing operations in certain areas of their property"! A year later, the meeting minutes reported that Armstrong was sending "substantial volume" of liquid waste to be disposed of on the land known as the brickyards.
Fast forward to September of 1980, when the owners of the Lancaster Brick Company were dissolving the company and Lancaster Malleable Castings Company bought the 11.8 acres north of the railroad tracks, now being considered for the switching yard. Lancaster Malleable used the land to dump sand that was used on their castings. Lancaster Malleable went of business shortly after it sold the land to LCSWMA in 2002. As to the F&M side of the brickyards, there’s documentation that from 1955 until almost 1990 there was dumping on the site.
http://www.lancasterpost.com/081010.pdf
Report Abuse