The Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners and Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. have agreed the township was blindsided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which granted Coplay Aggregates a permit to dump regulated fill into a former cement company quarry.

The township has contracted HDR, Inc., an energy firm, to review all the documents on file regarding the permitting process, applications, data and other materials. The township was not consulted with nor was part of a public hearing before the DEP granted the permit for regulated fill at the 5101 W. Coplay Road quarry site.

Hozza said Monday the township has submitted a formal response to the DEP granting Coplay Aggregates a permit for six acres of the 30-acre property. The 30-day deadline to respond to the DEP action is mid-August.

Involved in preparing the township's response were township solicitor Charles Fonzone, township engineer Frank Clark of Keystone Engineering, HDR representatives and Hozza.

A recent DEP inspection yielded photographs showing "medical waste, syringes and other materials" dumped into the quarry and demonstrated a clear violation of the agency's regulations, according to board of commissioners President Linda Snyder.

Hozza said he followed a tri-axle truck from a City of Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone that took materials to the quarry.

He said he does not believe the truck's contents would be considered regulated fill.

Regulated fill, according to DEP regulations, is soil, stone, rock, dredged material, used asphalt, historic fill, brick and block and concrete from construction or demolition work. Medical waste is not a permitted material.

Snyder said residents living near the quarry, located between Stiles and North Coplay, have complained about a stench in that area.

"The people should be heard at a public hearing," Snyder said.

Calling the DEP permit approval "disgraceful," Snyder alleged the Coplay Aggregates testimony on what would fill the quarry and what is actually being placed there do not match.

The issue came to light last month when the commissioners held an emergency meeting to address the issue. They discussed many options, including an attempt to have the permit rescinded and a public hearing.

Snyder said the township wants assurance of the fill material, its origin and what is to be built on the site once filled, as well as any remediation plans if hazardous materials are in fact found on the site. She said the township cannot simply take the word of Coplay Aggregates as doing the right thing.