Whitehall Township has been granted a hearing in Harrisburg on its appeal from Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) granting Coplay Aggregates its request to dump regulated fill into a dry quarry at 5101 Beckmantown Road, a large site between North Coplay and West Coplay.

An October 2014 Pennsylvania DEP inspection report confirmed medical waste, such as syringes, at the quarry.

Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners and the administration, headed by Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr., banded together in attempts to have the permit for regulated fill granted to Coplay Aggregates overturned.

The township was notified the state’s DEP Environmental Hearing Board has agreed to hear the township’s argument - the permit given to Coplay Aggregates should be voided since the township was not given an opportunity to raise its position on such an important issue.

Regulated fill by DEP standards consists of brick, block or concrete from construction or demolition work, soil, stone, rock, used asphalt and historic fill. The state uses self reporting and inspection to make certain there is nothing dangerous or hazardous that is dumped at the site.

Hozza’s and the commissioners’ stance is that the township wants to know what material is taken to the quarry and its origin. The mayor added the township also wants to know what could be built on the site once filling the quarry is complete and what remediation plans are in place if hazardous materials are dumped there.

Commissioner Linda Snyder has said previously she is disappointed the DEP permit was allowed without a hearing or answers the township sought.

Commissioners President Phillips Armstrong in earlier comments noted DEP bypassed the township completely.

For many years, Coplay Aggregates used what DEP described as clean fill in quarries. No special permit was required since the material was not allowed to contain any contaminated material.