Whitehall Township may have the authority, after all, to ensure only clean and regulated fill is dumped into a former cement quarry, an issue that township officials believed was strictly under the domain of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Agency.

The long-standing position that the township lacks jurisdiction over the dumping of fill may have changed when, at the board of commissioners workshop Monday night, a letter from state Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-18th, was disclosed stating otherwise.

The former quarry, 5001 Beekmantown Road, just outside Stiles, is owned by Coplay Aggregates. Under DEP’s regulated fill definition, brick, historic fill, concrete block from construction, soil, stone and dredged material are permitted to be dumped there.

The township was taken aback when an earlier DEP inspection of the Coplay Aggregates quarry showed medical waste had been dumped there. The company stated it was an isolated incident.

Township officials have not been permitted to inspect the quarry. Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. and the commissioners had originally been notified the township has no such authority.

On July 21, 2015, the township filed an appeal with the state’s environmental hearing board concerning the Coplay Aggregates permit. The appeal is expected to be heard in August, Hozza said. The litigation will determine whether or not Whitehall Township has the legal right to create and establish ordinances and the appropriate scope of the township’s authority, if any at all.

Boscola, in quoting DEP General Permit WMGR096, wrote, “Nothing in this permit shall be construed to supersede, amend or authorize a violation of any of the provisions of any valid and applicable local law, ordinance or regulation, providing that said local law, ordinance or regulation is not pre-empted by the Solid Waste Management Act.”

“This means that municipal government has oversight of the land development/quarry reclamation site, despite the permit being issued by the state. The permit cannot be used over local law,” Boscola wrote.

In an interview Tuesday, Hozza said Whitehall Township’s solicitor will send a letter to Boscola asking for clarification on statements made in the letter.

The township will ask if such a position involves all municipalities in the state and if any case law applies.

The letter, dated Feb. 28, 2017, was actually sent to Christopher Feidler, a resident of Fox Hollow who voiced concerns last year that a sticky substance was covering the homes and vehicles in his neighborhood, located in close proximity to another quarry.

Hozza told the board during the workshop he has “been a detective,” making numerous inquiries to Pennsylvania and New Jersey environmental agencies on the origin of the materials. He said he also has asked questions of officials in Woodbridge, N.J., and the Army Corps of Engineers regarding dredging of the Raritan River in New Jersey.

The mayor said the fill taken to Coplay Aggregates has come from Allentown’s mid-city development as well as out of state.

The township is attempting to find out if inspections of the fill material were made before the tri-axle trucks came to Whitehall with the fill.

“Clean fill is not waste, as the township has identified,” Boscola said in her letter.

She added the use of clean fill for land development/quarry reclamation activities does not require a DEP Waste Management Program Permit; however, a permit is needed for the dumping of regulated fill.

The issue will be discussed again at Monday’s commissioners meeting. Commissioner Jeffrey Dutt said he will bring to the floor a vote regarding the matter.