The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a consent order with a Western Pennsylvania hazardous waste landfill over its pollution discharges into a Westmoreland County stream.
The order follows a 2023 EPA inspection that found multiple problems with the waste treatment system at MAX Environmental Technologies’ landfill in Yukon, Pennsylvania.
That inspection revealed holes in a wastewater treatment container, as well as a failure by the company to adequately maintain the pH of its wastewater, which includes runoff and other waste from the landfill.
The EPA said that between 2022 and 2023, the plant’s wastewater discharged into Sewickley Creek exceeded pollution limits 20 times. Those included high levels of cadmium, zinc and other pollutants.
The order will require the company to increase water monitoring, improve its training practices, and hire an engineer to evaluate its practices and devise a plan to achieve compliance.
A concern about pollution ‘for over 40 years’
It was the latest in a history of violations at the landfill. In April, the EPA issued a consent order to the company over multiple solid waste violations, including finding waste buried at the landfill with 1300 times the legal limit of cadmium, a heavy metal and probable human carcinogen that can affect the kidneys and lungs. They also found poorly maintained buildings and piles of hazardous waste exposed to the elements.
Stacy Magda, managing organizer with the Mountain Watershed Association, said the consent order was not enough for people living nearby to feel safe.
“The regulatory agencies – they validated the decades of concern about the community’s instincts and what everyone was saying was happening there,” she said. “It was a validation. But at the same time, issuing these consent orders is only allowing MAX Environmental to come into compliance.”
The landfill, less than 500 feet from homes in Yukon, was built in the 1960s on top of a former strip mine. It has historically accepted waste from the steel and glass industries. In recent years, it has continued to receive waste from the steel industry as well as drill cuttings from the oil and gas industry.
In the 1980s, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection found the landfill had leached chemicals into the groundwater and ordered the company to re-cap some sections. The EPA says groundwater beneath the facility shows “sporadic exceedances” of fluoride, barium, cadmium, lead and manganese.
“The community has long been dealing with what they say is involuntary exposure to hazardous waste and hazardous materials for over 40 years,” Magda said.
Carl Spadaro, environmental general manager for MAX Environmental Technologies, said the company is complying with the order.
“We have significantly improved our compliance with our permitted effluent limits over the past year,” Spadaro said in an email. “There have not been any pollutants in stormwater runoff at our facility. We have been working with EPA and PADEP to maintain compliance.”
Spadaro said the company has completed some repair work and will have a third-party engineering evaluation of the treatment system completed this fall. Based on those recommendations, Spadaro said the company will make any repairs and upgrades by “early next year.”
The EPA will hold an online listening session about the order on October 9 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. “to better understand past, current, and future community concerns related to the site.”
Mountain Watershed Association and other community groups will hold an in-person event during the listening session at the Yukon Fire Hall, 124 Highway Street, Yukon, Pa., for residents and stakeholders. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
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