Falls Supervisors Set Elcon Waste Plant Meeting

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA — Supervisors in Falls Township have scheduled a special meeting to consider controversial plans for a waste treatment plant in the township.

The proposal, by Elcon Recycling Services, will be the topic of a meeting on April 30 at Keller Hall at Pennsbury High School West in Fairless Hills, supervisors announced. The school is at 608 Olds Blvd. in Fairless Hills.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

On Jan. 25, Elcon officially submitted a land development proposal to the township after roughly four years of planning.

The Israeli company would build a facility at the Keystone Industrial Port Complex, on a 23-acre parcel of land previously owned by U.S. Steel, that would treat up to 193,000 tons of hazardous and pharmaceutical waste per year.

Next month's consideration will come after receiving years of feedback about the proposal, supervisors said, including a standing-room-only crowd that attended a supervisors meeting this week.

In the face of organized opposition from critics who say they fear the potential of air and water pollution from the plant, supervisors say they are required by law to fairly review and consider the plans.

"We’re not going to lie to you, to give you answers you want to hear," said supervisors Chairman Bob Harvie in a news release. "It’s not our job. I won’t do that as long as I’m here."

Vice Chairman Jeffry Dence said the board is listening to feedback from the community.

"We see your signs" he said. "We all live in the same town. We’re all raising families."

Elcon, which does not have to seek any local zoning variances for the project, has assured the public that the facility — the first in the United States by the company — would be state-of-the-art and safe. The company says no radioactive waste or waste from oil or gas "fracking" operations would be accepted.