Falls Supervisors Vote Down Elcon Plans

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA — Falls Township's board of supervisors has voted down controversial plans for a chemical and pharmaceutical waste plant.

The board voted unanimously late Tuesday night to deny plans by Elcon Recycling Services for the treatment facility at Keystone Industrial Port Complex. The vote came after two hours of public comment, during which not a single resident spoke in favor of the plans.

It is the latest development in roughly four years of discussion about the plans.

This is a developing story. Patch will update this post as new information, and reactions from Falls supervisors and others, become available.

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.

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.