Editor’s note: “From the archive” is a recurring series highlighting vintage photos submitted by community members or gathered from the Tribune-Review’s files. If you have a photo you would like to see featured here, please contact gtrcity@triblive.com.
For more than 60 years, industrial waste has been disposed of and treated at a rural location in South Huntingdon.
The facility opened near Yukon in 1963 as Mill Service, according to its website. Undated Trib archive photos show how it looked at one time, with holding tanks, ponds and a chemistry lab. It is now known as MAX Environmental Technologies.
MAX treats industrial and hazardous waste and stores the residual materials from steel mills and natural gas hydraulic fracturing, acidic pickle liquor from steel mill finishing plants, oils from steel factory rolling mills and sludge containing aluminum, iron, copper, nickel and zinc.
The site has been the subject of controversy over the years. The operations have been a source of complaints from the community about air pollution, odors and water pollution that residents said have impacted their health and life for decades, which led to a lawsuit. MAX Environmental has been cited by South Huntingdon and the state Department of Environmental Protection and fined for violating ordinances regarding odors and dust.
The company recently halted its plan to reapply for a permit to add a new hazardous waste landfill to instead focus on compliance issues federal regulatory officials identified after an inspection this year.
