MAX pulls application for new Yukon waste storage pit, vows to refile

Yukon-area residents opposed to a hazardous and industrial waste treatment company’s plans to create another dumpsite near Sewickley Creek received a temporary reprieve as the company withdrew its proposal.

MAX Environmental Technologies Inc. of Upper St. Clair notified the Department of Environmental Protection last month that it was withdrawing its application to build Lagoon No. 7 to address issues raised by the agency, said Carl Spadaro, MAX Environmental general manager.

The company plans to examine those issues and refile for the operating permit with the DEP by the end of the year, said Bob Shawver, MAX president. The company has worked for more than four years on obtaining a permit to build the lagoon, which the company estimates would cost between $15 million and $17 million.

Eric Harter, Youghiogheny Riverkeeper for the Mountain Watershed Association, said the conservation group had a “slight celebration” over MAX’s decision to withdraw the permit.

“I’m hoping that they don’t do it at all,” said Colette Korber, who has joined many of her neighbors in the former coal mining village to oppose the operation. The community is home to about 600 residents.

MAX Environmental has said it needs to build the 1 million-ton storage site because the last remaining dump on its property is nearing the end of its life span. MAX stated in a September 2022 newsletter that 4 acres of Landfill 6 was closed in 2021 and another 2½ acres would be closed in 2022.

The work to cap the dumpsite is expected to continue into 2025. The proposed landfill could extend the life of its 159-acre Mill Service facility by as much as 10 years, MAX officials have said.

“I’m hoping they will shut it down,” because the landfill will exhaust its usable storage capacity, Korber said.

Residents who opposed MAX’s expansion plans packed the Yukon Fire Hall last year for a DEP hearing on the proposal. The complaints that state officials heard were similar to those from past years — the potential health impact on the community from treatment of hazardous waste, as well as the dust and odors that waft from the site and the potential environmental risks.

The company withdrew the application for the permit after the DEP informed MAX in November, and again in December, that its proposed site is too close to Sewickley Creek’s 100-year flood plain zone and that it does not have control over Millbell Road, a township road that MAX wants to use in hauling waste to the propossed landfill. Both issues violate state regulations.

Craig Zafaras, whose 61-acre property along Spring Lane is near the entrance to MAX’s property, said he is concerned about the expansion, even though it is planned for the other side of the landfill. Dust and odors from Landfill No. 6, overlooking Spring Lane, have long been a source of complaints from residents.

“My damage already has been done,” Zafaras said.

Spadaro said he is confident that MAX’s proposed site for the landfill will meet setback requirements for Sewickley Creek and that it would be built outside the designated flood plain zone.

Harter said MAX’s proposed site is clearly within the “legal flood plain” of Sewickley Creek. The DEP had informed MAX it does not follow the flood zone boundaries set by a federal flood plain insurance program.

“While lack of trust in MAX remains strong, this is a sign of hope for Yukon, (that) this area is much more than a wasteland,” said Stacey Magda, a Mountain Watershed community organizer.

The previous owner of the landfill, Mill Service, opened the site in 1957, accepting hazardous waste from various industries, including steel mills that sent an acidic mixture used to clean steel. Residents have protested the operation for more than 40 years, as citizens groups such as Concerned Residents of the Yough in the 1980s fought both Mill Service and what was then the Department of Environmental Resources over pollution from the site. Those battles were carried out in public hearings and in court.