MASCARO LANDFILL RECEIVES TONNAGE INCREASE TO HANDLE MARCELLUS DRILL CUTTINGS

On July 27, 2011, the White Pines Residual Waste Landfill, a J. P. Mascaro & Sons affiliated facility, received a Pennsylvania DEP permit for a tonnage increase at its landfill in Columbia County. The tonnage increase is 300 tons per day, making White Pines average permitted volume 1,100 tons per day and its maximum permitted volume 1,300 tons per day.

The tonnage increase is specifically reserved for the disposal of Marcellus drill cuttings, a soil-like material that is a by-product of the many Marcellus gas wells that are now being drilled in North Central Pennsylvania where White Pines is located. White Pines will not be receiving or disposing of the “fracking fluid” that is also a part of the drilling process. That material is received and treated at permitted waste water treatment plants.

Speaking to the new DEP permit, White Pines Director of Environmental Compliance, Matthew Mascaro, noted: “The birth and growth of the Marcellus shale industry in this area has brought many jobs to the region as well as an abundant new energy resource, but it has also brought a real need for local and regional disposal capacity to handle the Marcellus drill cuttings. As the only permitted residual waste landfill in Pennsylvania, White Pines is uniquely qualified to receive and dispose of this material, and we are pleased to be able to provide the industry with this vital service at a reasonable cost and in an environmentally compliant manner. “

White Pines filed its permit modification application in 2010; it completed the municipal involvement process in February 2011, to which eleven municipalities, two counties and various state elected officials were invited; it completed the “harms/benefits” permit review process in July, 2011, with DEP concluding that the benefits from the tonnage increase project substantially outweigh any known or potential harms from that project; and DEP issued the final permit approval to White Pines on July 27, 2011. The tonnage increase is effective immediately.

The White Pines Landfill, located in Pine Township, Columbia County, near the Borough of Millville, was first permitted in July 1995, it received a ten-year permit renewal from DEP in June 2005, and it, together with J. P. Mascaro & Sons, serves businesses and industries in the North Central Region of Pennsylvania.

Frank A. Sau
Director of Communications
J.P. Mascaro & Sons

2650 Audubon Road
Norristown, PA 19403

267-933-6022