The state’s Department of Environmental Protection has issued a $39,100 fine to the demolition team responsible for the implosion of two smokestacks at the former Cheswick Generating Station in June.
The department said in a statement that $21,600 of the fine can be used by Springdale — the borough where the former station is located — to maintain and upgrade parks and recreation projects. The other $17,500 will go to the state’s Solid Waste Abatement Fund, which helps eliminate substances that are present and potentially hazardous to human health and the environment throughout Pennsylvania.
A consent order and agreement filed earlier this week said that Charah Solutions, the lead company responsible for the demolition, as well as two contractors working with Charah violated state law when they allowed debris from the demolition site to leave the area and enter nearby properties.
“The metal, concrete, dust and other debris released from the Site onto other properties as a result of the felling of the chimneys constitutes solid waste, municipal waste and construction/demolition waste,” the agreement says. Because DEP did not grant permission for that act, state law was violated, the department said.
Steven Brehm, an attorney for Charah, said Thursday that the agreement reflects the “division of responsibility” between Charah and its contractors on site.
“We worked with the state to get to what we thought was fair to the situation,” Mr. Brehm said.
Residents in Springdale voiced frustration in the immediate aftermath of the implosion in June. They said they were concerned about fiberglass in their yards, dust on their properties, and overall health impacts to their families.
The result led more than a dozen of them to file an injunction, preventing the implosion of a boiler house at the power station, which was scheduled to take place in late September. A county judge allowed the injunction to stand, and that case is still in court.
Neighbors in that case have testified that they’ve had to leave their homes because of health concerns, with one comparing it to the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown of 1986. But lawyers for the companies who completed the demolition have said delays would cost the companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that proper protocols and regulations were followed.
The case is expected to continue through at least the next few weeks.
First Published: November 16, 2023, 6:11 p.m.
Updated: November 17, 2023, 4:08 p.m.
