Tremont Township officials say they do not plan to appeal a March 5 order from the state’s Dept. of Environmental Protection as it relates to the proposed ICE detention center at the site of the former Big Lots Distribution Center.
Schuylkill County Municipal Authority, which also received an order from DEP related to the ICE facility, says it is reviewing the order and no decision on an appeal has been made just yet.
An order was also issued to the Dept. of Homeland Security. DHS has not responded to a request for comment on the order against it.
(READ: DEP Orders Halt to ICE Detention Plans in Schuylkill, Berks Counties)
Those orders essentially halt ICE plans to open a 7,500-bed immigration detention center at the former Big Lots Distribution Center.
In its orders, Tremont Township is to not issue an occupancy permit to DHS at the warehouse until further sewage planning and permitting is obtained from DEP. It is also prohibited from allowing portable sewage holding tanks or portable toilets that may be established on the site until supervisors there revise the Tremont Township Official Sewage Facilities Plan and then receive DEP approval of that plan.
Christopher Riedlinger, solicitor for Tremont Township, says the supervisors there have “not received any request from DHS or any other entity to consider a revision to Tremont Township’s Official Sewage Facilities Plan.”
Further, he says, “The Tremont Township Board of Supervisors has no immediate intention to appeal the DEP’s March 5, 2026 Administrative Order. If this present intention changes during the appeal period, said decision will be announced at a public meeting of the Board of Supervisors.”
SCMA was ordered by DEP to not provide drinking water at the ICE detention center. It is DEP’s contention that the amount of fresh water needed at the proposed facility would exhaust the available supply for the entire area. The local authority is also prohibited by the DEP order from accepting sewage service to the ICE facility and to not accept sewage from portable toilets there. The amount of sewage wastewater created by the detention center could overwhelm the sewage treatment plant, too, and lead to system failure and polluted waterways, DEP says.
In a statement to Coal Region Canary, SCMA executive director Patrick Caulfield says the authority and its solicitor, Sud Patel are currently reviewing the DEP order but no decision has been made on an appeal.
Caulfield says, at this time, SCMA is not currently working with Tremont Township on any revision to its Sewage Facilities Plan and it has not been contacted by DHS or any consultant acting on behalf of DHS regarding the proposed detention center.
Coal Region Canary has solicited a request for response from DHS/ICE regarding these orders. An ICE spokesperson says that request has been forwarded but no response has been received by The Canary.
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