Pennsylvania’s Dept. of Environmental Protection is asking for the federal government to literally show its work and prove that it did its due diligence on water and sewage use when selecting the former Big Lots Distribution Center in Tremont Township as a site for a massive immigration detention center.
Last month, James Keith Ingalsbe, assistant director of the Dept. of Homeland Security’s Office of Asset and Facilities Management, wrote to DEP asking the state agency for modifications and more time to respond to administrative orders that essentially put a halt on progress at the proposed detention center in Schuylkill County by blocking occupancy and limiting water and sewage services at the property.
On March 24, DEP responded by saying it couldn’t do either until ICE showed the agency what work it’s done to this point.
“To evaluate the majority of your requests and provide meaningful responses, DEP must see ICE’s work to date. Those matersials should include the NEPA documentation supporting ICE’s finding of “No Detrimental Effect” and all other engineering evaluations and studies that reflect ICE’s plans with respect to water and sewage for the facility,” Joseph Buczynski, Northeast Regional Director at DEP writes to Ingalsbe.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in February that he intended to use every power available to him to block ICE detention centers in Schuylkill and Berks counties. Not long after making that statement, DEP orders were handed down not only to ICE but also Tremont Township and Schuylkill County Municipal Authority with regard to the planned facility here.
Buczynski says in four of his five responses to Ingalsbe that modifications to DEP’s orders can’t be granted until it receives more information from ICE.
ICE wants to be able to use as much fresh water and dispose of wastewater at the warehouse property as was permitted to the previous tenant, Big Lots. The DEP order limited water use there to only fire suppression.
“Without further information about ICE’s immediate plans for the property, DEP cannot modify the administrative order without considering the actual near-term drinking water demand at the property,” Buczynski says.
Further, he says that because ICE’s intended use of the property is drastically different than what it’d previously been, the agency must provide plans for that specific, new use.
ICE also requested deadline extensions on several other orders, including one for April 30 to submit a written plan for its water and sewage uses at the Tremont Township property. In his previous letter, Ingalsbe said those written plans do not exist.
Buczynski responds by saying this request “appears to conflict with public statements about ICE’s due diligence work for the ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative.” Further, he writes that DEP can not suspend a 30-day appeal period against the DEP orders.
And in response to a request for ICE to meet with DEP and municipal officials to lay out a timeline and discuss solutions for the project in Tremont Township, Buczynski says once again that without written plans in hand, his agency would not be in the best position to discuss.
READ MORE:
ICE Admits There’s No Written Plan to Supply Fresh Water, Haul Sewage from Tremont Detention Center
DEP Orders Halt to ICE Detention Plans in Schuylkill, Berks Counties
Shapiro Promises “Everything in His Power” to Stop ICE in Schuylkill, Berks Counties
FULL COVERAGE
Read all our stories on this story with impacts across the coal region by following our Topic page: ICE in Schuylkill County
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