For years Perdue has been planning a soybean-to-oil factory along the Susquehanna River in Conoy Township, Lancaster County, Pa. Lancaster officials say the factory would create 35 permanent jobs and help farmers by buying soybeans.
Perdue applied to the Pa. Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for a permit to save money by permanently releasing large amounts of waste Hexane -- a brain-damaging neurotoxin -- into the air.
Housing close to the Perdue site is directly across the river in Hellam Township, York County, Pa., where officials object to anyone's needlessly breathing Hexane pollution.
The public was told the time for it to submit written comments to the DEP ended on December 17, 2012. But since then Lancaster County officials have not only continued but increased lobbying the DEP on behalf of Perdue.
Lancaster officials lobbying the DEP for polluting Perdue include:
U.S. Rep. Joseph R. Pitts
Pa. State Rep. David S. Hickernell
Lancaster County Commissioner Scott F. Martin
Lancaster County Agriculture Council's Scott J. Sheely
Conoy Township Supervisor Gina M. Mariani
It's time for the public to review the following from WGAL-TV 8 news coverage of the December 13, 2012 hearing that the DEP held in Hellam Township:
DEP Information Specialist:
“There are effects of Hexane, but the purpose of our department is to make sure that those effects are limited as much as possible.”
Perdue Spokesman:
"We are confident that the hexane levels from this plant will be well below the thresholds set by the EPA for public health." (Mr. Black would take no questions.)
NOTE:
Perdue asked to yearly release hundreds of tons of Hexane. The EPA reports:
"Long-term exposure to Hexane, a toxic air pollutant, can cause permanent nerve damage in humans.... Major sources are those that emit more than 10 tons a year."
Hellam Township Resident and Cancer Research Doctor:
"Eighty percent [of Hexane] is just going to be blown out into the air."
Hellam Township Resident and Elected Official:
“Everything that comes out of that plant is going to blow directly over us first, before it even hits anyone over in Lancaster County.”
Lancaster County Resident Carol Bromer:
"There should be some way that the unemployed can have jobs, and the farmers can have an outlet for their product, and we still have air that doesn’t have additional pollutants.”
The above photos and comments appear in the Lancaster, Pa. WGAL-TV 8 news video, "Residents air concerns over proposed soybean plant," posted at this December 14, 2012 WGAL site:
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"Having received only minimal answers from Perdue, my family decided to seek information on our own.... We engaged the legal services of Saul Ewing, environmental engineering services of August Mack Environmental, the explosion expert services of Ballistic Analysis International and the scientific services of the Department of Earth Sciences at Millersville University."
-- Conoy Township resident and owner of Nissley Vineyards & Winery, Judith Nissley as quoted in the complete transcript of the December 13, 2014 DEP public hearing posted at:
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"We don't need any more crap in the air.... Mr. Black, ...we don't want you here.... We don't want your plant."
-- Annette Logan of Hellam Township addressing Perdue's Environmental Director Wayne Black, as quoted in the complete transcript of the December 13, 2014 DEP public hearing posted at: http://files.dep.state.pa.us/RegionalResources/SCRO/SCROPortalFiles/Community%20Info/Perdu-Transcript12-13-12PublicHearing.pdf
Ask the folks over on Zion Church Rd in Salisbury how they're feeling. That Perdue feed mill has had a giant tank of hexane there for many years making partially hydrogenated soybean oil, and I've never heard a peep.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like the plant then move , whinning all the time , progress is here.
ReplyDeleteHexane , these people don't have a clue what they are talking about.
Things that they should be concerned with:
1. race war
2. terrorist activity
3. IRS activity
4. police state
5. Improve Obamas golf game
6. support Eric Holder to ruin
the country
7. 2nd amendment
8. 1st amendment
9. Ferguson , free stuff givaway
5:36 - speak up as an employee and you'll be out of a job....there are no whistleblower protections from private company retaliation.
ReplyDeletemany people have lived near and around the Zion Church Rd. facility for many, many years with no complaints. this should tell you something...
ReplyDeletewhoever continues to want to keep this post in the forefront needs to find another topic. this is really getting old.
You mean no one in that area has ever gotten cancer or any kind of respiratory problems-ever?
ReplyDeleteWe all need to move there! Healthiest place on Delmarva!
Ray Wallace = Jackass who seems to live solely to smear the name of a company and industry that employs a lot of people who appreciate the chance to work for them.
ReplyDeleteThey may employ a lot of people 10:36 but most are getting below poverty level wages. This in turn has sucked the life out of the area. Those employees can't afford to buy homes, which in turn have cause property values to fall. Then there is the problem of the employees being subsidized by tax payers in the form of welfare benefits they receive because they can't live on their wages alone. These employees cost the tax payers millions a year which could be spent in other areas and not paying for a large companies employees.
ReplyDeleteThey are why MD has the flush tax the gas tax, this tax and that tax. Too many people making too little money and not paying income tax.
It's a double edged sword.