The Bradford Sanitary Authority accepted the latest revision of
the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Consent Order
and Agreement during a special meeting Tuesday.
Chairman Daniel J. Hartle said the purpose of the meeting was
solely to accept or not accept the latest revision of the DEP
consent order, which he believed to be the fourth draft of the
document.
Hartle said the latest revision addressed some of the
authority’s main concerns – additional equivalency dwelling units,
or hook-ups, this year, a carry-over of those EDUs into next year
and the right to appeal the DEP’s decision.
“The (latest revision of the) consent order allows for more EDUs
in 2007 that carry over into 2008,” Hartle said. “We also have a
limited right to appeal their decision. If (the DEP) didn’t take
those (concerns) into consideration, we were not going to do
it.”
Under the latest revision of the consent order, in the case of
an appeal, the burden is on the authority and local municipalities
to prove the DEP abused their discretion, according to Hartle.
Upon signing the agreement, the authority receives an allocation
of 85 EDUs through next year. After next year, the consent order
allows the authority to request up to 50 EDUs from the DEP each
year to use when it is granted until March 31 of the following
year.
“I think those are more than enough (EDUs),” Hartle said. “I
don’t think we’ve ever had that much new construction. The only
problem would be if there’s a large subdivision that moves (into
the area).”
Besides the Bradford Sanitary Authority, the consent order also
includes the City of Bradford, Bradford Township, Bradford Township
Sanitary Authority, Foster Township, Foster Township Authority,
Lafayette Township, Lafayette Township Sewer Authority, Lewis Run
Borough and the Lewis Run Borough Sewer Authority.
“I think this is the best deal we’re going to get on this so
I’ll make a motion to accept the order,” said authority treasurer
Lee Ann Doynow, as a resolution was made and passed by the members
of the authority.
Engineer Al Vanderpoel told the authority the Foster Township
supervisors and authority signed the order but were awaiting the
signature from their solicitor.
Vanderpoel said the Bradford Township supervisors have a meeting
set for Monday, where they’re expected to sign the order. He said
the Bradford Township Sanitary Authority already approved and
signed the order but are awaiting the signature of attorney Greg
Henry, who is expected to sign at the Monday meeting.
Vanderpoel said Lafayette Township was meeting at the same time
as the sanitary authority meeting Tuesday, and the Lafayette
Township Sewer Authority already approved and passed a resolution
on the consent order. He also said he has no knowledge of what
Lewis Run Borough and its authority had done or planned to do with
the consent order.
Vanderpoel pointed out that all the municipalities and
authorities under the order just have to sign it by Tuesday – the
DEP’s deadline for approving the consent order.
Hartle announced during a regular meeting in October of 2005
that the authority was being asked by the DEP to enter into a
consent order – a month after finishing a similar mandate with both
the DEP and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that cost the
authority several years and thousands of dollars to complete.
The most recent consent order was spurred by surcharge or
manhole overflows at Harding and Lowell avenues, Charlotte Avenue
and Neva Drive, Hartle said previously.
A consent decree, according to Black’s Law Dictionary, is a
“judgment entered by consent of the parties whereby the defendant
agrees to stop alleged illegal activity without admitting guilt or
wrongdoing.”
By signing the consent order, the municipalities and authorities
it names agree to bring their sewage facilities into compliance
with the Clean Streams Law, the Sewage Facilities Act and all other
relevant regulations of the DEP on a schedule the agency
accepts.
