SMETHPORT — On Oct. 4, the McKean County Conservation District held its Annual BMP Tour to showcase water quality projects and partnerships.
At the beginning of the program Jason Pennypacker from WAGA Energy. He stated, “WAGA Energy are engineer, entrepreneurs, and environmentalists committed to mitigating climate change for future generations.” He went on to discuss the Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Facility being planned in Sergeant Township.
The RNG facility will receive landfill gas from the adjacent McKean County Landfill through a treatment and extensive refinement process. The plant will produce RNG for sale and injection into a nearby natural gas distribution pipeline. Katelynn Decker, Conservation District’s conservation technician, and Pete Schuster from PA Department of Environmental Protection’s NW Regional Office, discussed the permitting associated with the McKean RNG project and the McKean County Landfill’s expansion.
Participants then boarded a bus to visit the McKean County Landfill for an up-close look at the daily operations and inner workings of the facility. The tour was led by Casella personnel, Don Shonts, Tim Oknefski, and Steve Dubrey. Participants were taken to the top of the landfill, “the 8th highest mountain in McKean County,” said Shonts. Here the participants watched as garbage trucks and 12’ high rail containers were emptied at the active working face. Participants quickly learned that a “landfill is much more than a place our unwanted trash goes,” stated Shonts. “There is a science and engineering that goes into every piece of a landfill to make it as efficient as possible.”
The McKean County landfill is designed and managed to protect the environment from contamination. It has been constructed with a number of features to control emissions and prevent the spread of waste into the surrounding environment. These features include liners, to prevent liquids from entering groundwater; water monitoring and gas wells to capture methane and other gases that are generated by the waste.
The tour also included a stop at the new rail system and crane operation. Participants got to see first-hand as the containers came in on the new rail system and how they are loaded and unloaded.
The next stops of the tour were devoted to the Conservation District’s Dirt Gravel and Low Volume Road projects on Hutchins Road in Sergeant Township. Lindsay Trojanowski, Conservation District’s resource conservationist, led this portion of the tour describing the implementation of the two dirt and gravel projects.
The first one visited was for a project completed in 2023 within the Little Sicily watershed that included placing fill, installation and replacement of 13 crosspipes and installation of underdrain along the side of the road as well as paving the apron of the Huchins Road as it connected to Campbelltown Road.
The second project was implemented in 2022 that entailed placing fill, installing seven crosspipes, and installing underdrain. This project also included installation of two dirt and gravel best management practices, a french mattress and high-water bypass within the Rocky Run Watershed. This was accomplished through a $215,580 grant through the district with the township contributing $10,760.00 for a total project cost of $226,340.00.
Trojanowski said, “These practices are not only directed at assisting municipalities with maintaining their roads but also improve water quality by preventing sedimentation from entering our streams.”
Chris Carlson, Sergeant Township supervisor, said, “Due to the funds committed by the district, the township was able to complete upgrades to the entire stretch of Hutchins Road.”
The second dirt and gravel project also included discussion on a stream mitigation project that will take place in 2025. The district is partnering with Casella on the replacement of an existing undersized 4-foot-wide stream crossing for Rocky Run, a wild trout stream. The new crossing will be a bankfull aluminum box culvert structure that is 10 feet by 11 inches with full aquatic organism passage and in-stream stabilization.
