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• In a deja vu meeting, the Rush Township Board of Supervisors gave conditional approval Thursday to the preliminary subdivision plan for Resource Recovery LLC, six months after they did exactly the same thing. Resource Recovery originally had rejected the proposed conditions over some sticking points, including references to the county subdivision ordinance and “regional impact.” The municipality went back to the drawing board, with special counsel Charles Zaleski drawing up recommendations for new conditions, including acceptance by Resource Recovery within 24 hours, a stipulation that the approval is not an approval of use, and that any improvements will be part of the land development plan process.
   
  Resource Recovery accepted the terms of Rush Township’s approval of the company’s preliminary subdivision plan. This is not the second time a plan has been approved, but actually the second plan to be approved. The second plan prepares for potential development in Rush while the other looks ahead to development in both townships. Resource Recovery will need to choose which of the two plans it will pursue.

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JULY 2010

• The Surface Transportation Board issued the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Resource Recovery/R.J. Corman rail line proposal. A public meeting is scheduled for September 14, 2010, at the Philipsburg-Osceola High School.

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AUGUST 2010

• Resource Recovery announced another change in their landfill plans. Ed Abel, president of Resource Recovery LLC, will now focus on converting waste to energy. According to an August 31, article in the Centre Daily Times, Resource Recovery proposes to build a waste-to-ethanol plant. The proposed landfill would be about one-fifth the size of the previously proposed 274-acre landfill and would be for garbage not consumed in the waste-to-ethanol process and for when the ethanol plant would be “down.” The trash-to-ethanol part of the project would use the rail line, not the road. The plant could cost about $280 million to build and would produce an estimated 50 millions gallons a year of ethanol.
   
  Development plans also include a water treatment plant and quarry that would serve the natural gas industry. A road off State Route 53 in Snow Shoe Township to access a proposed water treatment plant and quarry is also part of the new plan. See Resource Recovery’s latest Master Plan showing these changes.

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SEPTEMBER 2010

• The Surface Transportation Board (STB) hosted a public meeting September 14, 2010 at the Philipsburg-Osceola High School to make a brief presentation and solicit final comments regarding the environmental assessment findings published in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed rail line for the proposed Resource Recovery landfill.
   
  The 20-mile rail line would be located in eastern Clearfield County primarily in Morris and Cooper Townships, and in western Centre County in Rush and Snow Shoe Townships. Reactivation of the rail banked Eastern Segment would result in the loss of approximately 9.3 miles (about 50%) of the Snow Shoe Multi-Use Rail Trail including the Peale Tunnel and Viaduct Bridge. The alternate line from Munson to Ninth Street in Philipsburg suggested at the February scoping meeting became the preferred route for the Trash Train.

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OCTOBER 2010

• The following notice appeared in the Centre Daily Times:
   
  NOTICE PUBLIC HEARING — A Conditional Use Hearing will be conducted before the Snow Shoe Township Board of Supervisors on Monday, November 1, 2010 at the Snow Shoe Township Municipal Building, 268 Oldside Rd., Clarence, PA 16829. The purpose of the hearing will be to consider evidence and testimony regarding HRI, Inc. proposal to operate a sandstone quarry on the property of Resource Recovery, LLC for the manufacturing and sale of construction aggregate. The conditional use is anticipated until a large surface mining permit is obtained from the Pa. Dept. of Environmental Resources. The applicant is HRI, Inc. with the requested quarrying operation to take place on lands owned by Resource Recovery LLC located in Snow Shoe Township adjacent to Gorton Road on TP#02-010-, 001-, 0000. The application, plans, and other data concerning this conditional use request are available for public inspection at the Snow Show Township Municipal Building. The hearing will be open to the public.

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NOVEMBER 2010

• The two Snow Shoe Township Supervisors present at the November 1, 2010, Public Hearing, John Yecina and George Haines, voted to give HRI Inc. conditional-use approval for a quarry they want to build on Resource Recovery, LLC’s property. The conditional-use approval is for a 44-acre sandstone quarry that HRI Inc. plans to build to serve nearby gas drilling sites.
   
  Upset residents were told that the township had few options and that the project could actually cut truck traffic because in the near term, most if not all of the stone from the quarry will be used on Resource Recovery’s property. The zoning approval was conditional on DEP approving the quarry. Supervisors also directed HRI to find an alternate route, to avoid using Gorton Road, within four years if possible.
   
  Read the letter submitted to the Surface Transportation Board by Troy Abel, Vice President of RRLLC, outlining the latest plans for their 5,800 acre site. The letter not only details the new plans for the landfill but also claims the HRI Inc. quarry as a development of an additional rail use.

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DECEMBER 2010

• Troy Abel of Resource Recovery sends a letter to the Surface Transportation Board informing them of the conditional-use approval for the HRI quarry issued by Snow Shoe Township, confirming our concern that this approval would be used to promote need for the rail line.
• Due to the Resource Recovery’s change in plans for the landfill (i.e., converting garbage to ethanol to ship by rail), the Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) decided to prepare a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT: OEA has recently decided to prepare a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) due to new information submitted about the project proposal. OEA has determined that RJCP’s anticipated transport of ethanol, a regulated hazardous material, over the proposed rail line constitutes a substantial change, requiring the preparation of a SDEIS in this case.

Following issuance of the SDEIS, interested parties will have the opportunity to comment on the issues presented in the SDEIS. OEA will consider all comments on the SDEIS, as well as all comments previously submitted on the DEIS, in preparing the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The FEIS will respond to all substantive comments on the DEIS and SDEIS and will set forth OEA’s final conclusions and recommended mitigation measures. After issuance of the FEIS, the Board will then issue a final decision taking into consideration the DEIS, SDEIS, FEIS, and OEA’s final recommendations on environmental mitigation. A public meeting will not be held to solicit oral comments on the SDEIS. More detailed information will be provided upon issuance of the SDEIS.

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