Last Thursday, PENNDOT decided to delay the release of a permanent solution proposal to deal with acid rock drainage problems on a portion of the Interstate 99 project in Centre County.
PENNDOT made the decision with the agreement of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, the agency which it was to present the report to no later than yesterday.
The permanent solution proposal is aimed at resolving an environmental hazard in a construction area along Skytop Mountain in Patton Township. Originally, PENNDOT told the DEP it would release the proposal by Monday.
“We made the decision late last week on Thursday,” said Marla Fannin, spokesperson for PENNDOT’s District Two. The new deadline for the remediation plan is May 24.
“It was a joint decision between the two agencies,” explained Fannin. “It is simply PENNDOT’s and DEP’s belief we need to make sure that report is as thorough as possible and we also want to insure the best options for mitigating the problem have been identified.
“It was our belief that we just needed a little bit more time to make sure we are doing exactly that, in the best interest of everyone,” Fannin told The Daily Herald.
Once the plan is approved, PENNDOT is hoping to work as quickly as possible to correct the problem while keeping the impact on the environment to a minimum.
“We continue to plan our public meeting for June 1,” said Fannin. “We have not moved off that date. The public meeting will be held at the Mount Nittany Middle School outside of Boalsburg. The meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“It will include both an open house where people can visit different informational stations and we will do two or three question and answer type presentations throughout the evening.”
On Friday, PENNDOT also issued another in a series of weekly updates regarding the acid rock drainage situation. The portion of the project in the affected area has been delayed because of the problems.
Among the latest details:
•no additional surface water quality samples were collected last week;
•water supply inventory mailings have been mailed to 119 residents within 1¼4 and 1¼2 mile radius. To date, 78 responses have been received. The 78 responses equate to 99 homes. A total of 68 residential wells representing 106 homes and three abandoned wells have been sampled;
•four wells have been installed at the toe of Siebert. Two wells have been installed down gradient of the Arbogast waste area and two wells have been
•installed down gradient of the Bifurcation waste area. Four boreholes have been completed at the 3042 Fill area and the results have been tabulated;
•well drilling and borehole construction is complete. No further wells or boreholes will be constructed. From May 10-12, groundwater samples were collected from all 15 monitoring wells installed at these waste areas. Results were submitted on May 12th for a 48-hour rush turnaround and those results were pending as of the report date of May 14.
•enviroscan surveys have been completed. Processing of that data is also complete. Data for Seibert is also complete.
The remaining data has been received.
PENNDOT’s weekly update also indicated three areas were investigated where possible pyretic fill may have been transported. Those areas are: Echo Hills Housing Development, Blue Course Drive (Western Inner Loop), and the Houserville School Athletic Club. Samples were collected at each site. Laboratory testing results have been received and copies forwarded to PA DEP. Two of the three samples collected at Blue Course Drive exceeded the DEP threshold limit of 0.5 percent sulfur. The remaining sample was below the threshold limit. PENNDOT says it is continuing to monitor and review the situation. Echo Hills and the Houserville Athletic Field results were all below the threshold limit.
The state’s transportation department is also reporting, procedures have been finalized for installing geotubes at Basins L and M, Seibert, Arbogast, and Basin 1. geotubes have been ordered. Baffles have been installed at the Seibert and Arbogast basins and at sediment basins L, M and 1.
Additional information on the I-99 acid rock drainage can be found on the web at www.dot.pa.state.us Click on Regional Information, click on the red number 2, and choose Info on I-99.
