Signs warn Sewickley Creek users in Yukon of possible pollution from dump

Avid Sewickley Creek boaters Marc Rexrode and Tawni Wilson learned Saturday that the creek where they love to kayak on, from Yukon to the Youghiogheny River, may be carrying pollutants from a hazardous waste treatment facility and storage site just off the stream.

“I had no idea it was here. I thought it was a garbage dump,” said Rexrode, a Lowber area resident.

“Why are they allowed to dump anything,?” Rexrode wondered.

Rexrode was among about 20 people who gathered along the creek in Sewickley Township on Saturday morning to watch signs being posted alerting creek users to what could be in the stream they enjoy.

The Mountain Watershed Association, an environmental group based in Melcroft, posted two signs along Creek Road in Sewickley Township warning of the potential pollutants in the wastewater that MAX Environmental Technologies Inc. can discharge from its landfill into the creek that forms part of the border between Sewickley and South Huntingdon.

“I hope this (the signs) gives people a chance to know what is truly going on,” said Stacey Magda, managing organizer for Mountain Watershed. For far too long, Magda said, the Yukon community was not aware of what could be discharged into the creek.

One of the signs was posted across from the pipe discharging wastewater from the landfill in South Huntingdon, and the other is along the same road, where boaters and those fishing can easily access the creek.

The signs, posted on private property, state that the stream may be polluted with arsenic, cyanide, hexavelent chronium and more substances.

If discloration in the water or the presence of a fish kill is observed, the sign lists a state Department of Envionmental Protection hotline to call.

The Sewickley Township supervisors amended an ordinance that permits the posting in an agricultural area, of permanent signs that notify the public of health and welfare issues, said Madison Hinkle, a staff attorney for Mountain Watershed who worked with the township supervisors on the issue.

“This will give them a warning. At least they will know now” what is in the creek, said Michael Thompson, who has lived in Yukon for about 30 years.

Carl Spadaro, environmental general manager for Pittsburgh-based MAX Environmental, said he did not have a comment on the signs, but said that the pollutants permitted in the landfill’s discharge are no different than other similar landfills.

The organization typically takes samples of the water from the outflow pipe monthly and sends the samples to a certifed laboratory in Greensburg or Somerset, said Eric Harder, the watershed group’s Youghiogheny riverkeeper.

In cases where the chemicals exceed the permitted levels, Harder said he notifies the state Department of Environmental Protection for further action.

The Environmental Protection Agency had notified MAX Environmental in December of 19 incidents between Jan. 31, 2022 and July 31, 2023 where the landfill’s wastewater discharged into the creek exceeded the permitted levels for chemicals such as cadium, nitrogen ammonia and the amount of dissolved oxygen, which is a measure of the amount of decayed organic matter in the water.

MAX Environmental challenged the notices of potential violations, Spadaro said.

Spadaro acknowledged that there were problems with the company’s wastewater treatment plant at the 159-acre landfill that would have led to the higher levels of the chemicals flowing into the stream.

The company has been the target of complaints about its operations and potential health impacts, for decades. South Huntingdon has filed numerous complaints about odors and dust from the facility.

The sign postings come as some residents living within a 2-mile radius of the Yukon treatment and storage site are awaiting a decision from Westmoreland County Judge Harry Smail Jr. on whether to approve a proposed class action settlement with MAX Environmental over bad odors and dust that have impacted their quality of life since July 2014.

The judge in September had given his preliminary approval to the settlement in September.

Smail received input from some Yukon area residents regarding the proposed $275,000 settlement with the company during a hearing in January. Residents from 268 households out of about 1,100 eligible households within that 2-mile radius joined the lawsuit and would share in the money from the settlement, according to an attorney representing the complainants. Var

Among those in the lawsuit are Kirk Brooks and Mary Jurgevich, who listened Saturday as Mountain Watershed representatives talked about the impact the landfill has had on the lives of those in the Yukon area.

“It’s definitely not good stewardship of the environment,” said Jurgevich, of MAX Environmental’s operations.

Trout are stocked in the creek from a bridge upstream of the pipe from the landfill and there are people who fish fishing in the creek and youngsters playing in the water, who do not know what is being pumped into those waters, she noted.

Mountain Watershed also has fought against MAX Environmental’s plans to create a seventh landfill to extend the life of the facility.

MAX had notified the state DEP in February that it was withdrawing its application to expand its waste storage capacity. The company does not intend to reapply for a permit for a seventh landfill, until it resolves the potential violations noted by the EPA, Spadaro said.

Based on the rate of the industrial waste that MAX Environmental is accepting, Spadaro said its sixth landfill may reach its permitted capacity in about a year.