Former Lucchese crime family dump site to be remediated
An illegal Westfall Township dump site with ties to organized crime that was shut down around 1989 is going to be remediated.
The dump, owned by Charlie and Judith Shay, is on the Riverview Inn property in Westfall Township.
A recently published public notice indicates
the site will move through the Pennsylvania Land Recycling Program, also
known as "Act 2," with the intention of remediating the site and
formally closing the case.
The property was
contaminated after Shay, working with others, allowed vast quantities of
construction and demolition debris and some medical waste to be dumped
at the site between February and October 1989, federal court papers say.
Some
17 acres of land were contaminated during the dumping. Soil tests at
the time found lead and benzo(a)pyrene in certain areas of the soil,
plus wood, metal, asphalt and brick, said Colleen Connolly, spokeswoman
for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Benzo(a)pyrene, found in coal tar, is highly carcinogenic.
Sample testing from the mid-1990s showed the groundwater there had a methane gas issue.
Remediation plan
Shay
confirmed through an email that he hired ARM Group Inc., an
environmental remediation firm, to move the property through the Act 2
process.
He chose this time to remediate the
property for "no particular reason other than I have the time and ARM
comes highly recommended," Shay wrote.
A
Limited Site Assessment of the Shay Property was conducted by ARM in
2005, and the debris fill area on the property was identified as an
"open" case with the DEP.
Soil and groundwater
sampling activities were completed, and a Site Characterization,
Exposure Assessment, and Proposed Remedial Action Report was prepared
and submitted to the DEP in 2007, explained ARM Project Manager Steve
Fulton.
The DEP responded to the report in
2008, saying that the dumped materials could be left in place because of
the absence of any notable contamination or risks to human health or
the environment, Fulton said.
To formally
enter the site into the Act 2 process, an Act 2 Notice of Intent to
Remediate was recently prepared and submitted to the DEP.
ARM will meet with the DEP to review the plans. Once the DEP approves a plan, the remediation will begin.
Remediation
does not completely clean a site; instead it fixes it as much as
possible and brings freshness to the site, Connolly said.
The plan at the Shay site is to leave the debris in place and cover it with clean fill, Connolly said.
Illegal dumping
In
1969, during the construction of Interstate 84, the property's previous
owner allowed state highway contractors to excavate a large hole from
the property.
The hole became partially filled with tree stumps and other organic waste, but there remained a large depression.
In 1988, the Shays began construction of a restaurant on the property and needed to fill the depression as part of that project.
Shay arranged with a waste broker named Kelly Wall to bring clean fill to the site.
Instead
of clean fill, however, Wall dumped shredded demolition waste,
municipal waste, construction debris, and other debris at the site,
court papers say.
At some point during this
time, Shay's then-attorney, Randolph Borden, requested that the state
issue a permit to Shay to use his land as a site for the dumping of
construction and demolition debris. The request was denied because the
property was too close to residential areas and the Delaware River.
Twice
in 1988, state officials inspected the Shay property and found the
landfill material previously dumped by Wall to be environmentally
unacceptable.
Wall stopped dumping and abandoned the project, court papers say.
In
January 1989, Donald Herzog, James Rogan and Frank Salerno met with
Shay and proposed to bring processed construction and demolition waste
to the site.
Herzog formed a corporation
called Tri-State Land Development Inc., which brought the materials to
the site, supervised the work and charged haulers cash.
In March 8, 1989, the state cited the Shays for the unlawful dumping of the Wall waste and imposed a $20,000 civil penalty.
Herzog,
Shay and others met with Pennsylvania regulatory authorities to discuss
cleanup of the site. Herzog proposed to remove the Wall material and
replace it with better quality fill.
He
provided the state with a list of safeguards to ensure that the Wall
material would be properly removed and that clean fill would be dumped
in its place.
It was later discovered that
before that meeting, Herzog and Shay had already opened the landfill and
accepted construction and demolition debris.
The dumping increased after the meeting with the state, but not on the terms discussed with the officials.
Crime family
From March through July 1989, Herzog, Shay and others allowed truckloads of untreated debris to be dumped there, often at night.
Although
the illegal landfill operated for only six months, the proceeds of the
operation totaled about $3 million, of which Shay received a one-sixth
cut.
In addition, $500,000 in payments were
made to the New York Lucchese crime family, with payments funneled though
then-acting boss of the family, Alphonse D'Arco.
The
Luchese family assisted in overseeing operation of the dump and
transmitting money inside the Luchese family hierarchy, a 1993
indictment said.
In May 1989, the ground wells
of neighboring residents on Rose Lane began to emit foul odors and
brown fluids, and the water acquired a foul taste. After heavy rains,
the wells produced brown foam.
The state
issued a cease-and-desist order in July 1989, ordering immediate halting
of dumping at the site, but dumping and negotiations with the state
continued on and off until 14 people involved in the operation,
including Shay, were indicted in 1993.
Shay spent some time in prison.
Today, he operates the Riverview Inn banquet hall and sells barbecue sauces marketed as being "so good it ought to be illegal."
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140302/NEWS/403020338
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