The Real Hazleton Area
This page is dedicated to
my good friend Bertha Girard,
who lost her fight to Beryliosis in October of 2006 that she acquired while working
at the former Kawecki-Berylco outside of Hazleton. For you and the
thousands of people like you in the Hazleton Area, I wrote this page.
This Picturesque View Is Of The Greater Hazleton Area Will Show The True Story Of What We Live With On A Day To Day Basis.
Past Deep Pit Coal Mining Has Raped
And Robbed This Area
Of All It’s Scenic Beauty And Left Some Nasty Scars
Here
Every week I will post a different picture of a site that's been remediated.
This weeks picture is OSM 54 (3042) Oneida West
This was a deep hole with water,
that opened up into a mine and sucked all the water in.
Now it's a
wetlands sanctuary.
This is one of the greatest travesties of this area. In 1978, a friend of mine lost her son when he fell over a high wall in the back of their Kelayres home. Office of Surface Mining spent in access of 9 million dollars to reclaim that land, only to have AC Fuels dump Fly Ash down the side wall of the reclaimed area into the wetlands that have formed on the bottom.
UPDATE! I requested files, including the permit for AC Fuels to be dumping into this remediation site. I received the documents on Jan. 14, 2009, including a letter from the Pottsville office of DEP. The letter states "The ash placement area is adjacent to the reclamation site. The mine reclamation area will not be disturbed to allow placement of coal ash." Either myself and a few people are going blind or something is wrong here. That ash is going right down the side of the reclamation site.
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| This is part of the entire reclamation. The wetlands are at the far end. | Closer view of the Fly Ash spilling down the bank into the wetlands at the far end. |
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| Bulldozer pushes Fly Ash into pit containing wetlands | Wetlands filled with Fly Ash Slurry. |
Pictures courtesy of My McAdoo Home
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Speaking of Highwall, this one is wicked. Don't know how deep, but sure is down there. It runs along the south side of Tresckow. This one is definitely "STAY OUT & STAY ALIVE."
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| "Big Gorilla" Before Remediation | During Remediation With Fly Ash | After Completion - 16.6 Acres |
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Left: This nasty hole was on top of the Spring Mountain. Right: This car was actually found in draining the water from the hole.
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This is now the site is on the top of Spring Mountain. The rear part is all filled and graded and the front of the site has a water feature only 3 feet deep for the birds and geese.
This is the Quakake Tunnel, exiting the Spring Mountain on the opposite side in Packer Township. It drains Acid Mine Drainage from the deep mines to the Lehigh River.

This Is The Audenreid Fly Ash Pit Along Rt. 309 About Five Miles South Of Hazleton
Picture Courtesy Of The Payer Page
This Is McAdoo’s Fly Ash.
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On the Left: NEPCO, south of McAdoo and on the right: Panther Creek Partners in Nesquehoning. Both burn coal waste and the by-product of that burning id fly ash.
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McAdoo Associates Today.
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| Remains of first McAdoo Associates Site | In ground monitoring well |
The first site was located behind West Blaine St. in McAdoo.
Pictures were taken Oct. 25, 2007 & March 23, 2008
Chemicals from site possibly have polluted Surface Water, Groundwater And Possibly The Stillcreek Reservoir, With People Suffering from a rare form of Cancer called Polycythemia Vera. It Was Removed From The Superfund List On December 13, 2001.
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Tonolli was located along Route 54 in Nesquehoning. They smelted and recycled lead and lead-acid batteries. Added to the Superfund List October 1989.
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All that remains of the site today is a huge mount covered with a cap, and the office building. Site monitoring is going on at the site, checking for leach ate into the Nesquehoning Creek.
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The Audenreid Tunnel before and after collapse drains the Jeansville deep mine workings.
Pictures courtesy of Catawissa Creek Restoration Association.

The passive system installed on the Audenreid Tunnel cleans the water before it enters the Susquehanna River.
This Building Was
The Site Of The Former Chromatex Plant #2,
Valmont Industrial Park,
Famous For It’s Releases of Trichloroethylene
Into The Surface And
Groundwater of The Surrounding Area.
Groundwater Is Still Being Monitored Around The Plant Today.
Tranguch Tire, Responsible For The Massive Gas Leak
That Caused Property Damage And
Illness To The Residents
Of The Laurel Gardens Section Of Hazleton.
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This is the former site of the Hazleton City Landfill. From 1955 to 1982 toxic chemical of every name was dumped on this site.
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Now being "reclaimed" with River dredge and construction and demolition waste.
Site Of The Former
Kawecki-Berylco,
Beryllium Plant In Ashmore,
East Of Hazleton.
Dr. Dessen said this plant would boast Hazleton's economy,
instead it
killed hundreds of people who contacted Beryliosis.
Now Owned By Cabot Corp.

A little more than a mile from the old Beryllium Site is the Derek Creek Reservoir, where Hazleton gets its drinking water from.

Jeddo Tunnel Exits Acid Mine
Drainage From The Jeddo Mine workings
And The Hazleton Shaft To The
Nescopeck Creek In Drums.
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Nescopeck Creek suffers from Acid Mine Drainage from the Jeddo Tunnel.
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This is the great Silt bank at the crossroads of Highland and Jeddo roads (Across from where the breaker stood).
These trucks are taking the silt to Northampton Fuel to burn.
In return they are brining in fly
ash from the burning and depositing it in a pit along
Stockton Mountain
Road.
I had received an email from a person asking me to take a look at a site located east of Freeland, PA. The former site of C & D Recyclers. I did some checking on the EPA site and found that the site is still on the Superfund List. I went to the site and took some pictures. I had some concerns that there were no monitoring wells on the site, especially since it is a Superfund site.
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| This was Oct. 25, 2007 | This was April 13, 2008 - The Office Is Gone. |
As you can see in this picture taken April 13, 2008, the office has been torn down. What is even more interesting the sign on the fence "WARNING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS NO TRESPASSING" had been removed. Is that saying the site is now ok?
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The huge pile of chipped plastics composed of aluminum and copper wire of the property of Eastern Diversified Metals in Hometown, PA. The company reclaimed copper and aluminum from cable between 1966 and 1977. Was placed on the Superfund List in October of 1989. On the right is a picture of a section of the remediated site on September 20, 2008.
Many of Our People Have Died Senselessly Because Of The Coal Mining And Industry That Has Been Located In Our Area. We Are Hoping For A Better Future And An End To The Senseless Suffering And Dying From Industry And The Environment.
Thank You For Visiting The "Real" Hazleton Area.

Visit My Other Page And Read About The Hazleton Dredge Issue And More.
Visit These Two Web Sites And They Will Give You More Truth About This Area.
I devoted this whole site to Hazleton, PA, but I had a chance to visit Centralia, PA twice this last two weeks and I thought people might be interested in what I saw and how I feel about it. So. would you please view Centralia, PA.
I need your help. The State of PA is trying to force out the remaining people of the 1962 Centralia PA Mine Fire. Please don't let this happen, sign either of my 2 petitions.
Click the pictures below.

©2006 - 2009 Oscette@ptd.net