The Real Hazleton

The Real Hazleton Area

This page is dedicated to my good friend Bertha Girard, who lost her fight to Berylliosis in October of 2006, that she acquired while working at the former Kawecki-Berylco outside of Hazleton.

Bertha and her son Jason the day before his wedding 2005.

(Picture courtesy of her son Jason, Thank You again, Jason)

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 and surrounding 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

This is one of the greatest travesties of this area. Quite a few years ago, a friend of mine lost her son when he fell over a high wall in the back of Kelayres, where they lived. 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.

OSM 54 (1385)


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.


Bulldozer pushes Fly Ash into pit containing wetlands	Wetlands filled with Fly Ash Slurry.

Pictures courtesy of My McAdoo Home

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."

Big Gorilla Demonstration Project


Big Gorilla being filled with ash.	Big Gorilla upon completion.

OSM 13 (3216)

Left: This nasty hole was on top of the Spring Mountain. Right: This car was actually found in draining the water from the hole.

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.

The picture to the left is a drainage channel that would drain the water if the pond becomes too high. In 2008, we saw AMD coming out of the ground in the middle of the channel, not from the pond. I reported the issue to DEP, but they didn't think it was a problem. In July of 2009 this picture on the right was taken showing the water seriously discolored (also someone's tires that had been dumped there). I suspect the Quakake Tunnel which runs under the site is blocked and AMD is seeping through the surface of this site.

OSM 13 (3700)

This is the Quakake Tunnel, exiting the Spring Mountain on the Packer Township side of the mountain. The portal is almost completely blocked by landslide, but still drains Acid Mine Drainage from the deep mines to the Lehigh River.

This afternoon (Jan.31, 2010), I finally located the Buck Mountain #2 Drainage Tunnel in Buck Mountain, PA. The amount of water coming out of the portal is incredible.

This Is 2 fly ash pits between McAdoo and Audenreid belonging to AC Fuels.

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.

Adjacent to NEPCO, is of the most toxic sites in the area - McAdoo Associates, south of McAdoo on rte 309. These pictures of the cleanup were taken in 1982 by AP photographer Phil Sarno.

McAdoo Associates Today.

Remains of first McAdoo Associates Site

Removal of underground storage tank.

The first site was located behind West Blaine St. in McAdoo.

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.

Tonolli was located along Route 54 in Nesquehoning. They smelted and recycled lead and lead-acid batteries. Added to the Superfund List October 1989.

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.

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.

Wells are being treated with Potassium Permanganate in hopes of dissolving the TCE.

Tranguch Tire Service, Sam’s Amoco, Orloski’s Shell and Hazleton Standard Fuel were the original four blamed for the spill. In Feb 2009, Tranguch was removed from a class action lawsuit because of bankruptcy and Hazleton Standard for an unknown reason was removed also. The remaining defendants are Exxon Mobil, Pipeline Petroleum, Lisari Realty, Sam’s Amoco and owner Sam Franzosa and Gracedale Realty a party from the former Shell station. Spill affected 400 homes in the Laurel Garden section of Hazleton.

This is the former site of the Hazleton City Landfill. From 1955 to 1982 toxic chemical of every name was dumped on this site.

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.

Nescopeck Creek suffers from Acid Mine Drainage from the Jeddo Tunnel.

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.

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?

I was just reading an article in the Standard-Speaker on July 20th saying C & D Recyclers is going to lose their Superfund status. The property went up for a tax sale an 2006 and was purchased by the conservancy, who plans on keeping the site in it's natural state. I can't understand how anyone could think all of these contaminants just wash away after time.

The huge pile of chipped plastics composed of aluminum and copper wire on 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 lower right is a picture of a section of the remediated site on September 20, 2008.

Still Creek Reservoir supplies Tamaqua and surrounding area. Believed to be contaminated from McAdoo Associates. Location of fish with cancerous cysts.

Hudsondale Dam supplies water to Hazleton. Is fed by Quakake Creek. Believed to be contaminated by same source as Still Creek.

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.

STOP THE DUMPING

Visit These Two Web Sites And They Will Give You More Truth About This Area.

H O M E T O W N H A Z A R D S

A RURAL PENNSYLVANIA COMMUNITY BATTLES TOXIC POLLUTION

This page was updated 9/28/2009

Old Navy Online

2001 - 2009


This was Oct. 25, 2007	This was April 13, 2008 - The Office Is Gone.