Nov 14, 2013 4 min read

A Marcellus Shale water-processing company asked Washington County Court to intervene in a Smith Township land-use matter in which it claims the township supervisors were too vague in granting their approval.

TerrAqua of Williamsport, Lycoming County, won its right to operate on part of property at 200 Max Drive, Bulger, owned by MAX Environmental Technologies Inc., formerly known as Mill Service, by a vote of 2-1 in October.

But the firm objects to the supervisors’ taking note of MAX’s consent order and agreement with the state Department of Environmental Protection and stating that DEP must consider the impact of TerrAqua’s operations before the township can make a decision about specific conditions for proposed water-treatment facilities.

DEP’s and the township’s regulatory authorities over MAX’s operations and TerrAqua’s proposed use are independent of each other, the water processor notes in its appeal. The township can handle land use issues, but environmental concerns, it argues, are beyond the township’s legal authority.

“The board’s decision places TerrAqua in the untenable position of having an apparent approval of its proposed use but not knowing what the conditions of that approval will be,” wrote attorney Blaine Lucas.

He also claims that TerrAqua is not construing the board’s decision as final due to the pending imposition of future conditions and that the board failed to render a written decision within 45 days of the close of a public hearing, “resulting in a deemed approval of (TerrAqua’s) conditional-use application without any conditions.

Lucas asked a judge to declare Smith Township’s conditions “invalid, null and void.”

At a meeting in October, the supervisors expressed concerns about a substantial increase in truck traffic and the impact it would have on residents of Smith Township, their neighbors in Robinson Township and those who live in the village of Candor. On its way to TerrAqua’s proposed facility, trucks would wind along a stretch of road with a one-lane bridge, a school bus stop and a 20-mile per hour speed limit.

Supervisor Tom Schilinski last month noted that MAX Environmental’s consent order limits the number of trucks that can travel to its operations each day, as well as the days and hours of operation.

At a public hearing in September, TerrAqua Chief Operating Owner Quay Schappell told supervisors the company cannot control the times of deliveries to the location because TerrAqua does not own or operate the trucks and drivers, and that it needs to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet the needs of its customers in the industry. He said the facility was prepared to handle as many as 100 trucks per day.

In a written finding, read at their October meeting, supervisors noted that the DEP granted MAX a three-year extension of the consent order in December 2012, and that TerrAqua and MAX would be operating at the same time for at least three years.

According to the company’s website, TerrAqua processes a client’s generated water, flowback and produced, that allows for reuse in well development operations. It places facilities in or near established drilling patterns, and loaded trucks travel both ways to reduce mileage.

“After treatment, water is reused by the client, reducing the client’s dependency on fresh water,” the website states.

TerrAqua’s facility at Water Tower Square, Williamsport, was the first facility to receive a residual waste/beneficial reuse permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Waste Management in 2010.

TerrAqua is a partnership of architecture, engineering and surveying firm Larson Design Group, based in Williamsport, and Newalta, a Calgary, Alberta-based company that specializes in the recycling and recovery of products from waste produced by the oil and gas, petrochemical, refining, lead, manufacturing, mining, transportation and pulp and paper industries.