DEP OKs plan for cleanup of acid rock on Skytop

Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty announced today that the DEP has approved the Transportation Department's plan to move a million tons of acid-generating rocks from Skytop into an engineered disposal site in the Bald Eagle Creek watershed.

The announcement at the regular twice-monthly meeting of road builders and geologists troubleshooting the environmental hazard cleared the way for PennDOT to start digging what it calls a "dry tomb" next to I-99 in Worth Township and, at some point, to resume construction of I-99 itself.

PennDOT has estimated the cost of the project, together with the cost of moving the rocks, at about $26 million.

PennDOT halted construction of the 1.4-mile I-99 section at Skytop in March 2004 to give full attention to resolving the environmental problem posed by the massive piles of pyretic rocks leaching metal-dissolving sulfuric acid into streams and ground water.

McGinty said that runoff has resulted in a reduced level of aquatic activity in a section of Buffalo Run near Skytop, and "we have seen a downward movement of the water quality level in the groundwater."

On a more positive note, she said, the level of aquatic activity returns to normal levels seven-eighths of a mile downstream of Skytop.

"We also know that we have to get on with it," McGinty said.

Tucker Ferguson, the PennDOT central office official overseeing the cleanup, said PennDOT has been "ramping up" in anticipation of DEP approval of the cleanup permit. "We probably will begin work tomorrow," he said.

The permit allowing pyritic rock to be taken to the Worth Township disposal site is the second needed for the Skytop cleanup. Three weeks ago, the DEP approved PennDOT's plan to begin $14 million worth of long-term measures to treat pyritic rocks that cannot be moved because they are either beneath an already paved I-99 section or are fixed in Bald Eagle Mountain itself as the opened face of the road cut.

Road construction is expected to resume as the spoil piles begin to vanish as they are trucked to the "dry tomb," a pit designed to seal off rainwater penetration and referred to by PennDOT as an "engineered rock placement area."