Falls Township residents opposed to Elcon’s hazardous waste disposal facility say the ordinance could keep the site from operating, while officials say they can’t preempt state laws.

Falls and area residents opposed to a planned hazardous waste treatment plant shouldn’t hold their breath on a “clean air ordinance” vote anytime soon.

An ordinance proposed by local environmental group Bucks Power our Water & Air sought to have Falls enact clean air requirements in an effort that some believe could prevent the proposed Elcon Recycling Services LLC facility from opening on a 23-acre parcel of land previously owned by U.S. Steel in the township. Elcon officials have said the facility would treat up to 193,000 tons of hazardous and pharmaceutical waste per year while maintaining safe air standards with “state-of-the-art” pollutant-reducing technology.

Critics of the proposal, several of whom spoke at Tuesday’s 45-minute public comment period at the Falls Board of Supervisors meeting, have likened the plans to a simple incinerator that will leak harmful pollutants into the air.

Supervisor Chairman Bob Harvie said Tuesday night Township Solicitor Michael Clarke reviewed the draft law and found state laws pre-empted the township from enacting it.“Our attorney and his firm took a look, several times, at this issue and had discussions with other attorneys … but we do not have the ability to pass a clean air ordinance,”

Harvie said.The ordinance, drafted by attorney Mike Ewall, founder of the Energy Justice Network of Philadelphia, would enact monitoring, access to testing results and fines upward of $50,000 and jail time for each violation. The draft ordinance provided by Ewall, a Bensalem native, would give any Falls “resident or taxpayer” the ability to sue Elcon for violating the ordinance.

Clarke was on vacation and unavailable for comment this week, but Harvie provided two letters referenced at Tuesday’s meeting that Clarke’s office reviewed.The letters are from the Governor’s Office of General Counsel to Allentown officials in 2013, and another to Susquehanna municipal and county officials in 2016.

Harvie clarified Thursday he mistakenly referred to the Susquehanna County opinion as “a community in Lancaster County” on Tuesday.

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