Conoy Twp. explores pros, cons of being nuclear waste storage site

Friday, March 6, 1998

By Ad Crable
New Era Staff Writer

Lancaster New Era

Conoy Township, the only Lancaster County municipality that wanted to be the home of the county incinerator a decade ago, is exploring the pros and cons of a low-level radioactive waste disposal site.

"We haven't gone either way. That we're not interested or we are interested," Stephen Mohr, supervisors chairman, said this morning.

"We're like most municipalities in that we would like a little further information and that's the extent of it," he said.

Since 1988, Pennsylvania has tried, without success, to find a community willing to host a 500-acre underground storage site for low-level radioactive materials from nuclear plants, industries and hospitals.

The waste would come from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia.

Seventy-eight percent of Pennsylvania has been disqualified from being suitable for a storage site. About 6.2 million acres remain eligible.

In 1996, Pennsylvania launched a new "Community Partnering" process that encourages municipal officials and residents to consider allowing the facility in their communities.

Communities would be given money for studying the project. A community that agrees to accept the site would be given considerable money _ estimates have ranged from $600,000 to $1.2 million annually.

The law requires that a community's residents approve the project.

Conoy Township officials said they were contacted by the state-appointed developer of the proposed nuclear landfill, Chem-Nuclear Systems Inc., about a year ago.

"They showed me some maps and said we were a prime candidate," Greg Good, township manager, said this morning. No specific locations have been explored.

Since then, the township has been privately gathering information on the controversial project.

Township officials stressed today they are merely fact-gath ering and are not seeking to be a host site.

But they also say they have seen nothing, so far, to rule out the possibility. The benefits to residents could be considerable, they note.

For example, hosting the site could mean an end to residents' sewer bills and/or school taxes, noted Good.

Because of "host fees" received from the incinerator, the township has eliminated property taxes for residents.

Of the 500 acres needed for the low-level waste facility, about 50 are needed for actual storage. The remainder would be used as a buffer and for monitoring.

"We were contacted. We probably do have some quality land," Mohr said.

The partnering process set up by the state Department of Environmental Protection would allow a community that wants the disposal site to request the state to condemn property for the project.

Good said he has met privately with Chem-Nuclear officials for about a year "under the table."

"My philosophy is to at least address it and be open minded about it, and go through the proper channels."

Both Good and Mohr said the intent is to seek public reaction after the fact-gathering is complete.

They said township officials have not yet discussed the project in public because of the outcry and misinformation that erupted during the incinerator site-finding process.

"People were threatened with the incinerator process," Good said.

Added Mohr, "The reason we haven't gone public with this is because we don't want to raise the ire of the community before we have all the facts."

The next step, said Good, may be "to sit down with Chem-Nuclear and maybe 10 to 12 residents. Then decide whether to take it to the board (of supervisors)."

"If you take it to the board and get shot down, then it's a dead issue," he added.

The township is within several miles of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.

The state is optimistic about finding at least one community that wants the storage site by the end of the year, said Richard Janati, chief of the state Division of Nuclear Safety.

The goal is to find three interested communities, and then do extensive evaluations. But if only one comes forward, the state might revise its process, he said.

"So far," he noted, "no municipality has expressed an interest in pursuing the process."

Conoy Township, which lies along the Susquehanna River, share boundaries with East and West Donegal townships and Dauphin County. It covers 15 square miles.