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Proposed Silica Sand Transfer Station Unwelcomed by Some

TUNKHANNOCK TOWNSHIP — Some people in the Tunkhannock area of Wyoming County want it known that they don’t want a silica sand transfer station outsi...

TUNKHANNOCK TOWNSHIP -- Some people in the Tunkhannock area of Wyoming County want it known that they don't want a silica sand transfer station outside of Tunkhannock.

Many of those homeowners took their concerns to the Wyoming County commissioners meeting on Tuesday.

"Tunkhannock is going to become a ghost town. It's quaint. It's sweet. It's a great place to visit if you don't already live here," one woman said.

D&I Silica, a company based out of Sheffield wants to put a silica sand transfer station near the intersection of Route 6 and Route 92.

County officials say the company proposed the project at the end of last year.

According to officials, the company has followed through with all of the permits required.

The only permit that has been denied has been from the Wyoming County Planning Commission.

There is a pending lawsuit against the county from D&I Silica because they haven't been able to start the project.

The county commissioners say the company plans to bring the sand in by rail which will then be trucked out to gas drilling sites.

According to Hi-Crush Partners, which owns D&I Silica, the sand is used during the fracking process in the Marcellus shale industry.

The federal government says silica sand or crystalline is a carcinogen which is known to cause lung cancer or silicosis if it is inhaled in the workplace.

"Remember the canary in the coal mines? That's me. I'm having daily asthma attacks now," Eileen Barziloski said.

Eileen Barziloski's canary costume meant to represent how canaries were used to signal trouble with air quality in the mine decades ago.

We talked to her after the meeting about her concerns.

"The kids are going to be the ones that are really going to suffer because there's not going to be a way to put this air back in a bottle once it's polluted. Once it's destroyed, we're stuck with it forever," Barziloski said.

County commissioners say D&I Silica promises the site will be contained.

A spokesperson for DEP said the company does not need an air quality permit because the operation is considered a "minor source" for emissions by DEP.

"It's close to a daycare, baseball fields, very close to downtown residents, apartments with elderly," Audrey Gozdiskowski said.

Even the commissioners voiced their concerns.

"Trust me when I say that I really would like to stop this if I could, but we don't have any way to do that," commissioner Tom Henry said.

"So what do we do? Are our hands completely tied? We gotta do something because they can go just like that and that thing will be in there," one man said.

A court hearing will be held October 31 where a judge will make a decision on what happens next.

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