Morning Call: September 23, 2002

Hercules Cement Co. plans to fill several sinkholes in the Bushkill Creek near and on its plant property in Stockertown.

Joe Pospisil, vice president of manufacturing for Hercules, said Friday the holes are causing water from the creek to run into the company's quarry that provides the limestone for cement.

Pospisil said a sinkhole is on a 1.3-acre parcel owned by Charles Chrin Companies at the Palmer Township-Stockertown border near the Norfolk Southern railroad bridge.

The other holes are on a larger tract on the west side of the Hercules property between Route 191 and Center Street.

"Our work shouldn't change the flow because about 20 percent of the water is going back into the quarry," he said. "From an environmental standpoint, it's a plus."

Meanwhile, there's still no date set to fix the sinkholes in the creek near a residential area at the Palmer-Stockertown border less than a mile away. The damaged bridge above the creek has been closed since October 2000.

Hercules on Sept. 12 filed for an application with the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers for approval to plug the holes.

Amanda Muscavage, environmental engineer at the Army Corps' office in Gouldsboro, Wayne County, on Thursday said because Hercules is digging into the creek, federal regulations require the company to get permits from both agencies.

Hercules plans to dam the creek in one spot, divert water to a lower point. That will allow workers to place a heavy plastic liner on the dry creek bed and lay material from the creek on top. Another liner will go on top with more creek material on the surface to level the streambed. When the work is finished, crews will remove the dam to restore the flow of the creek.

The application includes a notice to allow residents in the vicinity and other interested parties to submit written comments to the Army Corps of Engineers. The deadline for comment is Oct. 12.

Hercules has another 30 days to respond to the comments, she said, and if there are no serious problems the company needs to address, the Army Corps could issue a permit in November.

Pospisil said the project will cost several thousand dollars.

He said the company still hasn't received DEP approval to dig deeper in the quarry to retrieve limestone and spend $100,000 on an engineering study to determine how deep the company can dig in the quarry.

Last year, the DEP ordered Hercules to repair a sinkhole near Norfolk Southern's railroad abutment at the Palmer-Upper Nazareth Township border.

William J. Ford