2012-05-15 23:35:00
AD CRABLE
On May 2, two Lancaster city wastewater officials showed up for a surprise inspection of Armstrong Environmental Services, an East Lampeter Township company that specializes in treating industrial waste.
The city had just found out that the company was treating waste from wells that drill......
2012-05-03 23:20:00
DAN NEPHIN
Several Manheim Township residents vowed to fight, or at least refuse to hook into, a public sewer project in the Pleasant Valley area.
"This is the God's honest truth — I will not connect," Mark Selvaggio, of Long Farm Lane, said.
He echoed the sentiments of many of some 40......
2012-04-19 23:20:00
TOM KNAPP
Speedwell Forge lake might be an environmental disaster waiting to happen. Warwick Township officials claim sediment that backed up behind a 46-year-old dam is now running unimpeded down Hammer Creek, carrying phosphorous and nitrogen through Lancaster County waterways and toward the fragile......
2012-03-21 22:29:00
DAN NEPHIN
The Manheim Township Planning Commission gave final approval to Phase One of the proposed Brooklawn housing development.
The plan approved Wednesday calls for 27 single-family homes as part of a larger 73-home plan partly on Brook Lawn Farm property.
Planners voted 6-0 in favor of......
2012-03-06 22:09:00
DAN NEPHIN
Caernarvon Township residents who live near where the Lanchester Landfill is next expanding say the township negotiated a comparatively bad deal for their having to put up with the dump.
Under the latest host agreement, residents say, they're getting half the money that other residents re......
2012-02-28 22:54:00
P.J. REILLY
Two Lancaster County men are among 34 appointees to Gov. Tom Corbett's Hunting, Fishing and Conservation Advisory Council.
Kory Enck and John Hohenwarter, both of Elizabethtown, were named Monday to the panel that's charged with advising the governor on issues pertaining to outdoor recrea......
2012-02-14 20:22:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Workers on Tuesday removed a substance that spilled from a truck Monday night along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, according to an official.
The spill occurred at 10:46 p.m. in the westbound lanes of the Turnpike near Maple Grove Road in Brecknock Township, state police at Bowmansville said....
2012-02-09 22:14:00
AD CRABLE
It might seem an unlikely candidate, but the Masonic Village at Elizabethtown is fast becoming the poster child for how to run a farm profitably and be friendly to the environment.
The continuing-care retirement community, which also sports one of the largest shorthorn beef cattle herds o......
2012-02-08 22:13:00
AD CRABLE
Exelon has filed a draft plan on how it intends to manage recreation, river access, fish passage, cottage leases, 46 miles of shoreline and other uses on some 12,658 acres it owns in and along the Susquehanna River.
Exelon is seeking public comment on its draft Shoreline Management Plans ......
2012-01-18 22:44:00
AD CRABLE
The state is proposing a cleanup of contaminated soil and groundwater at the Berkley Products Co. plant on the edge of Akron, five years after a federal Superfund cleanup was completed at a waste site owned by the same company in West Cocalico Township.
The state Department of Environment......
2012-01-13 22:57:00
P.J. REILLY
Four metal tissue boxes contaminated with low levels of radioactive material were recovered from a Lancaster County store Wednesday, officials said.
But two more were sold last month at the store, Bed Bath & Beyond, 2350 Lincoln Highway East, and state officials want the owners to tur......
2011-12-11 00:15:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
Inspectors from the state Department of Environmental Resources are ramping up efforts to find unregistered fuel storage tanks, as one local farmer discovered when he was recently fined by the DEP because he had not obtained a permit for his 8,000-gallon tank. Why the increased scrutiny?...
2011-11-30 22:28:00
AD CRABLE
The president of Perdue AgriBusiness says ground will be broken on a $59 million soybean-crushing plant in Conoy Township within months and that the plant will be ready to operate for the 2013 fall harvest.
Dick Willey, in an interview Wednesday, also said the facility will be environment......
2011-11-30 21:09:00
P.J. REILLY
Charlie Douts knows the widespread flooding caused by Tropical Storm Lee was a rare occurrence.
Still, if it happened once, it could happen again.
That's why Douts, director of Lancaster County's facilities management department, told the county commissioners Wednesday that when r......
2011-11-18 22:22:00
DAN NEPHIN
Whether Harrisburg continues under the state's Act 47 program for distressed municipalities or enters into bankruptcy protection, the Lancaster County Solid Waste Authority is moving ahead with plans to buy its incinerator.
James Warner, the authority's CEO, said the authority had informe......
2011-11-15 22:57:00
AD CRABLE
For decades, residents who live in Lancaster County's most flood-prone areas, such as Marietta and near Chiques Creek in Manheim Borough and Penn Township, have withstood rising waters and been able to stay in their homes because of federal flood insurance.
Between 1978 and the end of Jul......
2011-11-10 22:04:00
AD CRABLE
The federal government has backed off its plans to make counties and local municipalities reduce specific amounts of manure, fertilizers and sediment as part of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup.
In a letter to state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer, the federal E......
2011-11-09 21:58:00
AD CRABLE
For the first time, farmers in Lancaster County and across Pennsylvania have a clear guide to what's expected of them in controlling manure.
The state-issued Manure Management Plan Guidance comes after two years of negotiations and discussions between state regulators, livestock producers......
2011-10-21 22:01:00
P.J. REILLY
One of Lancaster County's most popular lakes is being drained. And it might stay dry for a long time.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission on Friday announced it had begun drawing down the 106-acre Speedwell Forge Lake in Elizabeth Township because the dam that holds back the lake wa......
2011-10-17 21:13:00
AD CRABLE
What may be the future of stream cleanup in the Chesapeake Bay is currently a wide swath of exposed dirt on a scenic West Lampeter Township farm.
With 20,000 cubic yards of soil scraped off Rocky Knoll Farm on a highly visible spot along Route 222, it's no wonder people have been pepperin......
2011-10-11 23:24:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster city will have a recycling drop-off facility on New Holland Avenue early next year, it was announced at Tuesday evening's City Council meeting.
Also, $40 million in capital improvement bonds will go for a vote at a special meeting Thursday, and every Sept. 27 will be recognized ......
2011-09-24 18:50:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Kim Wissler went out in the rain Friday and saw a "nice, huge" batch in a swimming pool. Mosquito larvae. It has proliferated here this year. And even though "things tend to peter out this time of year," said Wissler, a Lancaster city health officer, "we've had more compl......
2011-09-21 21:15:00
JEFF HAWKES
Riding the success of his anti-fracking documentary "Gasland," indie filmmaker Josh Fox has leapt with both feet into a new role he plays exceptionally well — a snippy, finger-wagging and infinitely wise environmental scold.
Fox's take on natural gas? It's one more pernicious fossil......
2011-09-20 22:06:00
TOM KNAPP
They came, not in a flood, but a trickle.
"We're just trying to get help," Karen Eberly of Ephrata said Tuesday. "Our house was condemned."
She and her husband, Steve Eberly, were among a handful of flood disaster victims who lined up to seek assistance from the Federal Emergency ......
2011-09-19 23:40:00
TOM KNAPP
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will begin processing local flood claims Tuesday afternoon.
A temporary disaster recovery center will be housed in county offices at 2270 Erin Court, just off the Rohrerstown exit of Route 30 in East Hempfield Township.
The FEMA office will ......
2011-09-16 22:32:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Individuals and business owners who sustained flood damage from Tropical Storm Lee already qualify for federal aid to help rebuild their homes and livelihoods.
Now municipalities can get financial help, too.
Because damage to roads, bridges, wastewater facilities and other public ......
2011-08-07 00:08:00
AD CRABLE
Lancaster County was placed on a drought watch by the state Friday, along with 39 other parched counties. With rainfall down nearly 3 inches since June, the dry conditions have already affected local farmers, who are facing reduced crop yields. The dearth of rain this sum......
2011-08-04 22:14:00
PATRICK BURNS
East Cocalico Township officials have shuttered a Reamstown home that contains unknown chemicals linked to an Internet "gold recovery" business that may have operated illegally.
Officials said Lancaster County HAZMAT and the state Department of Environmental Protection also are investigat......
2011-07-31 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Stream-bank fencing to keep livestock out of creeks is nothing new in Lancaster County. Thanks to conservationists eager to curb stream-bank erosion and to stop the flow of nutrients and sediments to the Chesapeake Bay, you can see the signature two- or three-strand wire fence......
2011-07-14 22:07:00
AD CRABLE
The state is expanding a program so that Lancaster County farmers know what is expected of them in accelerated efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. The state Department of Environmental Protection has announced that conservation districts in 36 counties, including Lancaster, will share......
2011-06-26 00:02:00
JON RUTTER
Lancaster's sewage sludge gives off a pungent odor. It looks like lumpy, grayish mud. But it's taken on a new luster for Public Works Director Charlotte Katzenmoyer. That's because the city now has a cheaper outlet for it. Sludge will no longer be transported to the ......
2011-06-08 23:34:00
BRETTE KEELEY
Another record-setting hot day could be in store Thursday before more seasonable temperatures are expected to return for the weekend.
According to AccuWeather.com, Wednesday was the hottest June 8 on record as the mercury soared to 97 degrees. The previous high of 95 degrees was set in 19......
2011-06-01 21:07:00
AD CRABLE
West Nile virus crews fanned out across Lancaster city Wednesday to drop blocks of a mosquito-killing insecticide into storm grates, the first wave of prevention in what is feared to be a banner year for the sometimes deadly virus.
"I've confirmed the fact that there are much more mosquit......
2011-05-30 23:22:00
NICOLE HERMAN
Wowza, it's hot!
The beautiful Memorial Day weekend has come to a close, but the weather that made it so unforgettable is sticking with us.
According to AccuWeather, Monday hit a high of 91 degrees. For those enjoying outdoor barbecues and picnics, it felt more like a sweltering 9......
2011-05-24 19:50:00
AD CRABLE
Tests show that Lancaster's drinking water contains no radioactivity from wastewater used in upstate Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.
City officials last month ordered expanded testing of drinking water taken out of the Susquehanna River after it was revealed that some wastewater use......
2011-05-11 20:34:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County has received a grant to assess the groundwater at a South Duke Street property eyed for commercial and residential development.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has awarded $50,000 to the county planning commission for groundwater sampling and monitoring a......
2011-05-06 22:59:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Under federal pressure to stop sewage overflows into the Conestoga River, and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay, Lancaster city officials have been formulating plans to keep stormwater from ever reaching the sewer system.
Last week, state officials announced funding to put the first of those ......
2011-04-28 20:22:00
TOM MURSE
It's become painfully obvious in recent weeks that some of the folks running for public office in Lancaster County and elsewhere need a little refresher course in Politics 101: The Dos and Don'ts of Campaigning.
Consider this handy tipsheet an in-kind contribution, if you like....
2011-04-25 19:21:00
AD CRABLE
Ever since the Conestoga Country Club opened 63 years ago, the Little Conestoga Creek has chewed away at the golf course, sending smothering silt downstream.
Golfers were known to tumble off the vertical banks. The fairways shrank. In 1999 alone, the club had to replace four bridges acros......
2011-04-15 22:35:00
CINDY STAUFFER
A Willow Street imaging center has been fined almost $19,000 and ordered to take "rigorous quality control measures," after state inspectors said it used defective screens while performing mammograms.
The state Department of Environmental Protection imposed the penalties on Willow Street ......
2011-04-01 10:50:00
The Associated Press
Tests of air in Pennsylvania show an elevated level of radiation, but a state spokeswoman says it is far below levels of concern and is not considered a threat to public health or safety.
Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Katy Gresh said the air sampling was collected in ......
2011-03-25 22:15:00
LORI VAN INGEN
In 1995, C. Andrew McFadden agreed to remove 100 tires a month from his illegal dump of 500,000 tires in Fulton Township.
Eight years later, Fulton Township received a $400,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection to remove just over 4,000 tons of tires from the sit......
2011-03-23 19:42:00
LYNN SCHMIDT
It is all too fitting that Mr. Dickens, beloved cat of Ellen Ritter and Katie Cort of Lancaster, died on the birth date of Charles Dickens, his namesake. He was a special feline, Ritter said. "He was magical."
And, it would seem, a bit of an imp.
Dickens — with fur that rese......
2011-03-16 22:05:00
AD CRABLE
Workers on Wednesday removed soil from along the Landisville Railroad tracks near Hempfield High School.
Neighbors along Leisure Road said they began noticing a strong odor of diesel fuel last week after the heavy rains.
Serena and Todd Riedel said they found a puddle in their bac......
2011-02-17 22:10:00
P.J. REILLY
Correction Feb. 18, 2011 — Community Basics Inc. of Lancaster received a 2010 Envision Leadership Award from Lancaster County Planning Commission. The developer's Park Avenue Apartments was recognized in the Sustainable Growth catego......
2011-02-17 21:03:00
AD CRABLE
After a do-over, Pennsylvania's detailed plan for how it will vastly reduce the amount of smothering soil and nutrients it's flushing into the Chesapeake Bay has been accepted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Farmers will be profoundly affected, of course, but so will almos......
2011-02-07 20:49:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Accused of supplying its customers with improperly filtered drinking water, Ephrata Area Joint Authority has paid a $10,000 fine to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
"Water suppliers must meet drinking water quality standards and adhere to their permit requirements ......
2011-02-04 20:10:00
RYAN ROBINSON
East Petersburg water users no longer have to boil their water.
The boil-water advisory was lifted Thursday afternoon, borough Manager Jim Williams said.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said chlorine levels are back to normal. The water has been tested; and it's s......
2011-01-31 20:16:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
East Petersburg water users were told Monday to boil their water before using it after a mishap at the borough's nitrate plant.
Borough officials said a pipe burst at the Graystone Road facility around 3 a.m. Monday, flooding the building and causing chlorine levels in the borough's water......
2011-01-06 22:03:00
AD CRABLE
A single computer or television set can contain 5 to 7 pounds of toxic lead and other metals that shouldn't end up in a landfill or incinerator.
But until now, there hasn't been a law in Pennsylvania keeping such common devices from being thrown out with the trash.
Later this mont......
2010-11-01 21:29:00
JEFF HAWKES
John Hines has had a month to calm down, and I think he's going to be OK.
But in September when the federal Environmental Protection Agency called his work "seriously deficient," Hines was not a happy camper.
A deputy secretary with Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Prote......
2010-10-29 20:52:00
STAFF REPORT
Though the giant blades are not yet spinning, the twin wind turbines on Turkey Hill were dedicated Thursday.
When operating by the end of the year, the turbines at the Frey Farm Landfill in Manor Township will produce electricity offsetting 5,000 tons per year of greenhouse gases. It will......
2010-10-26 20:23:00
TERESA BONO
Growing concern among area residents over proposed wetland construction has prompted Mount Joy Township supervisors to request a hearing from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In a letter sent to USACE on Oct. 18, township administrator Charles Kraus asked that the wetland proposed by Veo......
2010-10-18 22:23:00
AD CRABLE
For 27 years, Pennsylvania and five other border states have tried to reduce farm runoff, make sewage plants perform better and keep pollution-prone stormwater from running into the Chesapeake Bay.
But the bay, an acknowledged national treasure, continued to decline.
Now, buttress......
2010-10-06 21:50:00
TOM KNAPP
The drought must be over after all that rain. Right? Not necessarily. "We have to take a long-term view," Helen Humphreys, from the groundwater division of the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Wednesday. "Just because it rained, that doesn't mean the problem is......
2010-09-27 21:01:00
TOM KNAPP
Monday's soaking rain won't drown the sorrows of local farmers, who are suffering from a late-summer drought.
"The damage is done," Becca Csutoras, with the Pennsylvania Farm Service Agency, said Monday.
"The soaking rains now are not going to correct (the drought) for the 2010 cr......
2010-09-22 17:05:00
AD CRABLE
Three human cases of West Nile virus have been reported in Lancaster County in the last week, the first human cases here since one in 2007.
None of the people diagnosed here has died, and the state Department of Health would not supply details on the severity of the cases or where the peo......
2010-09-17 22:13:00
JENNIFER TODD
It's dry outside. Officially.
On Friday, the state Department of Environmental Protection declared a drought watch for 43 counties including Lancaster.
A drought watch is the first level, and least severe, of the state's drought classifications, according to a news release issued ......
2010-09-14 22:13:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray had good financial news Tuesday. The cash-strapped city recently was told it will receive several grants and has made other gains.
But what those relatively small numbers will mean to the city's big fiscal picture remained unclear.
Gray, addressing City C......
2010-09-14 17:18:00
P.J. REILLY
The state Department of Environmental Protection and the Lancaster County West Nile Virus Mosquito Control Program will apply treatments Wednesday evening to portions of Lancaster city to control adult mosquito populations.
If it's raining Wednesday night, the spraying will take place Thu......
2010-09-03 15:06:00
STAFF REPORT
Weather permitting, officials are planning to spray for mosquitoes in parts of Strasburg Borough and Paradise Township Tuesday night.
The state Department of Environmental Protection and the Lancaster County West Nile Program will spray because large numbers of adult mosquitoes capable of......
2010-09-02 22:02:00
AD CRABLE
Pennsylvania says it will make required dramatic reductions in the amount of nutrients and soil washing into the Chesapeake Bay by putting caps on sewage plants, improving stormwater control in urban areas and pressing farmers to ramp up anti-pollution efforts.
The "road map of changes" i......
2010-08-26 20:30:00
BRIAN WALLACE
When School District of Lancaster pupils return to classes at three elementary schools next week, they may be wondering: Who's gonna water the roof?That's because three of the schools — Lafayette, Wharton and Ross — installed "green" roofs this summer on new a......
2010-08-20 22:11:00
AD CRABLE
The state and local West Nile virus officials plan to spray mosquitoes early next week in Lancaster Township and the city, including near Clipper Magazine Stadium.Mosquito-control spraying after dark on Monday will take place near the intersection of Millersville Pike and Schoolhouse Road.......
2010-07-28 22:52:00
JAMES BUESCHER
Correction Aug. 11, 2010 — The story below about construction of the Turkey Hill Experience in a vacant Columbia building incorrectly identified a former user of the structure. It was Tidy Products, which closed in 1979. Another apparel make......
2010-07-13 20:19:00
CHAD UMBLE
A big crowd turned out for the Providence Township supervisors' meeting Monday as officials discussed how local farmers are required to deal with stormwater.At issue is whether a farmer who wants to build two poultry barns on his property is subject to township ordinances about stormwa......
2010-07-06 23:09:00
JENNIFER TODD and DIANA MARTIN
It's all about staying cool as the mercury hits the 100 degree mark this week.But an effort to beat the heat could result in police charges for the person or people who opened several fire hydrants Tuesday afternoon in the southeast area of the city.Just before 4 p.m., police an......
2010-07-05 22:23:00
TOM MURSE
Here's a bit of weather trivia for you: The record high temperature for July 6 was set in 1999.It was 98 degrees.That's nothing.By Tuesday afternoon, 98 will likely sound positively, refreshingly cool to Lancaster County.The thermometer is expecte......
2010-06-30 20:50:00
AD CRABLE
They came, and they listened.An estimated 75 percent of 42 Amish farmers in Bart Township showed up at a private meeting Wednesday called by the environmental group PennFuture.The farmers were told gently but firmly that many of them will be expected to do a better job in keeping ma......
2010-06-28 23:07:00
CIVIA KATZ
About 100 residents attended Penn Township supervisors meeting Monday night at Manheim Central Middle School after the township's water supply tested positive for the parasite cryptosporidium.David Sarley, supervisor chairman, told them, "There's not going to be a magic wand w......
2010-06-16 21:41:00
AD CRABLE
The first mosquito-spraying of the West Nile virus season in Lancaster County began Monday in Manheim Township.The spraying for mosquitoes that were determined to be carrying the virus was done in an area adjacent to residential communities near Route 30 and Fruitville Pike.Large po......
2010-06-07 22:53:00
AD CRABLE
An environmental group that threatened to sue four Lancaster County farmers last November over alleged stream pollution is now hoping to convince 45 mostly Plain Sect farmers in Bart Township to check their farms for runoff.Two-page letters were sent to the owners of the Bart farms on Frid......
2010-06-03 09:17:00
AD CRABLE
The state has signed off on the final environmental cleanup of the former Lancaster Brickyard dump that's destined to be the new location for Norfolk Southern's rail yard."Essentially, we said that it's clean enough," said John Kreuger, environmental program manager i......
2010-05-18 06:56:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The state Department of Environmental Protection has asked consultants who did the environmental cleanup of the former Lancaster Brickyard site for more information about drums found buried there, bog turtles and responsibility for future contaminated groundwater. But will the questions ......
2010-05-12 21:16:00
AD CRABLE
Local farmers, communities with stormwater runoff problems and sewage plant owners got a clearer picture of their marching orders Wednesday from a federal government that has vowed to do what it takes to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revealed a 176-pa......
2010-05-12 10:16:00
CIVIA KATZ
Thirty-three Mount Joy Borough water customers received boil-water alerts on Monday night after a contractor damaged an unmapped water main that runs across the Chiques Creek.
The alert came from the borough water authority's emergency phone system, which was used for the first time. It ......
2010-05-05 20:08:00
AD CRABLE
The federal government has told officials of 12 municipalities here, including Lancaster city, that they have to do a better job of keeping pollutants out of local streams and the Chesapeake Bay after storms.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sent compliance orders to the 12, req......
2010-04-29 21:54:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster officials are offering real estate developers the equivalent of a blank canvas to an artist, only much more rare.In an old, established city, they are offering a vacant lot in a busy downtown location with relatively few strings attached.In the next two weeks, the city wil......
2010-04-20 20:39:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
Eager to replace your old energy-hog appliance with a modern energy-efficient model?Well, don't get too excited. It may not be as easy as you think.As part of the 2009 economic stimulus package, the U.S. Department of Energy has earmarked money to states to provide rebates to co......
2010-04-19 20:56:00
AD CRABLE
With a purchase option agreement expired on a controversial $120 million ethanol plant, the county waste authority again is shopping around a 65-acre industrial-zoned tract next to the county incinerator in Conoy Township.The latest to show interest in the former farmland located along rai......
2010-04-13 17:45:00
JAMES BUESCHER
Due to the existence of a now-rare fish that once thrived across the Mid-Atlantic region, the state's Department of Environmental Protection is recommending that Fishing Creek in southern Lancaster County retain its "protected use" designation.That's according to a 12-pag......
2010-04-06 23:28:00
BERNARD HARRIS
More than a year after a company hired by Franklin & Marshall College began the cleanup of a former municipal dump, neighbors on Tuesday night got to have their say about it. Their comments, however, came after the fact. The cleanup of the nearly 9-acre site behind the Lancaster Post O......
2010-04-02 22:32:00
AD CRABLE
The contaminated former Lancaster Brickyard dump in Manheim Township has been successfully cleaned up, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.DEP will explain the cleanup and take public comments at a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the East Hempfield Township Municipal......
2010-03-28 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
According to the calendar, spring arrived March 20. Anglers know it actually arrives at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 3. That's when Pennsylvania's first trout season opens in Lancaster and 17 other southeast counties. In the rest of the state, opening day is April 17. Since ......
2010-03-26 08:24:00
ROXANNE MCROBERTS
It's easy to pretend that radon doesn't exist because we can't see it, taste it or smell it. To many homeowners, it's "something that other people have to worry about," and they think, "How bad can it really be?"Well, according to the Environmental Prote......
2010-03-25 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY
Even Pennsylvania's war on mosquitoes is not safe from state funding cuts.Matt Mercer, coordinator of the Lancaster County West Nile Virus Mosquito Control Program, informed the county commissioners Wednesday that his 2010 budget was cut by 26 percent by the state Department of Environ......
2010-03-17 06:25:00
ROXANNE TODD
East Drumore Township supervisors learned March 4 that their emergency management coordinator would like to combine efforts with neighboring municipalities such as Quarryville Borough.Tim Ryan, who is also a firefighter with the Quarryville Fire Company, said he will be calling in fellow f......
2010-03-17 00:03:00
P.J. REILLY
James Cowhey can see the writing on the wall.The state government in recent years has curtailed its investment in projects aimed at areas such as land use and transportation.But the need for that investment is growing here and across the state, said Cowhey, executive director of Lan......
2010-03-09 21:04:00
P.J. REILLY
New Holland Borough on Tuesday lifted its "drinking water notice."After a diesel fuel spill at one of the borough's water treatment plants Thursday, the state Department of Environmental Protection has ruled New Holland's water is safe for drinking.Borough official......
2010-03-03 00:02:00
AD CRABLE
Pennsylvania can boldly ensure an expanded alternative-energy-based economy, creating thousands of new jobs and cleaner air, or it can get left behind.That's the black-and-white choice outlined Tuesday in Lancaster by state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger....
2010-02-24 06:25:00
P.J. REILLY
Farmers are always looking for new ways to make a buck.And here in Lancaster County, farmers are bracing for new environmental regulations they expect to be dumped on them — which would take away many of the bucks they already have — in the name of cleaning up the Chesapeake Ba......
2010-02-19 22:40:00
CIVIA KATZ
Penn Township put residents on notice Friday after finding high nitrate levels in the drinking water.Infants under six months of age should not drink the water, and township water should not be used to make baby formula. Pregnant women should consult a physician before drinking the water....
2010-02-17 00:03:00
JEFF HAWKES
Two miles of sewer line in Talmage.An outing to the symphony for city kids.Solar panels glinting on a Penn Township roof.All across Lancaster County, people are finding an astonishing number of ways to spend federal stimulus dollars.And the list of projects goes on and......
2010-02-10 06:19:00
JAMES BUESCHER
Pending state approval, it looks as if Drumore Township is getting a small new shopping center.At the Drumore Township supervisors meeting on Feb. 4, elected officials voted to settle their lawsuit with the developer of the proposed 21,000-square-foot, Buck-area shopping center.The ......
2010-02-05 07:39:00
TIM MEKEEL
Responding to requests from its customers, Charles F. Snyder Funeral Homes Inc. is adding a crematory to its Lititz Pike location.The $650,000 project will make the facility the county's only funeral home with a crematory, witnessing room and chapel under one roof."As part ......
2010-02-02 00:01:00
AD CRABLE
The amount of soil and nutrients flowing down the Susquehanna and Conestoga rivers is declining, according to a new report.That's music to the ears of officials with state and federal environmental agencies who, as part of a cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay, have recently vowed to reduce ......
2010-01-31 00:05:00
JON RUTTER
The economy may be wilting. But native plants should be blooming this year in Manheim Township. Residents who are passionate about creating sustainable habitat will see to that, promises Marylou Barton, a master gardener and attorney for the state Department of Environmental Protection....
2010-01-29 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY
The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission's board of directors on Thursday voted to press state and federal environmental officials to step up efforts to fix the ailing Susquehanna River.Calling the river "increasingly impaired," the directors passed a resolution at their q......
2010-01-26 06:43:00
AD CRABLE
When the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced last fall it had targeted nearly two dozen small farms near Intercourse for farm-related water pollution inspections, fears of a crackdown rippled through farm and regulatory circles all the way to Harrisburg.The 3-square-mile Wats......
2010-01-24 00:13:00
JON RUTTER
An hour's chore in 2008 sparked what is likely to be a multiyear lawsuit after a backhoe operator punctured a gasoline pipeline near the junction of Weaver and Auction roads, Rapho Township. The pipeline is owned by Buckeye Pipe Line Transportation LLC, of Breinigsville, Lehigh County. The s......
2010-01-19 22:14:00
JENNIFER TODD
A 550-gallon oil spill on a Clay Township property that fouled nearby tributaries in state gamelands Tuesday was likely caused by a faulty fuel line or a rusted tank, fire officials said.Two 275-gallon underground tanks at 1795 Kleinfeltersville Road, near Millstone Road, were filled Monda......
2010-01-12 08:09:00
AD CRABLE
More local farms may fall under big-farm pollution regulations.And local municipalities and developments may be required to do a better job of containing storm water and keeping it out of streams.Both measures are being sought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which Monda......
2010-01-12 00:04:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Think of it as bottled water without the bottle.Residents of the east side of Lancaster city and eastern suburbs supplied with city water have in the past week been drinking, washing and showering in water purified with the same technology as commercially bottled water.Lancaster cit......
2010-01-01 22:26:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Four years ago — when times were good — a proposal was made to build a downtown retail and condominium tower as many as 27 stories tall.There was one hitch. The city would have to do the environmental cleanup of the former gas station site.Then Rick Gray became mayor. Su......
2009-12-18 00:01:00
AD CRABLE
The state's top environmental official said here Thursday that the state must make tough decisions that result in cleaner water flowing into the Chesapeake Bay or face unwanted dictates from the federal government or a judge.John Hanger, Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental P......
2009-12-11 07:22:00
AD CRABLE
Pennsylvania faces tougher anti-pollution regulations as part of a new federal mandate to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.But local and state officials complain that not enough credit is being given to projects that already are making a difference.On Thursday, a few of those grass-roots......
2009-12-09 06:43:00
LEE NOBLE
Issues surrounding Martic Township's so-called Hess Mess might soon be winding down.On Monday, the board of supervisors approved a motion to direct the township solicitor to begin the process for a sheriff's sale on property at 1146 Marticville Road, owned by Donald Hess of Lancast......
2009-11-29 00:18:00
JON RUTTER
Thirty years after the nation's worst nuclear disaster unfolded at Three Mile Island, any unusual event at the nuclear power plant is still hot news. And so delayed reporting of an accident there last weekend has the governor — and others — steaming. The incident happene......
2009-11-27 08:13:00
JAMES BUESCHER
In a move sure to surprise many who live in southern Lancaster County, a Commonwealth Court judge in Harrisburg has sided with the developer of a controversial Buck-area shopping hub widely rumored to contain a Walmart, thereby reversing the December 2008 ruling of a Lancaster County judge....
2009-11-25 06:17:00
TOM KNAPP
Elizabethtown Area Water Authority will pay a $12,280 fine for failing to alert state authorities in a timely manner about a contamination in the water supply.Water samples taken in the borough on Aug. 21 tested positive for the E. coli bacteria.State regulations require the authori......
2009-11-24 08:18:00
P.J. REILLY
In 1950, 8 million people lived in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.Today, 17 million people live there, with 130,000 new residents moving in each year.According to Bob Koroncai of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, each and every one of those residents is responsible for nearly ......
2009-11-19 00:01:00
AD CRABLE
Saying "clean water must start here," a state environmental group is threatening to sue five small southern Lancaster County farmers over alleged manure and soil runoff into local streams and the Chesapeake Bay."Farming doesn't give anyone a license to pollute, and there are plenty of reso......
2009-11-18 06:41:00
TIM MEKEEL
Two municipalities, a college and a non-profit organization here will share $665,000 in state grants to save energy, it was announced Tuesday.They're among 99 statewide to get $22 million under the Conservation Works! program, financed by federal economic-stimulus funds.The bigg......
2009-11-13 06:09:00
P.J. REILLY
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday issued a news release announcing it had cited 14 municipalities in Pennsylvania and Maryland for stormwater violations.On that list were five Lancaster County municipalities — Akron and Terre Hill boroughs and East Earl, East Donegal an......
2009-11-11 07:34:00
AD CRABLE
The state has fined candy maker Mars Snackfood US $165,572 for operating roasting equipment longer than permitted at its Elizabethtown plant.By exceeding its permitted hours of operation, the plant "risked" emissions of volatile organic compounds in excess of federal air pollutio......
2009-11-10 08:17:00
AD CRABLE
Federal officials, acting on President Barrack Obama's recent executive order to get serious about cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, announced a draft strategy Monday that makes Lancaster County a linchpin in the plan.Local farms, sewage plants and runoff from urban and suburban landscap......
2009-09-30 06:54:00
AD CRABLE
Large-scale livestock farming in the Octoraro watershed of Lancaster and Chester counties is producing "staggering" amounts of manure in an already overloaded area, despite efforts to limit it, according to a new study by the environmental advocacy group PennFuture.The study of t......
2009-09-18 08:56:00
AD CRABLE
The controversial Veolia Landfill in Mount Joy Township has gotten key preliminary approval to expand from the state Department of Environmental Protection.DEP said its environmental assessment concluded that the benefits of allowing the landfill expansion "outweigh the known and pote......
2009-09-16 05:49:00
JAMES BUESCHER
The mysterious appearance of documents regarding plans for a levee to protect Marietta Borough prompted officials Sept. 8 to denounce unattributed criticism of council.Mayor Oliver Overlander said at the Sept. 8 meeting, "There are too many things going on in this town. It's fooli......
2009-09-10 08:47:00
TOM KNAPP
When traces of the E. coli bacteria were found last month in the Elizabethtown area water supply, word of the contamination spread slowly.But when the "boil water" advisory was lifted four days later, it took little more than the push of a button to reach nearly all of the Elizab......
2009-08-28 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY
Elizabethtown Area Water Authority on Thursday announced its water had been deemed clear of contamination by the state Department of Environmental Protection.And at 12:30 p.m., the authority ended its advisory that customers should boil their tap water before drinking it.The advisor......
2009-08-27 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY
Water samples from Elizabethtown Area Water Authority have indicated the system is clear of contamination, but a boil-water advisory remains in effect until Friday, officials said Wednesday.Tests results on a second set of water samples that were taken Wednesday are expected this evening....
2009-08-26 06:14:00
JAMES BUESCHER
After more than a decade of work, it appears that plans have run aground for a new two-mile, $3 million to $6 million levee system to protect Marietta Borough from Susquehanna River floods.Now, residents and officials are wondering who caused the failure, especially because someone has dis......
2009-08-21 10:00:00
AD CRABLE
This time the federal government means business about cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, and the imminent "big stick" should not be ignored by local farmers, officials and residents. That's the view of a key state legislator and state and federal environmental officials who were brou......
2009-08-18 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
It was mostly sunny in Annville on Monday, and solar rays were doing their thing on Philip Morgan's roof: heating his water.Fourteen rooftop vacuum tubes, each 5 feet long, had reached 130 degrees.An antifreeze solution, circulating in pipes, was transferring the heat to 80 gall......
2009-08-13 10:47:00
P.J. REILLY
Two giant steam generators destined for Three Mile Island are expected to begin their long journey from France any day now.The cargo ship carrying the generators for the Unit 1 reactor at the TMI nuclear power plant are expected to glide through the mouth of the Susquehanna River to a ship......
2009-07-28 10:34:00
TIM MEKEEL
The beginning of the Turkey Hill Experience project has changed.But the end will be the same.With two problems solved in imaginative ways, site work for the agri-tourism venture in Columbia Borough started last week.That keeps the Third and Linden streets project, anchored by......
2009-06-30 20:30:00
JAMES BUESCHER
It's a part of the "green revolution" that local governments are only starting to look at now: with urban areas being well-served by train, bus and public transportation options, what about rural areas where depending on the family car is a daily necessity?"In Lancaster ......
2009-06-26 00:16:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
Manheim Borough Authority invites the public to hear about expenses relating to the sewer plant at 7 p.m. Monday in Manheim Central Middle School auditorium, 261 White Oak Road.Matt Parido, authority administrator and borough manager, said Thursday the discussion will review the Chesapeake......
2009-06-16 22:46:00
MICHAEL C. UPTON
Developers of a proposed shopping center that would bring dozens of stores and a handful of restaurants to East Cocalico Township were granted final plan approval June 3.Attached to the plan were 16 conditions the developer must satisfy to recoup a $6.5 million improvement guarantee held i......
2009-06-09 20:12:00
P.J. REILLY
Correction — The story below, posted on LancasterOnline Tuesday, incorrectly stated the location of the tunnels on Route 272. They are in Providence Township.•••Pequea Townshi......
2009-06-02 22:23:00
JAMES BUESCHER
This time, it all comes down to the Drumore Township supervisors.Last week, officials began what promises to be several rounds of conditional-use hearings on whether to allow an East Drumore Township developer to construct a 21,000-square-foot shopping center near the proposed site of the ......
2009-06-01 11:07:00
CHAD UMBLE
The fire is out of the hole. After almost two months, crews finally dug down to the bottom of a former Caernarvon Township limestone quarry and extinguished a smoldering fire that had been burning there since at least January. For the last 20 years, the Maxwells Hill Quarry along Route 23 ......
2009-05-29 10:20:00
AD CRABLE
"Extensive" testing shows the air outside Locust Grove Mennonite School in East Lampeter Township is safe, the state Department of Environmental Protection says. Air testing had been ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in March after a study by the newspaper USA Today listed the......
2009-05-27 18:49:00
P.J. REILLY
Correction — An article posted on LancasterOnline Wednesday incorrectly stated who is operating the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island. The plant is operated by Exelon Nuclear.•••...
2009-05-13 01:01:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
Providence Township zoning board has 45 days to decide whether to approve an existing kennel that scores of residents said they oppose Tuesday night.This time when kennel owner Jonas J. Esch came before the zoning board for a hearing continued from last month, he brought attorney James Cly......
2009-05-07 23:57:00
JACK BRUBAKER
The attorney for residents who oppose construction of a new Norfolk Southern freight rail yard on top of a restored dump site in Manheim Township is concerned and angry. Bill Cluck claims to have found multiple "misstatements'' and other irregularities associated with the ent......
2009-05-07 01:01:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Manheim Township High School is touted as one of the most energy-efficient schools in Lancaster County.The sprawling building is cooled and heated with a geothermal/radiant system and boasts energy-efficient windows, roofing and wall insulation, a rooftop solar water heater and self-dimmin......
2009-04-23 00:51:00
P.J. REILLY
Trash, tires and other debris illegally dumped on two Lancaster County properties will be cleaned up thanks to state grants announced Wednesday in honor of Earth Day.The local grants were part of a pool of money doled out by the state Department of Environmental Protection through its Comm......
2009-04-18 00:01:00
Pennsylvania's three-month-old Right-to-Know law, after a seemingly quiet start, may be on the brink of its first real tests.In one matter, a state agency said it will appeal to court a decision by the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records that it must copy and mail out records to people......
2009-04-10 01:01:00
PATRICK BURNS
PPL Electric Utilities said Thursday that it will seek federal stimulus money to resurrect an expansion project at its hydroelectric plant at the Holtwood Dam.In December, the electric utility scrapped a plan to more than double electric output from its Holtwood hydroelectric plant on the ......
2009-04-02 10:32:00
AD CRABLE
It's been almost 10 years since doubts about the real dangers of radon gas began nagging Dr. William K. Grosh, then a family doctor in Akron. "I had talked with some of our local oncologists and radiologists and was surprised to learn that in spite of high levels of radon in the Readin......
2009-04-01 00:01:00
JOHN FRIEL
Finally, someone said no.State-licensed kennels have operated in Lancaster County for years without municipal permission. Now that state law requires kennel operators to seek local approval, several owners are asking for special exceptions and variances to allow them to continue to sell pu......
2009-03-10 01:31:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
A Monday afternoon barn fire in Brecknock Township totaled a tobacco shed and threatened to take out several surrounding buildings.Deputy Chief Glenn Mains of Fivepointville Fire Company said the call came in at about 2:30 p.m. and eventually involved at least 75 emergency personnel from s......
2009-03-09 00:07:00
BRIAN WALLACE
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has announced a plan to test air quality at schools nationwide to determine if students are at risk from airborne pollutants.But whether that testing will include schools in Lancaster County is not known.EPA administrator Lisa Jackso......
2009-03-04 10:41:00
AD CRABLE
Concerned about toxic pollutants falling on playgrounds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will require Pennsylvania and other states to test the air quality near schools. At least one local school is already being tested because of those pollution concerns: Locust Grove, a campus of ......
2009-03-03 19:44:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Correction — Ann Breslin, project manager for the Strube Inc. environmental cleanup project, is employed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Her place of employment was misidentified in the article below, posted on LancasterOnline S......
2009-02-28 00:40:00
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
State officials said recent air-quality tests gave reason to doubt USA Today's claim that many schools are "toxic hot spots."The state Department of Environmental Protection has cast doubt on a newspaper's report that labeled hundreds of schools in America — includi......
2009-02-26 11:00:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Work began this morning on the controversial project that would move the Dillerville rail yard west from Lancaster City into Manheim Township and near upscale housing developments. Workers began cutting trees at about 8 a.m. at a former city dump behind the Lancaster Main Post Office, 1400 Harr......
2009-02-24 10:00:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Three Manheim Township commissioners have urged their state lawmakers to oppose further state funding for the $46 million project to relocate the Norfolk Southern rail yard. But the lawmakers say they support the project and, in any case, state funding decisions are settled. The governor p......
2009-02-10 10:02:00
AD CRABLE
The federal-state emergency cleanup of hundreds of thousands of World War II aircraft instruments with radioactive dials in warehouses in Columbia, Marietta, Maytown and Mount Joy is 90 percent complete. But the cost of the removal has mushroomed from an initial ceiling of $250,000 in January 2......
2009-01-30 00:23:00
TOM KNAPP
A state initiative for clean and sustainable energy programs has benefited three Lancaster County projects that are trying a greener approach to business.The biggest chunk locally goes to the Lancaster Family YMCA, which will get $500,000 toward the cost of designing and building a 42,000-......
2009-01-29 10:25:00
AD CRABLE
State dam inspectors today proclaimed a 40-acre coal ash basin near Holtwood Dam safe and in no danger of collapse. The state Department of Environmental Protection had promised to immediately reinspect all five of Pennsylvania's coal slurry basins with "high-hazard" dams, including PPL's close......
2009-01-29 00:28:00
MICHAEL YODER
Stricter standards on farm pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed take effect in less than a year. State agencies are looking for innovative ways for Pennsylvania to meet them.That's where Bion Environmental Technologies Inc. comes in. The New York-based firm received a $7.8 million......
2009-01-26 00:03:00
P.J. REILLY
The state Department of Environmental Protection is taking steps to make sure a coal-ash impoundment failure that devastated Kingston, Tenn., last month doesn't happen here.By the end of this month, DEP officials plan to have examined the 10 coal-ash slurry basins in Pennsylvania that ......
2009-01-16 01:04:00
P.J. REILLY
Barack Obama is scheduled to be sworn in Tuesday as the 44th President of the United States.Though he's not in office yet, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission this week began pressing him to fund a critical flood-warning system."We know this is going to be a challenging ......
2009-01-15 09:50:00
AD CRABLE
Remember radon? Not enough people do, according to a new federal government report that says more people than ever are living in homes with the cancer-causing gas. Studies have found Pennsylvania — where the radon scare originated in 1984 — with some of the most elevated levels......
2009-01-13 01:23:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The Crossings at Conestoga Creek cleared its first hurdle Monday when Manheim Township Board of Commissioners approved its stormwater runoff plan.The $100 million, 650,000-square-foot shopping complex is proposed for a former 90-acre farm across Harrisburg Pike from Long's Park.......
2009-01-08 00:22:00
BILL HANNEGAN
The former operator of Penn Township's wastewater treatment plant was fined $1,000 Wednesday for falsifying reports by using paper towels to filter water samples from April 2005 to October 2007.J. Scott Shank was ordered to pay the fine to the state Solid Waste Abatement Fund, which fi......
2009-01-07 00:05:00
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Federal regulators are proposing a $65,000 fine against the operator of a York County nuclear plant where security guards routinely napped on the job.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced the fine against Exelon Nuclear on Tuesday after completing a special investigation of the Peach......
2008-12-11 00:38:00
P.J. REILLY
A new pest is on the rise in Lancaster County.It's aggressive, fond of human blood and known to carry the deadly West Nile virus.It's the Asian tiger mosquito, an invasive species that showed up in the county in larger numbers this year than ever before."There no......
2008-12-10 00:55:00
BRIAN WALLACE
A cluster of schools near some of the most pristine farmland in Lancaster County may be harboring hidden health hazards, according to USA Today.In a special report running this week, the newspaper identified Locust Grove Mennonite School as one of 435 schools in America that might be expos......
2008-12-06 01:14:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Gov. Ed Rendell has thrown his support behind the project to move Norfolk Southern's Dillerville Yard from Lancaster city into Manheim Township.The governor announced a $10 million grant for the relocation Friday. As part of Lancaster's "Northwest Gateway Project," the ra......
2008-12-04 00:44:00
P.J. REILLY
Each resident of Lancaster County generates about 1 ton of trash per year.That's according to Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority officials, who base the figure on the fact the authority takes in about 500,000 tons of waste each year and there are about 500,000 county res......
2008-12-03 00:31:00
MICHAEL YODER
For 33 years, Don Ranck only worried about two products from his cow herd: milk to sell and manure to dispose of.But the owner of Verdant View Farm in Paradise Township fears that in the near future he and other farmers may have to worry about another emission from their animals — gr......
2008-11-23 00:20:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Lionel Caldwell says he has no idea what made 70 of the 90 people who visited his Christiana dinner theater sick earlier this month. But he's convinced it had nothing to do with the food they ate before watching "Amish Family Christmas." Caldwell is co-owner of the Freedom Ch......
2008-11-14 01:17:00
MICHAEL YODER
The relocation of a portion of the Norfolk Southern rail yard is ready to begin, but many of its potential neighbors still feel they are not getting answers from the project's backers and government officials.More than 100 concerned residents listened Thursday night as state officials ......
2008-11-12 01:36:00
MICHAEL YODER
A local community organization's objections to moving a portion of the Norfolk Southern rail yard has landed in the state court system.On Thursday Bill Cluck, a Harrisburg environmental lawyer representing The Rail Road Action and Advisory Committee, or TRRAAC, filed a notice of appeal......
2008-11-07 11:20:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Opponents of Franklin & Marshall College's proposal to move the Norfolk Southern rail yard have argued there was insufficient public participation in the plan. So on Thursday they filed an appeal of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's October approval of the project on......
2008-10-26 00:08:00
JON RUTTER
The sixth annual Lancaster/Lebanon County Watershed Forum was held Saturday in Quentin, a southern Lebanon County community where E. coli was recently discovered in the water. Irony? Not really. According to environmental scientists, water pollution remains a big problem here. Ci......
2008-10-22 10:30:00
BERNARD HARRIS
A battle of words is being waged between Franklin & Marshall College officials and an attorney representing property owners opposed to plans to move the Norfolk Southern rail yard into their neighborhood. And the next battlefield will be in legal documents. The latest salvo was fired b......
2008-10-22 01:43:00
MICHAEL YODER
Another salvo has been fired in the battle over the relocation of a portion of the Norfolk Southern rail yard in Lancaster.An environmental lawyer hired by a group critical of the Dillerville rail yard plan is defending himself from criticisms leveled by Franklin & Marshall College, a ......
2008-10-13 00:01:00
KRISTY BULLER
Volunteers took Lititz by foot Sunday, asking residents an important question: Is your drinking water safe?Although it's a query some locals have heard before, it's one that members of The Sierra Club and The League of Humane Voters of Central Pennsylvania think is worth posing aga......
2008-10-12 00:19:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
John Fox watched the trees turn brown and die. It freaked him out a little. "Perhaps it's nothing," said Fox, president of the Iron Compass Map Co., in Liberty Place in Lancaster. But because of where the trees were, he thought it might be something. They lined a fence along ......
2008-10-10 01:55:00
MICHAEL YODER
Franklin & Marshall College officials have taken exception to statements made at a community meeting Tuesday regarding the relocation of a portion of Norfolk Southern's rail yard to a former dump site.More than 100 people turned out Tuesday night to listen to a presentation by The ......
2008-10-08 01:45:00
MICHAEL YODER
Some residents of Barrcrest and School Lane Hills aren't giving up their fight to keep the Dillerville rail yard away from their homes.More than 100 people turned out Tuesday night at Grace Baptist Church on Marietta Avenue to listen to a presentation by The Rail Road Action and Adviso......
2008-10-07 01:52:00
BILL HANNEGAN
Large-scale Lancaster County livestock farmers have found themselves caught in a dispute between an environmental group and the state Department of Environmental Protection regarding paperwork needed for operational permits.This disagreement led PennFuture to list more than half the farms ......
2008-10-02 00:22:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster Area Habitat for Humanity wants nearly 10 acres of wooded, county-owned land on the west side of South Broad Street in the city's southeast to build affordable housing.The nonprofit Hand's WOODS Foundation — for Wild Outdoor Observatory Designed by Students — ......
2008-10-01 00:14:00
P.J. REILLY
The Susquehanna River Flood Forecast and Warning System will remain intact — for now.At an emergency meeting in central Pennsylvania on Monday of the multiagency committee that funds and oversees the system, members pledged to plug a budget shortfall that threatened to shut down toda......
2008-09-23 01:14:00
JENNIFER TODD
Trash hauler Willie Shell Sr. has been issued a fine by the state for sorting recyclables from trash at his firm's Lancaster city property, officials said Monday. The Department of Environmental Protection levied the $13,000 fine Saturday, 10 days after Shell was ordered by the state to cease t......
2008-09-18 01:16:00
MICHAEL YODER
Lax state oversight of large-scale livestock farms in Lancaster County is abetting the pollution of the Susquehanna River, an environmental advocacy group charges.More than half of the county's industrial farms, known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, are out of comp......
2008-09-11 01:23:00
JENNIFER TODD
Lancaster trash hauler Willie Shell Sr. has come under fire from the state for using his property to sort trash from recyclables.Officials from the Department of Environmental Protection said the practice is creating unsanitary conditions at Shell's Disposal and Recycling, 640 S. Frank......
2008-09-05 01:22:00
PATRICK BURNS
A former supervisor of Penn Township's sewage treatment plant is accused of falsifying data and altering wastewater samples submitted to state environmental officials.J. Scott Shank, former superintendent of Northwestern Lancaster County Water and Sewer Authority, was arraigned Thursda......
2008-09-04 11:40:00
JANET KELLEY and AD CRABLE
The former head of Northwest Lancaster County's wastewater treatment plant has been charged by the state attorney general with falsifying nearly three years worth of samples — with a paper towel. J. Scott Shank allegedly used a paper towel to filter sewage water and reduce solids in th......
2008-09-04 00:58:00
TIM STUHLDREHER
After two discoveries of mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus at Lancaster Stockyards, city officials completed negotiations Wednesday to have the buildings and debris there removed within four to six weeks.Stockyard owners and a potential developer of the property assured the city that all......
2008-08-22 00:52:00
MICHAEL YODER
Strasburg has repaired a break, but customers must boil water until tests confirm safe conditions, officials said Thursday.•••Residents and business owners in Strasburg are still feeling the effects of a Wednesday night water main break......
2008-08-20 01:02:00
PATRICK BURNS
UGI Inc. workers are going door to door in certain neighborhoods in the county looking for homes with gas regulators that contain mercury.Gas companies installed the mercury regulators from the 1940s to the mid-1960s as a safety device that monitored gas flow in some homes, UGI spokeswoman......
2008-08-15 00:44:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
For the first time in five years, a mosquito carrying the West Nile virus was found in Lancaster city July 23.Still, it's been a slow start for the virus, with positive mosquito samples found so far this year only in East Drumore and East Hempfield townships and Mount Joy Borough....
2008-08-14 11:21:00
BERNARD HARRIS
A mosquito carrying West Nile virus was found in Lancaster City last month, the first finding of the virus in the city in five years. State Department of Environmental Protection officials are reporting that a mosquito caught in one of its traps July 23 and tested in a laboratory was found t......
2008-08-13 00:38:00
JOHN WALK
A proposal by Conestoga Landfill in Berks County to pipe landfill gas to Lancaster County — where it would be used to help power local industry — has been given the green light.The state Department of Environmental Protection's Southcentral Regional office approved the plan......
2008-08-12 01:40:00
MICHAEL YODER
A local animal-rights and environmental group has adopted the cause of monitoring issues surrounding the Lititz watershed, including nitrate levels and farming operations.The League of Humane Voters of Central Pennsylvania on Monday morning debuted its Web site, ...
2008-08-03 00:10:00
JON RUTTER
You're not imagining it: Those ozone air pollution warnings out of Harrisburg have been coming faster and more furiously this year. But, no, the air itself has not grown that much hotter or goopier. "The [pollution] standards have been made more stringent," said Kevi......
2008-07-21 11:10:00
AD CRABLE
The state has fined PPL for two fish kills at its Brunner Island power plant along the Susquehanna River in York County, across from Bainbridge. Previous fish kills had occurred at Brunner Island in 2002, 2005 and 2006. In addition to a $77,500 fine for the two fish kills in October 200......
2008-07-17 00:55:00
JAMES BUESCHER
After more than a decade of waiting, about 100 Marietta residents got a peek at plans Wednesday to construct a two-mile, $3 million to $6 million levee system that would protect their town from Susquehanna River flooding.Now, the decision about whether to construct the levee rests in the h......
2008-07-16 01:43:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
Lancaster is one of the few counties in the state to show evidence already of West Nile Virus this season.The virus showed up in an East Hempfield Township mosquito sampling tested June 10.Tonight in West Lampeter Township, the state Department of Environmental Protection will condu......
2008-07-15 01:59:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Developers and opponents of a proposed shopping center along Harrisburg Pike engaged in a bout of water wars Monday during a meeting of the Manheim Township commissioners.Representatives of High Family Partnership, which wants to develop The Crossings at Conestoga Creek on a former 90-acre......
2008-07-12 01:37:00
JOHN WALK
Strasburg Borough officials say rust in a 110-year-old pipeline is to blame for several complaints received this year about orange-tinted water.•••Since January, Strasburg Borough has been getting occasional calls from residents complai......
2008-07-10 00:42:00
DAVE PIDGEON
A Lancaster County dam deemed hazardous by the state could be in line for funding under a $35 million program signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Ed Rendell.Whether the Speedwell Forge Dam will receive any money to improve it remains to be seen.The dam is considered structurally sound......
2008-07-03 01:08:00
JAMES BUESCHER
Once again, it comes down to the sewer.On Wednesday, Lancaster County Judge James P. Cullen issued a ruling on a proposed Buck-area shopping hub known as Drumore Crossings that's been a source of controversy for more than five years.In his 12-page opinion, Cullen wrote that the ......
2008-07-01 23:46:00
JAMES BUESCHER
One year ago, Marietta's "green" initiatives were the talk of local governments around the state. Now, it seems the borough's environmental efforts are being ignored, the victim of gross mismanagement and neglect.Marietta resident Stacey VonStein criticized the borough......
