"I think they should spend the extra dollars and think about the future," declared Dave Lesnefsky. "They should get it all out of here." Lesnefsky is a high school student and fast food worker who lives three blocks from the site.

"Citizens have fought for the removal of all the waste. This is still our fight," reported Susan Shortz in a phone interview. Shortz is a member of the Marjol Citizens Review Committee. According to Shortz, the EPA set up the committee claiming that its members would participate in the final decision on the disposal of the waste at the Marjol Battery site.

The used batteries were stored on the site by Gould and a previous owner of the lead recovery business. Lead is a serious health risk, especially for young children. The waste is close to homes and a playground.

An October 1999 proposal by the EPA called for the removal of 86,000 tons of the most toxic soil and debris and the stabilization of the remainder under a cap. Implementation of the December 4 decision will remove only the materials which won't fit under the cap and stabilize just the top five feet of waste.

Bordering the junk pile is the Lackawanna River. The company has built a retaining pond to collect runoff from the site. The pond is supposed to withstand river level fluctuations.

Shortz, however, believes that with the periodic significant floods common to the area, the retaining pond will dump toxic waste into the river. Prior to the late 1980s when the EPA ordered some cleanup of the site, "you could see batteries floating in the river," Shortz related.

Throop, north of the city of Scranton, is located on the northern field of anthracite coal. Most active mining today is in the middle and southern coal seams. The entire region has been ravaged by underground and strip mining and industrial waste dumps.

Opponents of the capping point to the existence of the mines and a history of mines fires as an additional reason to remove all the toxic materials.

Gould Electronics is opposed to removal of the waste pile. The EPA estimates that the price tag for removing all of the waste would be $85 million. Gould is responsible for the costs.

The widespread opposition to the course announced by the EPA was registered at a special borough council meeting December 7. After testimony from local residents and politicians, the council voted to seek a court injunction preventing the EPA and Gould from reaching an agreement on implementation of the plan.

The fight in Throop mirrors the current struggle against an EPA proposal to cap a toxic waste site in Hometown, Pennsylvania. Hometown is located in the southern anthracite coalfield.  
 
 
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