(The Center Square) – A proposed rail line to move trash through rural Elk and Jefferson counties in northwestern Pennsylvania continues drawing opposition from local officials and residents, as questions over the project’s scope, transparency, and the legal status of a long-dormant rail corridor remain unresolved.
Supporters say the project could reduce long-haul truck traffic by shifting waste transport to rail, and communities in the district will benefit from increased revenue. Opponents argue the proposal has changed significantly since it was first presented and could bring new burdens to communities that have treated the rail corridor as abandoned. They also point out that much of the trash would come from New York and New Jersey – benefitting states that limit reliance on their own landfills while exporting waste elsewhere.
As originally proposed, the project would add 3.87 miles of new track along an abandoned rail bed, beginning at the end of an active Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad line – commonly referred to as the “Toby Branch” – near the O-I Crenshaw Glass Plant, and ending at the Greentree Landfill. The landfill is operated by Noble Environmental, the parent company of Lampwrights LLC, which was formed to develop the proposed rail line.
The Surface Transportation Board, or STB, is the federal agency reviewing the rail proposal. Its Office of Environmental Analysis, or OEA, handles the environmental review, including potential impacts, feasibility questions, and any mitigation that may be required before the board makes a final decision.
Two issues have become central to the debate: whether the former rail corridor was ever legally abandoned, and whether sewer lines installed along the corridor would need to be relocated.
A letter sent to the STB by Horton Township supervisors argued that the proposed rail construction involves a former corridor that has long been treated as abandoned after the Toby Mines were exhausted in 1926.
“The tracks, bridges, and crossings of this segment and most of the rest of the former branch line were ripped out long ago by Erie Lackawanna Railway Company prior to its declared bankruptcy in 1972,” the letter states.
The supervisors also said much of the land has since returned to natural habitat, while other portions now include an active church, homes, businesses, and utility infrastructure. They pointed to Lampwrights’ earlier descriptions of the route as “abandoned,” though the company now disputes that position.
Township Supervisor PJ Piccirillo told The Center Square that the abandonment question is central to the dispute. He also noted that the company’s position changed after Apollo Global Management – one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers – acquired a majority interest in Noble Environmental in May.
Piccirillo said that if Lampwrights’ latest assertion is accepted, it could sidestep the environmental review and “green light” the project’s expansion.
In February, federal review of the project was paused due to concerns involving a 1.5-mile stretch of sewer line.
Lampwrights’ original proposal called for approximately 20,427 feet, or 3.87 miles of new rail line. The company is now seeking to amend that to 27,574 feet, or 5.2 miles. Piccirillo said the change became necessary after a landowner who had been working with the company on a transfer station near the landfill apparently backed out, requiring both the rail and sewer lines to be relocated and extended.
An email obtained by The Center Square through a Right-to-Know request shows Horton Township supervisors raised concerns with the Brockway Area Sewage Authority, or BASA, about potential legal and financial consequences of participating in the project. The email asked BASA and its counsel to research the issues and report back to the authority’s board and the affected municipalities before taking further action.
The supervisors acknowledged the difficult decisions facing BASA, but said the potential construction and relocation of sewer lines “has enormous public safety, quality of life, and economic consequences for each of the Municipalities and their citizens.”
They also questioned whether BASA may be assuming that the least risky option is to cooperate with Lampwrights by rescinding its prior opposition letter to the STB and agreeing to move the sewer line. The supervisors suggested that could instead prove to be the highest-risk option.
Among the issues they asked BASA to review were relocation costs, who would pay them, property rights needed for sewer relocation, the status of unpaid bonds and system ownership, whether longstanding easements or property rights could be relinquished, environmental requirements, and railway engineering standards.
Piccirillo is also critical of what he describes as a lack of transparency about the project’s scope.
Initial documents showed Lampwrights estimated it would ship one inbound train and one empty outbound train per week, using 75 hermetically sealed intermodal containers on 89-foot flat cars – with the train spanning approximately one mile. Piccirillo said the company has since acknowledged it plans one inbound and one empty outbound train per day, six days per week.
Letters supporting Lampwrights’ initial petition were submitted by State Reps. Mike Armanini, R-DuBois, and Brian Smith, R-Brookville. Both cited potential benefits from reducing wear and tear on local roads and increasing revenue by allowing greater waste volume to the landfill.
Although Lampwrights says the corridor remains suitable for rail service, Piccirillo said the area has changed significantly since trains last operated there. Nearly half of Horton Township’s residents live along the Route 219 corridor, which runs parallel to the proposed rail line, he said.
He also warned that new at-grade road and highway crossings could impede emergency responders’ ability to reach hospitals and residents.
“We have heard overwhelming objections to Lampwrights’ vexatious tactics seeking to strong-armed small communities with limited resources to accept its unreasonable demands,” Piccirillo said. “The New York/New Jersey Trash Trains project is contrary to the public interest and the welfare of our rural communities, and our residents have asked us to reject it.”
