Pennsylvania’s Environmental Hearing Board (the “EHB”) has dismissed a legal action that was brought by the Philadelphia special interest group, the Clean Air Council (the “CAC”), relating to Encina’s Point Township Circular Manufacturing Facility in Northumberland County.
The attempted appeal targeted a letter that had been sent by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) to Encina. The CAC claimed that the letter was what is referred to as a “final agency action.” A final agency action is one which affects any party’s personal or property rights, privileges, immunities, duties, liabilities, or obligations, and for which there is a right to appeal. The EHB found that the letter to Encina did not affect any of those things, so there was no basis for a right to appeal, and the case was dismissed.
Encina is pleased with the EHB’s decision, which was the first relating to advanced recycling activities encouraged by legislation passed by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and former Governor Tom Wolf in the 2020. The legislation was in the form of amendments to the Solid Waste Management Act. They served to clarify that advanced recycling was a form of manufacturing and not appropriately characterized as solid waste processing. As adopted by more than half of the states in the United States, advanced recycling legislation addresses widespread public misunderstanding about the process and attracts companies to those states with such legislation, bringing with them innovative solutions and technologies to help address the plastic waste crisis.
Encina is committed to continuing its efforts to build the nation’s largest commercial-scale circular manufacturing facility in Point Township and realizing our vision for a future in which nothing is wasted. Our facility in Point Township will help reduce waste, allow us to keep using plastics for critical uses, reduce our reliance on petroleum, and bring well-paying jobs and tax revenue to the Point Township community.
