Carbon County officials are concerned about a higher concentration of regulated fill being allowed to be used at a Superfund site in Palmerton.

On Thursday, Commissioner William O'Gurek said the county received permit application informational documents for the remediation project at the 120-acre former New Jersey Zinc west plant.The project is being completed by Phase III Environmental of Lehighton.O'Gurek said the permit modification information sent from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection last month allows the company to use regulated fill that contains lead concentrations of 1,000 mg/kg.Standard regulated fill can only have 450 mg/kg of lead concentrations.O'Gurek then spoke about a second piece of correspondence, a copy of the NPDES stormwater permit renewal forms submitted by Impact Environmental Consulting of Bohemia, New York, for the project.O'Gurek said he has concerns that the regulated fill will be placed on land that is near the water supply for the borough of Palmerton."It concerns me what is happening down there," he said."The Palmerton water supply sits under that west plant and I am very much concerned that elevated levels of lead and other contaminated compounds are being allowed to be brought onto that property because of Pennsylvania's lenient environmental laws."In addition, O'Gurek voiced concerns about infiltration of stormwater and wastewater containing elevated levels of contaminated fill into the groundwater supply."Under the Safe Water Act there are regulations that say that if there are any regulated fill being brought in and being put over an aquifer or well system that the maximum level is 450 mg/kg," O'Gurek said."Why is DEP allowing this developer to increase the lead contaminants on that property when the wells on that property serve the borough."Commissioner Wayne Nothstein, chairman, said that the Carbon County Conservation District also has some concerns and was planning to meet with the developer; and agreed that the higher levels of lead being allowed in the fill are particularly concerning.Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard thanked O'Gurek for looking into the matter and agreed with his concerns."When you hear of the level of lead (allowed in the fill) going from 450 to 1,000 mg/kg, I would question DEP on whoever issued that permit," Gerhard said."The statistics are a little alarming to me."Colleen Connolly, DEP spokeswoman, said this morning that the developers had asked DEP to increase the background levels of lead that they can accept to the statewide standards of 1,022 parts per million, which was denied.It was then determined that the company could not go over 1,000 mg/kg.Connolly added that one of the requirements for the site is that the regulated fill containing the higher concentrations of lead be kept at least 300 feet away from wells or any water sources and have no direct pathway to the water sources.She said the company is complying.The commissioners also discussed the former Packerton Yards site, which is also contaminated property and requires areas to be encapsulated by fill.In that issue though, the commissioners are requiring whoever purchases the land to use clean fill rather than regulated.Clean fill does not contain much, if any, contamination and is more expensive than regulated fill."We want to sell Packerton, but we want to do it the right way," Gerhard said.The commissioners said that there are environmental obstacles, as well as a number of other issues that a buyer would be facing with Packerton, "starting with Mahoning Township."Earlier this month, the commissioners were to open bids for the sale of the property, which straddles Mahoning Township and Lehighton; but no bids were received.No decision on what the next move for the land will be have been announced.