The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency wants a three-month extension to let the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection know what how much groundwater it will need for a planned 7,500 bed detention center in Schuylkill County, how much sewage it expects to generate, and how those plans would comply with environmental laws.

DEP on March 5 ordered ICE to submit the information by April 26 to be allowed to open; ICE want to hold off until July 26 to come up with numbers. Until that later date, ICE wants to continue using the warehouse levels that were approved by DEP.

The center would be housed in a former Big Lots warehouse at 51 Rausch Creek Road, Tremont Township.

The federal government bought the 1.3-million-square-foot warehouse on Jan. 29 for $119 million. The Department of Homeland Security has said it expects the center to open sometime this spring.

ICE Assistant Director James K. Ingalsbe asked DEP to be allowed to use the same water and sewer amounts used by the warehouse until ICE could determine the new amounts needed.

DEP told Homeland Security it may not use Schuylkill County Municipal Authority water or sewage infrastructure without its approval.

In its order, DEP noted the center would use about 800,000 gallons of water a day, twice the system’s current capacity The amount could deplete the area’s reservoir in a single day, DEP’s Regional Director Joseph J. Buczynski noted in the order.

Further, DEP noted that sewage holding tanks and septic systems cannot be installed without the proper permits and

That the township’s sewage plant would likely need changes to be made to handle the increased waste.

In its March 17 response to DEP, Ingalsbe asked DEP to make five changes to its order.

He asked DEP to allow it to consume water at the same level as was previously authorized for the warehouse building under the previous owner, irrespective of purpose.

“To restrict ICE to using no water other than for fire protection seems arbitrary since DEP appears to have already approved municipal plans that accommodate water use in general at the former warehouse building,” Ingalsbe wrote.

ICE also asked that DEP allow it to generate and dispose of wastewater at the same level as approved for the warehouse; extend the due date for written water and sewage use plans to July 26; meet with ICE and municipal authorities to work out solutions to the issues DEP listed in its order; and suspend the 30-day period to appeal DEP’s orders to the state Environmental Hearing Board until July 26 — after DEP has acted on ICE’s request to modify its orders, until after ICE has submitted its written descriptions of its water and sewer plans and DEP has had time to review them, and until DEP considers ICE’s request to meet with the agency and municipal authorities to work out solutions.