Two environmental organizations want a say in a dispute between the Department of Homeland Security and the state Department of Environmental Protection over planned immigrant detention centers in Schuylkill and Berks counties.

Green Amendments for the Generations and the Delaware River Keeper Network on Friday filed petitions to intervene in the dispute, which will be considered by the state Environmental Hearing Board.

At issue is DHS’ April 8 challenge of a March 5 set of orders from DEP stopping the centers from opening until DHS and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency can prove, in writing, that their plans for handling water needs and sewage disposal comply with state environmental laws.

The Environmental Hearing Board has yet to set a date to begin to listen to arguments in the dispute.

DEP Press Secretary Neil Shader declined to weigh in on the petition.

“DEP does not comment on litigation,” he said.

If the petitions are granted, Green Amendments for the Generations and the Delaware River Keeper Network will be able to participate in DEP’s defense.

“ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are seeking to strongarm Pennsylvania and the communities of Hamburg and Tremont Township into accepting their efforts to transform windowless warehousing into immigration detention centers, regardless of the devastating harm, impact and costs to our communities and environment,” said Maya Van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper and founder of the Green Amendments for the Generations organization. “If allowed to move forward, these ICE detention facilities threaten to undermine community drinking and groundwater systems, while at the same time overwhelming communities with mass quantities of sewage pollution that their existing facilities simply cannot handle.

“The result will be people potentially denied drinking water, streams overwhelmed with pollution, fire companies potentially unable to access the water they need to respond to a fire emergency, and irreversible harm to the water resources and natural environments important to local residents for their quality of life, enjoyment of their property, and the recreational joys of life,” Rossum said in a prepared statement.

She’s also concerned about the detainees’ wellbeing. She cited the possibility of lack of clean water for drinking and bathing; proper access to flushable toilets and sanitary conditions; and whether there would be enough water to put out fires.

“Given the known lack of water and sewage infrastructure needed to properly serve the high numbers being proposed for the Berks and Schuylkill County warehouses, it is very foreseeable that these facilities would result in dangerous and inhumane conditions for the detainees, while at the same time harming the surrounding communities,” Rossum said.

The Schuylkill County center would be on the site of the former Big Lots warehouse in Tremont Township. DHS bought the 1.3-million square-foot building in January for $119 million.

DEP is concerned that the amount of water needed for the Schuylkill County center, which would house 7,500 inmates and 2,500 staff, would deplete the surrounding communities’ water supplies and sewage disposal would overwhelm local infrastructure.

In Berks County, DHS bought a former warehouse on 64 acres in Upper Bern Township for $87.4 million. It plans to reconfigure the warehouse into a 1,500-bed detention center.

DHS and ICE’s appeal of DEP’s orders described them as “unreasonable” and politically motivated, given Gov. Josh Shapiro’s stated opposition to the detention centers.

The federal agencies argue they should be allowed to open the centers using the already permitted amounts of water and the waste disposal system the warehouses used.