Pocono Township, Pennsylvania

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Memo from Township Engineer-Jon Tresslar, 03/03/2026 Pat and I met with representatives from Core 5, Pentex GC, Muschlitz site contractor, Mauer & Scott blasting company, Rocky Rift Consulting blast monitoring company, and two individuals from DEP (Ross Klock, Heath Gustafson). It was a long meeting, approximately 1.5 hours. Most of the meeting consisted of me asking questions and with most of the responses coming from the DEP, or Don Haney with Rocky Rift Consulting. They spent a lot of time trying to educate. The key issues coming out of the meeting were: 1. All the blasts are well below the DEP allowable threshold and the limits established on Core 5’s blasting permit. Seismograph data was shown to verify this. 2. The permit requires only one point be established for seismograph testing; they are setting up four (4). 3. The air horn is not to warn residents of a blast. It is to alert construction workers on the site. DEP has no requirements to alert surrounding property owners of blasts. They are doing this as a courtesy. 4. Ground vibration is limited by DEP and is a condition of the permit. While it is possible to feel the vibrations off-site, the regulatory limits have been set so that any blasts felt offsite will not cause any cosmetic damage to interior plaster or drywalls. These two areas are the most susceptible to vibration damage and if damage does occur at a structure this is the first indication. Foundation cracks or other damage would not occur before cracks in the plaster or drywall. 5. Airblast is also regulated by DEP with strict limits set. The most vulnerable structural element to airblast is windows. They will break first. I don’t believe the Township has received any complaints regarding airblasts. 6. DEP was going to investigate two formal complaints the day of the meeting. They would not tell me who, as that is confidential. They said they will not investigate a property until they file a formal complaint. 7. I asked if they had a pre-blast inspection. They said a partial inspection. Don Haney from Rocky Rift Consulting, Inc., went to house to perform the inspection but was met on his way there at the end of Ruby Lane by an “advocate”. The “advocate” was from another township . The “advocate” convinced property owner not to allow Don to go into the house and complete an internal pre-blast inspection. Don said he did perform an inspection of the outside of the house. 8. Property owner also refused to allow them to set up a seismograph on property to measure readings from the blast. The did record blasts upstream and downstream of her property, and like others were well below the permit limits. 9. Water testing is not required by the DEP but Core 5 agreed to do it anyway. They haven’t shared those results. 10. I believe as you know, since Core 5 is following their permit requirements (confirmed by the DEP representatives) they will continue to blast acknowledging that Pocono Township has issued a cease letter. I am not sure much if any of this is new information but they made a very concerted effort to educate us about blasting, the DEP assuring us that they are monitoring and are looking out for the residents and to date all blasting has proceeded well below (about 20%of the allowable) permit requirements.