Lawyers representing the shuttered power plant in Springdale are making their case to a state appellate court, arguing that a county judge erred in siding with 16 borough residents and temporarily pausing a planned implosion of a boiler house at the site. On Wednesday, attorneys representing remediation firm Charah Solutions — which owns a subsidiary that owns the former Cheswick Generating Station — filed a brief to the state’s Superior Court appealing a decision that granted a preliminary injunction of an implosion of the plant’s boiler house. That decision, ruled on by Allegheny County Judge John T.
McVay Jr., set procedures for the attorneys to follow before he would consider dissolving the injunction and letting the implosion proceed. “If (residents) had filed administrative appeals in a timely fashion, the trial court should have referred the matters relating to implosion and air quality for appropriate administrative adjudication, rather than conduct a hearing for three months, issue an order that contains various requirements and then purportedly sends the (residents’ attorneys) to those same administrative agencies for their input,” Charah’s brief said.
John Kane, an attorney representing the residents, disagreed with the notion that the residents should have challenged the DEP’s blasting permit and the asbestos clearance by the Allegheny County Health Department. “The residents of Springdale were in desperate straits after the June 2, 2023, implo.