Should the county speak for the township?
Last Monday, April 6, we attended the Tremont Township supervisors' meeting. We learned that the township wasn't invited to the second meeting between Schuylkill County officials and DHS, and the township hadn't been involved in the "negotiations" with DHS.
Although the township was invited to the initial large virtual meeting with DHS and county officials, it wasn't included in the follow-up. Tremont Township Solicitor Chris Reidlinger acknowledged that he wasn't sure if the omission was an oversight.
As of the April 6 meeting, the township had not been asked to create or present a list of its own demands to DHS. Schuylkill County officials, however, had presented a list of demands surrounding lost tax revenue (for the county, Pine Grove Area School District, and Tremont Township) and infrastructure improvements.
Tremont Township Supervisor Larry Bender indicated interest in presenting a list of the township's needs.
At the meeting, we also learned—and later confirmed with the commissioners—that the "plan" so far was for DHS to give payment in lieu of taxes to Schuylkill County, and the county would then disburse the funds to Pine Grove Area School District and Tremont Township. The payments would reportedly cover lost tax revenue for the next three years.
When asked about this arrangement at the April 7 commissioners' meeting, Commissioner Padora said that he believed this was the way "DHS typically does things."
We believe DHS told him that, but the warehouse detention center model is completely new. There is no such thing as "typical" with respect to these warehouses, and we're the guinea pigs.
Why hasn't Tremont Township been given a seat at the table?
What risks does this county-handles-all structure pose for the Tremont area?
ICE filed an appeal with the PA Environmental Hearing Board
On April 8, ICE appealed DEP's administrative orders preventing ICE from using water or sewer at the Tremont Township and Upper Bern Township warehouses.
ICE wants access to the water and sewer capacity that was permitted when the Tremont Township warehouse was a Big Lots distribution center.
Here's an interesting quote from the appeal:
ICE officials have made public comments regarding general concepts of an increased detention capability involving the acquisition of new properties to support that capability. However, specific plans to develop this concept and implement an increased detention capability are ongoing and not yet finalized.
ICE spent $1.07B on warehouses, but "specific plans" to do anything with them are "not yet finalized." Incredible stuff.
This slows down the warehouse conversion process for now. The appeal process has a November 4 deadline.
To learn more about the appeal, check out the following news articles:
- ICE fighting DEP orders on two Pennsylvania detention center sites - Penn Capital-Star - April 9, 2026
- ICE appeals Pa. orders blocking water and sewer to planned detention centers - SpotlightPA - April 10, 2026
- ICE Appeals DEP's 'Political' Orders on Proposed Tremont Detention Center - Coal Region Canary - April 11, 2026
Make your voice heard
We're pushing the county commissioners to enable Zoom-based remote participation in meetings. Unfortunately, this is the third week in a row that meeting accessibility has been brought up, but there's been no progress.
We've created a form so you can submit public comments. We will read them aloud during public comment, and we'll prioritize reading comments from Schuylkill County residents.
