A Pennsylvania scrap yard with a long history of environmental violations has been shut down by state regulators in the wake of a February fire that resulted in oily waste washing into a Susquehanna River tributary.
On March 17, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) ordered J&K Salvage, in York, PA, to stop accepting and processing waste and begin removing waste already at the site in Spring Garden township. The agency also asked a state court to jail the owner for 45 days and fine him more than $40,000 for failure to comply with a 2024 cleanup order.
“We will not tolerate flagrant disregard of the laws and regulations that exist to protect public health and Pennsylvania’s air, land and water,” said DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley.
The state’s action came on the heels of a March 13 request by the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association for a federal court injunction to shut down the scrap yard. The watershed group had sued in July 2025, accusing J&K of violating Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams law as well as federal clean water and hazardous waste laws…