The grassroots group No Skook Detention has decided to fight dirty in its efforts to rally Tremont Township residents against a proposed 7,500-bed detention center planned for Schuylkill County.
Specifically, it wants you to see exactly how hard it might be to meet the sewage needs of such a facility. The estimated 1 million gallons of sewage such a facility would need calculates to 150 “poop trucks” a day, the group estimates, and it’s launched a video game in which you can attempt to drive those poop trucks past deer and state Department of Environmental Protection inspectors.
The game can be played on a mobile phone or a laptop. It looks like what you’d get if you crossed classic computer games Frogger and the Oregon Trail — with stark visual reminders of what happens if a poop truck runs off road and spills.
Ever since the federal government bought two area warehouses — a 527,000-square-foot warehouse in Upper Bern Township sold for $87.4 million and a 1.3 million-square-foot former warehouse in Tremont Township sold for $119 million — Lehigh Valley residents and politicians have closely monitored Berks and Schuylkill counties to see how local and state officials respond to plans to turn the sites into U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement facilities.
As part of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s efforts to push back on detention center construction, DEP ordered the federal government to comply with environmental regulations before opening the proposed centers.
Meanwhile, concerns from Schuylkill and Berks residents regarding the proposed detention centers have resulted in packed town halls.
As the Department of Homeland Security advanced plans to buy warehouses and convert them to large-scale detention centers, local and federal officials have at times disagreed on how such facilities would affect water and sewage infrastructure, as well as local tax revenue.
The Associated Press has reported that proposed warehouse-to-detention-center conversions are under review and warehouse purchases are on pause as DHS studies all contracts signed by the agency’s former leader, Kristi Noem, following the swearing in of the department’s new leader, Markwayne Mullin.
The video game launch came via the No Skook Detention newsletter. Those interested in following the group can subscribe at noskookdetention.com.