KILBUCK TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- On Friday, local land developers in Kilbuck Township presented the Department of Environmental Protection a report on the land's stability at the site of a massive landslide that occurred Sept. 19.

The report said most of the site is now stable, but it does not answer the key question posed by state regulators: how to keep another landslide from occurring.

Because of that, DEP officials have not decided whether they will accept the report.

After the landslide, the DEP ordered the Wal-Mart developers to submit a plan showing how they planned to keep any future landslides from occurring.

The developers, Kilbuck Properties, requested and got a one-month extension of the original deadline.

Last week, the developers submitted a plan saying most of the site is stable. The toe of the landslide has moved just 1.3 inches since Oct. 8, and in a worst-case scenario, moving 3 inches per week. It would be nine months before the slide reaches Route 65.

But the developers said they have not had enough time monitoring the site to provide a plan for permanent stability, despite the fact that DEP ordered the developers to have a plan detailing how the site will be managed to achieve permanent stability.

While the report does say a shopping center could be built, a Wal-Mart spokesman said it raises too many questions and they need answers before deciding whether to go forward.

A critic of the Kilbuck-Wal-Mart plan said the DEP should reject the developer's report and do its own investigation.

"They've been getting away with this stuff for four and a half years, and you see what happened," said Bob Keir. "They say everything's fine. We know everything's not fine, and they're asking us to believe them again."

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