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I was trying to find what exactly he was cooking up as well. With a prior arrest for a similar sounding crime where he only got probation, and his mother claiming he just makes fireworks as a hobby, if all he was doing was making black powder, possession of over 10 pounds is a crime in Pennsylvania, especially along with fuses or other igniters.

Section 160.1 - Possession and storage of powder (a) Possession and storage of commercially manufactured black powder (in quantities not to exceed ten pounds), percussion caps, safety and pyrotechnic fuses, matches and friction primers, intended to be used solely for sporting, recreational, cultural purposes in antique firearms or antique devices as defined in § 921(a)(16) of Title 18 of the United States Code shall be exempt from regulation by the Department of Environmental Resources

If that's what he was doing, it is still pretty dangerous, but a Google search says it takes about 400 pounds of black powder to equal 1 stick of dynamite, so we likely aren't leveling the block.

If he's trying to cook up some high explosive from the Anarchist Cookbook or something, that's a bit of a different story though.