The back and forth continues between the operators of Oak Hall quarry in Lemont and the Department of Environmental Protection.
Hanson Aggregates Pennsylvania LLC wants to dig as much as 200 feet deeper, and for the past year has been trying to get the permits to do so.
On March 24, DEP said in a letter citing technical deficiencies they are concerned about sinkholes and the risks further digging in the limestone quarry could pose to Spring Creek.
Hanson addressed the technical deficiency letter Aug. 24, but DEP responded Sept. 26 it hadn’t fully addressed the issues and said the application was now in elevated review status. When an application goes into elevated review, it means DEP staff will raise issues to superiors within the department. Hanson is now in the process of preparing another response with more information.
At the current depth of 960 feet mean sea level, DEP said the flow volumes of Spring Creek haven’t been affected. They said drilling down to 910 feet msl also shouldn’t negatively affect the hydrogeological balance, but Hanson’s desire to go all the way to 760 feet msl could be a risk to the water and environment.
DEP said in its September letter than Hanson could mine to 910 feet msl, collect more monitoring data and determine the accuracy of the groundwater model as it was earlier submitted. Hanson could then apply to go even deeper and submit a major permit revision.
Hanson had until Friday to respond to the September letter.
In a public hearing in January, a Hanson official said the plan to dig deeper would lengthen the life of the mine but not expand operations.
Residents in the area said Spring Creek requires very careful stewardship, and many people raised concerns about the original application. About 125 people attended the hearing, and 16 residents spoke during public comment.
Jim Marden, of Lemont, has expressed ongoing concern about the risk to the water.
He said Oct. 23 that he was pleased the DEP district mining office recognized the sensitivity of deeper mining adjacent to Spring Creek.
“The additional monitoring will hopefully spot problems like disturbance to local ground water flow before it becomes problematic, such as opening a sinkhole that could threaten Spring Creek,” Marden wrote in an email. “Given the local abundance of limestone in less vulnerable locations, I’d rather see no depth extension, but if deeper mining is to be permitted, this smaller step with increased scrutiny is the next best approach.”
Jeff Sieg, director of corporate communications for Lehigh-Hanson, said they couldn’t comment any further since DEP hasn’t made a final decision on the permit application. He said they were in the process of preparing the response and will do so within the timeframe.
