The state Department of Environmental Protection is raising “significant’ concerns with a controversial proposal to mine 200 feet deeper at the Oak Hall Quarry.
While no final decision has been made, “technical deficiencies” cited by the DEP could put that plan in jeopardy.
The DEP has given Hanson Aggregates, which operates the quarry, until Friday, May 26, to address its concerns with the plan. The concerns focus on potential sinkholes and risks to Spring Creek. The creek runs adjacent to the limestone quarry off Boalsburg Road.
In a 10-page letter to a Hanson official dated March 24, DEP geologist William C. Brusse said the agency is concerned with the groundwater model Hanson submitted as part of its application for a major permit revision.
The letter said “there would be significant uncertainty and potential risk to Spring Creek if the model results were accepted as reasonably predictive of the effects of mining” 200 feet deeper.
To minimize risks and to further evaluate the matter, the DEP said it is considering the inclusion of a permit condition that would allow for mining only 50 feet deeper. Digging another 50 feet in the future would require the submittal of another major modification application.
The DEP letter also noted that “lowering the water table by any measurable distance beneath Spring Creek presents a considerable risk” of sinkholes developing.
The DEP also references reducing the surface area to be mined from what was proposed by Hanson.
“The Department, as it currently stands, is seeking information to determine whether the approximately 105 acres requested by Hanson would meet all applicable regulatory requirements, or whether a reduction in acreage or additional setbacks are required to be protective of the environment,” the DEP said in an email response to questions from the Gazette.
Jeff Sieg, director of corporate communications for Lehigh Hanson, the Irving, Texas-based U.S. parent company of the quarry operator, said in an email to the Gazette that Hanson “will continue working with the Department of Environmental Protection to address their general comments and technical deficiencies identified” in the application.
The company will respond “within the requested timeframe,” he said.
Sieg declined further comment as no final decision has been made on the application.
‘CAREFUL STEWARDSHIP’
Jim Marden, of Lemont, one of a number of area residents who expressed concerns about the potential environmental impact of the proposal, said the DEP’s letter shows there is “a lot of careful stewardship and sensitivity to Spring Creek going on.”
Marden said the DEP letter outlines a “pretty restrictive set of conditions and a directive to tread very carefully around Spring Creek.”
About 125 people attended a public hearing on the proposal Jan. 27 at Mount Nittany Middle School. Along with officials from the DEP and Hanson, 16 residents spoke at the hearing, with three-quarters of them raising concerns about the application.
Several speakers emphasized the special value of Spring Creek as not only a natural resource, but as an economic driver that boosts tourism as the best wild trout stream in the state.
Lemont resident Ron Smith, one of the speakers who raised concerns about the Hanson proposal at the hearing, was pleased with the DEP’s response.
“I think our concerns were heard and I think the DEP is doing its job,” he said.
In the email to the Gazette, the DEP noted that “the Department is still actively reviewing the application and therefore our comments as to possible permit conditions are only to solicit input and technical information from Hanson.”
Sieg has said previously that the company performed “extensive hydrologic testing” that focused on ensuring “there would not be depletion or adverse impacts on Spring Creek.”
“There is not going to be any additional impact beyond what we’re doing now,” he said in December. The quarry has been in operation nearly 100 years.
The quarry has about 15 local employees. Mark Kendrick, Hanson vice president and general manager for eastern and central Pennsylvania and New Jersey, said at the January hearing that the plan to dig deeper will not result in new positions or greater sales, but “just adds to the life of the mine.”
