For almost six months, a sandstone quarry has been operating in Somerset County’s Black Township under a small non-coal surface mining permit with the DEP (no. 56190801). The quarry is close to a number of homes and small businesses, and its busy access road intersects with the Great Allegheny Passage.
Under the current permit, community members have reported issues including increased noise throughout the day, close calls with truck traffic, and impacts to Rhoades Creek and the Casselman River. In February, the operator applied to expand the current, effectively expanding a 5-acre permit area to 175 acres, which would greatly exacerbate these concerns. That application for that permit (no. 56250301) is currently under technical review with the DEP, which has a target date of December 11, 2025 for a decision.
MWA and many community members submitted public comments detailing their concerns and requesting a public hearing over the 175-acre permit, but a date has still not been set by DEP. Until then, here are some updates from this spring.
4/10 Permit Violation, Cessation Order and Bonding Changes
On April 10th, DEP was onsite for a routine inspection. They measured the affected area and determined that the operator had disturbed over 12 acres, while their permit only permitted them to disturb 3 bonded acres of the 5-acre permit area at that time. DEP issued a stop-work order on April 17th and required the operator to grade, seed, and restore at least 6.2 acres before the order could be closed.
On May 7th, DEP inspectors visited the site to assess the operator’s mandated reclamation efforts. After the follow-up inspection, DEP determined the mandated reclamation efforts were up-to-snuff and allowed the operator to resume their small non-coal surface mining at full permitted capacity.
That same day, the remainder of the small quarry area was also bonded. Coupled with the closure of the cessation order, this likely means the small quarry is going to be operating at full blast in the coming weeks and months.
Large Non-Coal Surface Mining Permit Deficiencies
On 5/14, DEP issued a deficiency letter to the operator regarding their application for the 170-acre large non-coal surface mining permit. In case you missed it, that application is under technical review with the DEP. This is the stage where experts at the DEP carefully fact-check everything the applicant submits. The deficiency letter noted a few glaring oversights, namely:
- Incorrect coordinates for the center of the site
- Failure to delineate a pond, two springs, an unnamed tributary and a small wetland within the permit boundary on their operational maps
- Failure to show a private well on their maps which exists within 1000 feet of the permit boundary
- Lack of clarity between bonding calculations and application materials over quarry’s proposed depth
There are a total of 14 noted deficiencies in their application. The target date for the technical review’s completion has been pushed back at least twice now, and is now aimed to be completed by December 11, 2025. Some of the noted deficiencies line up with things we pointed out in our public comments, so thank you to everyone who spoke up!