Through its special counsel, New Hanover's board of supervisors officially registered their opposition Tuesday to a proposal by the Bucks County company looking to quarry in the township to disinfect any contaminated groundwater.

        During a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit application hearing, Bob Brant testified that the township's elected officials don't believe a proposal by the Sivli Group to treat water in holding tanks and with aeration is sufficient.

        "It is our opinion that the proposed treatment system is insufficient," Brant said during the public testimony portion of the meeting, organized by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, at Boyertown Junior High East. "It does not adequately treat all the contaminants."

        The lawyer then introduced Toby Kessler, a hydrologist with Gilmore & Associates, who explained that aeration would not work to treat 1,4-dioxane – which has caused vertigo, drowsiness, headache, anorexia and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs in humans – and other contaminants located underground at a property adjacent to the proposed mine.

        Following his testimony, Brant said the supervisors want to protect the drinking water for their residents. The lawyer added that the elected officials are concerned with potential movement of the plume located at the former Ethan Good property.

        Given that the proposed treatment plant may not work, a much more expensive treatment system may be necessary, according to Kessler.

        He testified that there is no assurance the applicant, Gibraltar Rock, has the funds to construct such a treatment system, thereby furthering the risk "to groundwater drinking water supplies in New Hanover," according to his PowerPoint presentation.

        "We want these standards to be included in the permit," Brant said following his testimony.

        Mike Menghini, the agency's district mining manager, told the audience that if the permit is approved, the testing of sentinel wells would be completed at least quarterly.

        Ross Snook, a hydrogeologist and township resident, suggested that the permit require 24-hour testing.

        In October, Gibraltar Rock filed for a NPDES permit extension to mine 163 acres between Hoffmansville Road and Route 73. The township's zoning hearing board approved an application following 67 hearings in June of 2007.

        Virginia Cain, a community relations coordinator with the DEP's southeast regional office, said she couldn't provide a timeline for when the agency would make a decision on the issuance.

        If approved, the application would require to the applicant to manage all discharges from the quarry.

        A pair of DEP officials and Louis Vittorio, Jr. the vice president and principal hydrogeologist at Earth Res, contracted by the quarrying business, answered several questions from audience members.

        Several residents expressed their opposition to the mining operation. John Auman testified that the agency's best course of action would be to deny the application. Deb Harner agreed, saying that allowing the mining operation would ruin the township.

        "Pray that this does not go through," she said.

        A number stated their concerns that the volatile organics, located in a plume under the Good property, would be disrupted by quarrying and damage private wells and the local watershed.

        Cain, who officiated the meeting, consistently steered their questions away from the parcel – currently part of a zoning hearing in the township – back to the subject of the application. The two properties are related but not connected, she said after the meeting.