A licensed hydrogeologist testified last week that the company hoping to mine 82 acres in New Hanover Township has failed to perform background quality sampling for contaminants in private wells near the proposed quarry.

                According to Toby Kessler, the applicant in the Gibraltar Rock IV zoning hearing has also failed to provide a fate and transport analysis to evaluate the possible migration of contaminants from the former Good Oil property into the proposed quarry areas.

                Kessler, a witness called by township attorney Bob Brant during the Oct. 6 meeting, also described the method proposed by the Silvi Group to treat any contaminated water that migrates to the quarry pit as inadequate.

                The Silvi Group's Gibraltar Rock, Inc., a Bucks County concrete business, seeks a special exception to the municipality's zoning use regulation to quarry on the parcel.

                The company has already been granted a special exception from the board to mine 163 acres between Church Road, Route 663 and Route 73. The application requires land development approval from the township's board of supervisors.

                During the hearing Kessler contradicted the previous testimony of Louis F. Vittorio, Jr., the vice president and principal hydrogeologist at EarthRes, and a witness for Gibraltar Rock. According to Kessler, two additional quarry sites that have already received approval from the zoning hearing board would be adversely impacted by contamination located in an underground plume on the former Swann Oil/Ethan Good site on Route 663, north of Hoffmansville Road, and the Hoff VC Superfund site on Layfield Road.

                According to the witness, volatile chemicals from the plume have been discovered in a well less than 1/8 of a mile from the location of the proposed Gibraltar Rock I and II quarry pits.

                Kessler also described the applicant's proposed plan to utilize aeration for the treatment of groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene, 1,4-dioxane and other volatile chemicals as insufficient.

                "Not enough has been done to protect the private wells near the proposed quarry," said Kessler, employed by Gilmore & Associates, an engineering firm based in Bucks County.

                He said the removal of TCE, used mainly as a solvent to remove grease from metal parts, would require the combination of aeration and a carbon filtration system.

                Kessler added that a future technology would likely be required to eliminate the 1,4-dioxane – which has caused vertigo, drowsiness, headache, anorexia and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat and lungs in humans – from the water before it can be discharged.

                The hearing is scheduled to resume Nov. 3.