A large group of Marlborough residents attended the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's meeting and hearing Monday about the permit modifications requested by Heidelberg Materials, Inc. at the Perkiomenville Quarry. Several attendees raised questions and read statements at the session held in the township's meeting room.

          During the question and answer portion of the meeting, representatives from the DEP's Pottsville District Mining Office listened to Heidelberg lawyer Stephen Harris explain the German company's desire to increase the mining area by 1.3 acres and to fill the quarry with reclamation material instead of water.

          Residents and township officials then commented and asked questions of the DEP and Heidelberg representatives before a formal hearing began. Harris, reiterating many of the same arguments he made last spring when he represented Highway Materials – before it was sold to Heidelberg Materials – in its failed bid to expand and change the reclamation agreement, said that mining is permitted by right in the 1.3-acre expansion area.

          The lawyer stated that Heidelberg has no plans for commercial/industrial use of the property once mining ceases and claimed that reclamation is an active mining use of the quarry, meaning that the township has no say in the reclamation process.

          "Heidelberg Materials has advised the DEP that the post-mining use of the property will be changed to an unmanaged natural habitat, that is, open space," Harris said.

          The lawyer also said the reclamation process is regulated and monitored and would not pose any environmental risks. Several residents pushed back on Harris' assertions, including the safety of the materials hauled into the quarry.

          Heidelberg Materials Environmental Manager Heath Brown, who oversees other quarries, said the company does "due diligence reviews of all the materials we get, regardless of size."

          Brown claimed that Heidelberg follows, "to the letter," DEP's policy on inspecting loads, randomly testing using instruments like wands and sniffers; taking the "cleanest" material; and procuring detailed notes on the source of the material coming to the quarries.

          DEP Permits Chief Tiffany Folk described the testing and permitting process designed to ensure the safety of the loads brought into the quarry. "There's concentration limits that need to be met, and if [the loads] meet it, they can go into the quarry as replacement."

          Marlborough Township Solicitor Mark Cappuccio questioned the use of wands which only sense the visible portion of the trucked-in materials.

           "No one knows what's at the bottom of those loads," Cappuccio asserted while quizzing Brown about the use of wands to detect violations. Brown agreed.

          A related issue is dust generated by mining operations landing on vehicles, houses and vegetation in the immediate neighborhood, according to some residents.

          DEP Compliance Manager Ross Klock explained the agency has to regulate by visible evidence, such as a cloud of dust over the quarry leaving the property, and sometimes has to bring in air quality specialists to monitor and test the air when it cannot. He acknowledged that the Perkiomenville Quarry has been cited for these issues in the past.

          "Bringing this to our attention is one of the steps," DEP's District Mining Manager Mike Kutney said.

          Resident Bruce Jackson said, "Reclamation is more dust. And let's not forget all those heroic dogs that died looking for people after [the World Trade Center collapse in 2001]. And they died from respiratory complications, breathing in the same kind of dust that's produced [in the quarry] every day."

          Cappuccio asked if reclamation loads would be sprayed to keep the dust down after being dumped and bulldozed into the pit.

            "It's not practice to spray the dust piles," Brown replied, "but certainly all of the access roads are sprayed on a frequency that is required to keep the dust down."

            Harris claimed that reclamation dust "isn't a major issue. That isn't what produces dust in these kind of operations."

            "I disagree that dust that comes up with somebody pushing reclamation into a pit isn't a concern and it's not really what creates the dust," Cappuccio retorted.

          "Firefighters and dogs did die after 9-11. They were breathing in things that were dropped on the ground like that."

            Harris dismissed concerns by citing Highway Materials successful fill management at two other quarries. He also noted that reclamation fill has only recently become an option for quarry owners, partly because of developments in technology.

           "Quarries throughout Pennsylvania are using that as an optional method of reclaiming the quarry," the lawyer said.

            In addition to air pollution residents have other environmental worries. Residents' spokesperson Marya Schoenholtz expressed concerns about the future health of the Unami Creek, which borders the quarry and was dubious of Heidelberg's commitment to the surrounding area, voicing fears about the "irreparable damage to the land and water on which we live" after an environmental incident.

          "The plan of the quarry's due diligence and self-certification is not good enough."

          Schoenholtz claimed that her search of Heidelberg's environmental record turned up "pages of violations and millions and millions of dollars in penalties."

          Addressing concerns about drinking water, DEP's Folk said testing is done quarterly on wells and surface water.

          Laura Berra, mining group manager for Skelly and Loy, Inc., an engineering firm working for Heidelberg, noted that eight wells near the quarry were monitored for six months to establish a baseline for future well testing.

          Nate Clemmer, who lives at the intersection of Crusher and Upper Ridge roads, commented on the side effects of quarry traffic in the area. "It is high impact to the community."

          Clemmer said trucks generate dust, dirt and noise from jake braking–a process that is very loud. According to Kutney, once trucks leave the quarry, DEP cannot regulate them.

          "We have limited ability to extend our authority past the permit boundary," he said.

          Kutney again urged residents to file complaints with the DEP if they see issues, like untarped trucks, leaving the site and promised that the DEP would investigate any deviations from standards when they become aware of any incidents.

         Jackson was dubious about the complaint process, citing previous experience when he reported perceived blasting violations. "It's ridiculous for you folks up there to say that you're doing a good job monitoring what's down there."

          Jackson called the DEP complaint process "wholly ineffective." The process "wears out the resident," Jackson claimed.

          Several speakers slammed the quarry's past relationship with the township.

          "Highway Materials has demonstrated that it can not self-monitor the most basic zoning requirements that they are required to adhere to," Schoenholtz said in her hearing statement.

          "The dust from their operations coats our roadways, trees and houses. They consistently operate outside of approved operating hours.

          "And yet we are expected to trust that they will adequately self-monitor against a profit incentive to protect this township's most precious resources."

          In his public statement during the hearing, Jackson accused Heidelberg of "woefully misrepresenting facts" on its application and disputed the company's assertion that reclamation fill was better for the community than filling the quarry with water.

         Jackson contended that Heidelberg had made no attempt to reach out to the community to hear concerns about the quarry prior to filing its application in December 2024.

          Resident Tim Leach asked the DEP if they were even enforcing their own regulations, citing the quarry's overburden, "a football field long, 300 feet high." Leach maintained that the excess material was illegally dumped on residential property several years ago by Highway Materials.

          Residents spoke to the fact that Marlborough has more open space than it knows what to do with and did not feel that reclamation was a better option than filling the quarry with water.

          Written comments for the DEP will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Monday, April 7. The DEP will compile a "comment response document." The DEP will approve or deny the permit based on Heidelberg Materials adherence to DEP standards.

          The next battle for quarry opponents will be the interpretation of zoning laws and precedents set by law regarding quarry jurisdiction.