Friday, June 25, 2010
BY MAGGIE ASTOR
The Record
STAFF WRITER
RINGWOOD – Quarry owner Saddle Mountain LP will continue blasting for at least another three years under a license granted by the Borough Council Thursday night.
The approval is contingent on the receipt within 30 days of a plan to create monitoring wells that would allow officials to measure whether underground water flow is being affected; and within 60 days of a mining plan showing the location and contours of a "water feature" within the quarry that would mitigate the impact on residents’ wells.
Jerome Vogel, the attorney for Saddle Mountain, agreed to those terms. If Saddle Mountain does not submit that documentation within the established time, the license would be void.
Many residents fear deep drilling will hurt the water supply in their wells.
The engineer for Saddle Mountain, a subsidiary of Braen Stone Industries in Haledon, has claimed that the deeper workers dig, the denser the bedrock becomes, and the less chance there is that water could leak through from wells. But borough engineer Stanley Puszcz has said that logic is faulty.
The digging has reached a depth of about 320 feet above sea level, and residents have expressed fear that water will start to leach out of their wells into the quarry, leaving them without an adequate supply.
A 1996 court document specified that once digging reached 370 feet above sea level, hydrological studies had to be done to verify that wells would not be affected.
"None of our wells have been surveyed, and I’ve had water problems since they’ve been digging below 370 feet," resident Frank Schoof said at an April council meeting.
Neighbors have been complaining for years about the noise, dust and truck traffic coming from the quarry, and the borough has taken the quarry to court several times. However, it cannot legally shut down the quarry based on those complaints. The borough can refuse to renew Saddle Mountain’s license if it believes the wells are at risk. Each time Saddle Mountain applies for a new license, residents start lobbying the mayor and council for tougher regulations.
Several times since the quarry’s license expired in June 2009, the council has postponed a decision to renew the license; most recently, it granted a monthlong extension in April and another 45-day extension in mid-May.
The quarry plans to operate for 45 more years and excavate about 18.7 million tons of rock. Ringwood receives 5 cents per ton.
E-mail: astor@northjersey.com