NES&L Plan to Lower Quarry Draws Water Supply Concerns

Roaring Spring Borough officials are expressing concern with New Enterprise Stone & Lime’s plan to deepen its Taylor Township quarry by about 250 feet.

NES&L filed an Industrial Minerals Mine Permit with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and presented its plan to the Blair County Planning Commission last week for review. The commission will now send its review to DEP along with comments presented at the meeting.

While Taylor Township officials voiced no opposition to the plan, Roaring Spring officials are wary.

Roaring Spring Borough Council President Rodney Green and Authority Chairman Steve Weaver are worried about the possible implication blasting could have on the borough’s water supply.

“The concerns are primarily for the water table and the source of the spring for Roaring Spring Borough,” Green said. “We are concerned that those mining activities could jeopardize or alter the flow of the spring.”

Green said the mining can affect the aquifer and the fracturing of the stone underground can affect the quantity as well as the quality of the water that is flowing from the town’s only water source.

Green said the borough is not alone in depending on the spring for its water and losing that source would have catastrophic consequences for everyone who gets their water from the spring. He said if something were to happen to the water supply it could take years to secure another source.

“Our engineer told the planning commission that to drill another well, the permitting process alone could take up to two years, so it’s not as simple as drilling another well,” Green said.

Green said he wants DEP to hold a public hearing before taking any action so more people can voice their opinions. Green said he wrote a letter voicing his concerns that the planning commission agreed to forward to DEP along with its review.

Green stressed that the borough is not against NES&L and appreciates its presence in the community and the jobs it provides, but protecting the town’s water source is his main concern. “We are not against them,” he said. “We just need to have more public input and more oversight before this permit is approved,”

Weaver said the authority pumps 300,000 gallons of water a day to 1,200 customers and said any possible threat to the supply needs to be thoroughly investigated. Weaver echoed Green’s assertion that the borough and authority is not against NES&L but protecting the water source must be the first consideration.

“We just don’t know what blasting may or may not do,” Weaver said. “Unfortunately, we would only know it when it happens and then it’s too late. We just don’t want to lose our water supply.”