Montgomery Township criticizes quarry owner for 80-foot-tall heap of waste
By: Kara Fitzpatrick
MONTGOMERY With their patience appearing exhausted and frustration mounting, Township Committee members heard a presentation from 3M representatives Thursday concerning recent reports that streams surrounding its quarry near Belle Mead are again looking murky.
With standard promises and alternatives for managing pollution apparently no longer acceptable, Committeeman John Warms proposed a novel idea moving the pile of residue that has been the root of much consternation in the community out of the quarry.
Prefacing his suggestion with the notion that people would laugh, Mr. Warms asked 3M representatives why the fines pile a 60-acre, 80-foot tall heap of waste from the quarrying process couldn’t be carted off to end the incessant pollution problem.
And contrary to his warning, not a peep of laughter from the audience could be heard.
"Why can’t you haul it to Minnesota?" Mr. Warms asked of the mound, referring to 3M’s headquarters’ location at St. Paul, Minn.
But 3M officials said a removal of the fines pile is not in the forecast.
"We think it would be unwise to disturb the pile," said John Lowry, 3M environmental health and safety manager for the industrial mineral productions division. Mr. Lowry cited a lack of an alternate site for the residue as the primary obstacle in Mr. Warms’ proposal.
Mr. Lowry said the company is hoping a fully vegetated and stabilized pile will be effective in halting pollution.
But Mr. Warms said he doubted that the pile would ever stabilize and said 3M officials weren’t being realistic.
"I think you don’t want to think about (the pile not stabilizing), quite frankly," Mr. Warms said.
Following Mr. Warms’ proposition, members of the audience continued to press 3M officials on the proposal.
"I don’t understand why you don’t move it," said resident Ed Sherman, a Republican candidate for Township Committee. "People have been putting up with this for a long time."
Opposition by 3M officials to moving the residue off the site did not satisfy Mr. Sherman or the Township Committee. The committee requested that a written explanation be submitted by 3M as to why the fines pile can’t be moved.
The concerns about pollution from the 1,400-acre 3M quarry, which produces colored roofing granules, have been voiced for years and township officials, residents and area environmentalists say they are getting fed up.
After nearly $100,000 in Department of Environmental Protection fines in 2003, the quarry began the construction of a stormwater management system last year that included additional settling basins and the re-grading and re-seeding of the residue pile.
This spring, the fines pile experienced a blowout following wet weather, further delaying the completion of its restoration. Since then, the pile has been repaired with an altered design. And last month, township officials expressed concern that there was another blowout, but 3M representatives said there were no setbacks in the project.
The remediation of the fines pile is slated to be complete at the end of this month, and hydroseeding should begin in September, said Plant Manager Keith Jacobs, who was present at the meeting last week.
One basin still must be completed as well as three channels, Mr. Jacobs said. He urged against pre-judging the project, insisting the vegetation must grow over a full season.
Township officials searched for a more tangible completion schedule as well as a firm definition of success from 3M.
Mayor Louise Wilson said that although the project construction will soon be complete, true success will be determined by the state of the nearby brooks.
"When (construction) is finished if the water is still cloudy, then they have failed," said Mayor Wilson.
Mr. Jacobs said he could not pledge specifics regarding an exact date clean water could be expected. "I will do what I can to work with the local people but we need a season after vegetation," he said. "We are committed. We hear your concerns and we take them seriously."
Meanwhile, the polluted brooks have continued to command the attention of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed, a nonprofit organization that aims to preserve the water quality in the central New Jersey area drained by Stony Brook and the Millstone River.
"It looks as if they’ve had two strikes. How many strikes do they get?" asked Jim Waltman, Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed executive director. He called the water pollution from the quarry "a constant problem."
Mayor Wilson echoed Mr. Waltman’s frustrations: "We hoped a couple of years ago that we’d be seeing clean water now. I guess we are on Plan B now."
In the event that a Plan C be considered, "I think the kind of suggestions Mr. Warms made needs to be seriously considered," Mayor Wilson said.