By a margin of one vote, the Township Committee in Millstone granted a temporary extension to the operator of Buck Mining and Materials, Pine Hill Road.
The committee took the action at its meeting on May 20.
Voting in favor of a motion to grant an operating extension for two weeks were committee members Michael Kuczinski, Nancy Grbelja and Gary Dorfman.
Voting against that motion were Mayor Robert Kinsey and Committeeman Fiore Masci.
Officials said Buck Mining is scheduled to undergo an inspection by representatives of the state Department of Environmental Protection on June 1.
Maureen Leslie Buck Stone, 64, known as Leslie Buck, pleaded her case for an extension to mine. She said she has mined most of her life and does not want to see the operation close. She said the cleanup she is expected to undertake is extensive and daunting.
Buck said it is a dilemma that the operation ran out of funds and must rely on sales to customers. She recounted some of the problems the mine has faced, especially getting shut down because of a truck route and not being able to sell soil. She said severe weather limited work.
“I don’t want to give up, I really don’t want to give up,” Buck said.
She said she has sold loads of soil for $20 and continues to make every attempt to drum up business.
“It is just one thing after another. I am trying,” she said. “We [will be] going out of business. Is this it?” Buck Mining has been in business since 1960, according to Buck. She said one of the firm’s accomplishments was building the Route 33 corridor.
Township Engineer Matt Shafai said the owners of Buck Mining are required to finish a basin as ordered by the DEP in two weeks, and then the township could issue a permit to operate.
Township Attorney Duane Davison had some advice for Buck.
“Whatever you sell, you must bankroll,” Davison said. “I suspect based on what I have heard is that the DEP is not going to give a sign-off. In two weeks, you will be closed, and it is going to be that bankroll that allows you to meet the requirements of the DEP.”
“The committee feels it has taken long enough,” Kinsey said. “Now we are getting action because we required it to be addressed. We made every attempt to work with you, including a six-month extension and a two-month extension. Each time [your attorney] was with you, it sounded like you would address it. It was like an open wound that needed to be addressed.”
Masci agreed with Kinsey and told Buck he does not see how two extra weeks will help since she has not remedied the issue for four years.
Regarding his vote, Kuczinski said this is the “last time and never again” he will vote for an extension regarding Buck Mining.
“You kept telling us this is the last [extension] needed, and everyone believed it,” Kuczinski said.
Dorfman said he believes the first objective in the issue is public safety.