Rutland Herald

CLF withdraws opposition to OMYA plan

December 6, 2001
By BRUCE EDWARDS Herald Staff

The Conservation Law Foundation has backed off its effort to revoke a three-year-old Act 250 permit issued to OMYA Inc.

In January, the CLF petitioned the state Environmental Board to revoke a 1998 land use permit for OMYA’s plant expansion. It claimed the company violated its permit by failing to make a good-faith effort to build a rail spur from its Middlebury quarry to its calcium carbonate processing plant in Florence.

The rail spur has been proposed as a way to alleviate increasing numbers of OMYA trucks hauling marble ore on Route 7 from Middlebury to Florence. Currently, OMYA is limited to 115 round trips a day.

This week, however, the CLF withdrew its petition “without prejudice.”

In its filing with the Environmental Board, CLF said while problems remained, “there has been some progress on the overall rail project, including preparation of a general work plan, state legislative approval of an appropriation for the rail spur studies, and support from Senators Jeffords and Leahy to pursue federal earmark funding for the project.”

The Montpelier-based environmental group also noted that a preliminary draft plan calls for completion of the spur before the end of fiscal 2004.

“At this point OMYA is cautiously moving forward on the rail spur. I do believe they want to see the rail spur constructed,” Mark Sinclair, CLF’s senior attorney, said Wednesday.

Of significance to the CLF is the company’s recent commitment to ensure the completion, by February, of a Dubois & King environmental analysis of the project alternatives as mandated by the Army Corps of Engineers.

In its Dec. 4 filing with the board, the CLF cited a letter from OMYA President James Reddy to Transportation Secretary Brian Searles, stating that once the study is completed, “a final plan (will be) selected and, assuming the project makes sense for all to pursue, the preliminary engineering may be conducted.”

On Wednesday, Reddy said he anticipated the CLF would withdraw its permit revocation petition.

“I think this is just a reflection, or (CLF’s) acknowledgement, that progress is being made … and all of us are working together,” Reddy said.

With a price tag of $16.6 million for the rail spur alone, Reddy said a task force is looking at coming up with a financing package for the project, including federal money. Reddy also said another $8 million would be needed to upgrade facilities at the plant in Florence.

While the CLF is willing to give the company more time to move forward on the project, the group warned the board that it reserved the right to seek revocation of the permit in the future “if substantial progress on the rail project is not made during the next few months.”

In addition to OMYA, the CLF, the AOT, Vermont Railway and the state Agency of Natural Resources are also involved in the project.

Contact Bruce Edwards at bruce.edwards@rutlandherald.com.