Rutland Herald

For now, proposed Danby quarry stays on hold

December 15, 2003
By BRUCE EDWARDS Herald Staff

Four years after Omya Inc. announced plans to open a marble quarry in Danby, the controversial project remains on hold - taking a back seat to a complex rail spur and railyard relocation project that would cost in excess of $100 million.

The location of the proposed 23-acre Jobe Phillips quarry, overlooking a picturesque valley, has been sharply criticized by opponents who have also taken issue with the heavy truck traffic the quarry would generate.

Opponents have also expressed concern about the effect the quarry would have on wells and underground springs

But while Omya continues to eye the Danby site as a desirable future source of white marble for its calcium carbonate processing plant in Florence, Omya President James Reddy said recently that the company has been focusing its efforts on improving rail transportation along the Route 7 corridor.

The improvements include construction of a rail spur in Middlebury between the company's quarry and the main rail line and a relocation of the downtown Rutland railyard.

The rail spur would allow Omya to shift transportation of its marble ore from trucks to rail, thus alleviating heavy truck traffic along Route 7 between Middlebury and the company's plant in the Florence section of Pittsford.

The railyard relocation would have the double benefit, supporters say, of opening up land for commercial and industrial development while expanding the ability of Vermont Railway to handle more freight traffic, including Omya, the railroad's largest customer.

"That is the prime project we're working on in Vermont, to get that spur into Middlebury and anything we can do to help the railroad infrastructure in the state," Reddy said, "and coincidentally help the city and get the industrial area down through here so people can move in and create more jobs."

As far as Danby is concerned, Reddy said the company is continuing with its hydrology study, which won't be completed until spring. That means, he said, a final report won't be ready to be released until next fall, more than a year behind schedule.

"It's taken a lot longer than we expected," Reddy said.

"We want to make sure we have all the right answers before we do anything and understand the hydrology," he said, "and if you don't have the answers you have to keep working until you get the answers."

As part of the hydrology study, the company conducted a five-day test in August 2002, pumping 2.7 million gallons and drawing down the Dutch Hill Road aquifer by 129 feet. That test, according to one Omya opponent, could have been responsible for several wells and springs running dry.

"We're are very, very worried about our aquifer," said Annette Smith of Danby, executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment.

"We have no information from the state or Omya about what happened here," Smith said. "Omya has all the data, we've requested the data and we've been completely abandoned as far as far as our water supplies are concerned and the protection of our public aquifer."

In a later interview, Reddy denied Smith's allegation that the pump test harmed local wells and springs. He said "thousands of wells" went dry all over the state last year because of the drought.

As far as sharing information with Smith or anyone else, Reddy said the company had no data or information to share at this point, since the results are only preliminary.

"We don't have results yet," he said. "We've seen some preliminary stuff but ... no self-respecting outside consultant is going to publish preliminary data that they can't draw conclusions from yet that are definitive and defensible," he said.

Reddy was hesitant when asked whether the company would eventually move forward on the Danby project, saying only that "it was one of the options we have."

He said, "We have other locations around the country and where's the best place to supply our accounts from? Maybe in some cases, Vermont is not the friendliest state to do business in."

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