MR. McNEIL: Mr. Easton?

AUDIENCE: I'm Bob Easton from Danby Four Corners area. Before I present my question, I

can help you out with an answer to that and that is that we have already, through the use of some

private funds, conducted an impact study on our section of the road of the proposed route that

your company has proposed for transporting. And the engineering data indicates that the roads

are completely inadequate for the stresses that you're going to put on them. My question is:

First of all, do you have -- we've only gotten in writing only one route that has been proposed.

And I think we all know what that is. Are you planning other routes, or is this going to be pretty

much the way it's going to be on trucking down East Road and 140 and through Tinmouth and

through Wallingford and on up, or are there other routes that are being prepared?

MR. McNEIL: I didn't mean to stop you, Bob. Is that your question?

AUDIENCE: No. My question goes on and relates to this. From the cost, the average cost of

rebuilding which these roads are going to take, of rebuilding a mile of road is roughly $300,000,

sometimes more, sometimes less. But there are ten miles between the quarry and Route 7 on the

proposed route. That's 3 million dollars that go into rebuilding roads. Not just refurbishing

them, but rebuilding them from the ground up so that they will take this traffic. Now where is

this money going to come from to meet this expense to rebuild our roads? And if it comes from

more than one source, can you tell me the proportion that you would expect to see put from

each source?

MR. McNEIL: So you're asking instead of just the one route, are there other routes, whose going

to pay to rebuild the roads and if it's coming from one, more than one source, who are the

sources.

AUDIENCE: No. Not who are the sources, but the proportion of the total cost, what

proportion will come from each source.

MR. McNEIL: Okay.

MR. REDDY: There was a proposal which I'm assuming you're referring to which was given

earlier this year the first route that we proposed. That was, as I mentioned earlier, an internal

study where we were looking for what internally we thought without bringing consultants in was

the safest route. We have since hired some experts in the area and we've told them look at the

alternatives. So they are looking at alternative routes. I know they are looking at alternative

routes. I don't know which ones they all are. I haven't seen the study yet. They're still working

on it. I know they are looking at it. I've also told them specifically to look at alternative

technologies. Is there a way to -- because when we sent the people around earlier this year to ask

some questions and what the concerns, it was obvious that, let's be frank, that transportation and

road, trucks on the road is an issue. We heard that that was an issue so we've listened to the

concerns and we've told the consultants, Hey, look, the people are concerned about this. What,

how can we -- what, if anything, can be done to mitigate this. The transportation issue is an

important part of the quarry. There's no doubt about it. We're looking at every different way

we can as far as the impact on the road if a road is chosen as part of the Act 250 process. If a

recommended route is chosen, it will be chosen for a lot of reasons. It's the safest route, it's the

most economical routes from an environmental standpoint.. And if there are any impacts on the

road and we are having the studies done also. I didn't know you had already done a study. I

would wonder why you would fund another study in November. You've already done the study.

But we are funding our study right now to see what the impacts on a road would be if we used a

road. But since the transportation is kind of a complex issue and there's a lot of alternatives, I'd

like to get Ken up here for a second to maybe tell you a little bit about the transportation issue

we're looking at.

MR. ENZOR: Excuse me. I'm Ken Enzor. I've been with OMYA for 22 years and in my

present capacity I am referred to as director of logistics and distribution. That can mean a lot of

things from good roads and using railroads to airplanes and whatever. I think that the most

important thing that we need to understand about what Jim has already said and just reiterate it

again. I don't believe we have really chosen a route and Jim has instructed for us to look at the

alternatives that are available from a safety standpoint, from the most economical and that does

not rule out the possibility of putting this traffic on rail if that is feasible and practical. But in

looking at transportation for the state, I just want to bring up one point that I think that is very

important. I moved here 22 years ago in 1979. That doesn't -- 1979. And I've learned since then

that our transportation budget for the state, some of those funds are taken away and put into the

general funds. It would be nice if those funds were recaptured and put back into our

infrastructure for our state so that our roads could be improved in order for all of our

transportation modes to move freely into and out of our state. One point that I'd like to make

here tonight that I don't think we should forget. It doesn't really relate to OMYA's situation, but

86 percent of our industries in Vermont depend exclusively on trucks. That's from our food to

the grocery store and others. The paper today takes about the big trucks. Big trucks are still

80,000-pound roads. And think about this: As we talk about trucks in the state, a point that I

just learned that in the last year, that we have 3,060 family-owned trucking operations in the

state that have interstate authority. That is important if we want to build our state for the future

for the young people around here. I think it's important that our transportation structure is. I've

been here for 20 some odd years. That's what we mean in talking about what we're going to do

about transportation. I think Jim has already indicated that we're going to try to do the best thing

for safety and the most economical and what it can benefit both our company, okay?

MR. REDDY: We have a little bit more of an answer to that, also. Don reminded me that we've

done I think he addresses maybe a little more specific what you've brought up. Don reminded me

we've done some specific things on road and since I don't remember all of them and Don is

intimately familiar with them, Don, why don't you come up and explain what the issues have

been in some of the other areas in the State of Vermont that we're working on and where we had

to -- made some changes to the roads.

MR. BURNS: We have dealt with this in thepast with several towns. In the late 1980s we

opened up the talc quarry in Troy, Vermont, and as part of that permit process, we basically

financed the upgrading of a mile of town road called Loop Road which essentially connected the

quarry with Route 100. We've also over the years over the past 30 odd years in Middlebury

contributed significantly to the maintenance and upgrade of Foote Street which is a local town

road that our trucks used to haul on. Recently we constructed our own private haul road which

essentially linked the quarry to Route 7 and in the process upgraded, again, a portion of lower

Foote Street to cross our private haul road we had. Also, down in Pittsford, Vermont, Kendall

Hill Road which is essentially the truck route from Route 7 to the plant we made significant

contributions in upgrading and maintenance of that road, so the company has a track record of,

you know, significantly contributing to the roads that they use.

MR. McNEIL: The third question that Bob asked was regarding the proportionate amount to

maintain the roads. Do you want to --

MR. REDDY: I think that will be determined in Act 250. That's part of the permitting process

so I can't answer now. I don't know what the results of the study will be.

AUDIENCE: Could I just illuminate on the answer that I would like to get an answer to a

taxpayer. This sounds like it's going to be a tremendous increase in cost to us as taxpayers in

meeting our yearly road budget. Now what is OMYA going to do to prevent us from having a

vast increase in our tax budget because of road building, not just upgrading, but building a new

road and also maintaining that road with the heavy traffic that's going to be exposed to that

through the years, 50 years.

MR. REDDY: I don't know how to answer that differently than what I -- part of the process is

we are doing the engineering study to determine what the impact on the road would be if we

chose the road, if the recommendation is to go by truck. And one of the other studies is then

what is the economic impact on the town. Until we have the answers, it's hard to give an answer.

I mean I -- I'm trying to give you the answers to the stuff I know. The stuff I don't know I got to

tell you we got to wait til -- I can't answer when I don't know what the facts are.

AUDIENCE: What I'm asking for is OMYA willing to foot part of this bill, a donation or

something to the Town of Danby so that we are not paying OMYA's bill to build your roads?

MR. REDDY: As Don just mentioned in other quarries in other places in Vermont we have paid

our fair share. How can I tell you -- it's difficult to tell you what the impact -- maybe you have a

study, but I haven't seen a study. I don't know what the impact on the road is going to be yet.

We don't know what the cost to the town is going to be. How can we determine what needs to

be done until we get the answers? Let's find out what the costs will be and then we'll address

that in the permitting process.

AUDIENCE: Pay all of it. We don't need it. You do. You pay it.

MR. McNEIL: Thank you. Steve? Mr. Burzon?

AUDIENCE: My name is Steve Burzon and I live on Tinmouth Road and I have a financial

question, but that pretty picture that you guys put up there, you're missing some houses. I don't

know that meadow exists. I think there's a house right in the middle of it so there might be a

couple of more so maybe you should tell your artist to correct the photograph. And while I'm

talking about the houses, the Imperial -- the Imperial mine in South Danby pays approximately,

according to this report, a little less than $42,000 in taxes to the grand -- on the grand list. This is

a report pulled on the 18th of August 2000. The proposed operation over there, someone

mentioned this, it's refuted that the only taxes that the taxes, the incremental taxes that OMYA

would pay would be on the crusher and the maintenance buildings. There really would be no

inventory there. There would be not much for the town to tax, yet we would be faced with

increased wear and tear on the roads from ancillary traffic and gravel trucks and people who are

coming to get the overburden from you to use on their driveways and whatnot so here's the

question. The question is: The town, no doubt, will suffer a reduction in the grand list from

property taxes from the values of homes up and down the route as well as in the neighborhood of

the quarry. Those taxes will go down. Those property values will go down. Eventually that

will find their way to the grand list, the reduction of the grand list. How will with the actually

low tax prospect of the town, how will OMYA make up that difference? Will you make a

donation to the town or will you expect all the people in this room to pay more for their non-

effected properties so that the town still has enough money to operate? Will you pay more than

the grand list rate?

MR. McNEIL: The question is if the town tax rate goes down, will OMYA make up the

difference or pay more in the tax rate.

MR. REDDY: The first -- to answer that question, I have to question your premise first. The

premise is that the values will go down. If you give me one second to answer the question first.

We actually -- and I keep repeating this, but we are doing an economic study. Part of the

economic study will make a study of what will the impact of the values in the town be. One

advantage you have in Vermont is this isn't the first quarry that's ever been built in Vermont.

There are lots of quarries in Vermont. One of which, just to give an example, we know we have

quarries around here. We have our Middlebury quarry. One of the quarries we have is up in the

northern part of the state. It's near Shelburne. It is in an area surrounded by very expensive

houses. And most of the houses, I'm not sure if I can say most, many of the houses have been

built and these are half million to million-dollar houses have been built within a short distance of

the quarry since the quarry was opened. It has not adversely impacted. You're making I think an

assumption. If this was, you know, a place that had never seen a quarry before and the people

weren't used to the history of quarrying, that might have one The people that have been here, I

have to admit that I'm not a Vermonter. I haven't been here for a hundred years and I don't know

who most of you are. The people that have been here for a long time know that the history of

the State of Vermont is slate, marble. This place has been quarrying for a long time. People live

around all these quarries. This is not a big quarry that we're talking about opening. The quarries

that we have right now people live around. Somebody over here, you said you live near one of

our operations right now. You didn't even hear the blasting. This is not the first quarry that's

going to open in the state. People have been building houses right near our quarries. They're

doing it today. Go up near Shelburne. Visit the quarry up there.

MR. McNEIL: Somebody that has not -- Jean. Chuck. Sorry.

AUDIENCE: I thought at this preliminary hearing back in August they were going to limit the

questions to one and two minutes.

MR. McNEIL: Okay. Let me explain that.

AUDIENCE: That was the agreement.

MR. McNEIL: That's -- you're right. And if it's been violated, it's my fault.

AUDIENCE: It's been violated many times.

MR. McNEIL: It's been my fault. What we tried, and I think everybody deserves an

explanation. Back when I was told that there was a town meeting to be held for this, we tried to

lay some ground rules so I invited some people for the quarry or what I thought based on town

meeting, people that may be in favor of the quarry, some of the leaders of people who were

opposed to the quarry and the state and OMYA. We kept it a very small meeting. And we all

agreed that there would be no speeches made, okay, and that we would keep the questions to two

minutes and one question a minute. I think that for the most part we've done that at least in the

spirit. I have been trying to give people some time to get their whole question out and if I have

not done that, I apologize. But I guess maybe we need to say you have two minutes to ask a

question and we'll go from there. So I apologize. Mr. Bender.