http://www.vnews.com/04282007/3952323.htm
4/28/07

Quarry Debris Plan Has Skeptics
Omya Wants to Dump Chemical Waste at Site of Copper Mine

By Mark Davis
Valley News Staff Writer

Strafford -- Environmental officials are voicing concern about a proposal to store waste from mines in western Vermont at the Elizabeth Copper Mine site in South Strafford, which has been the target of a federal cleanup effort for years.

Omya Inc. has proposed shipping 200 tons of waste from its marble quarries around Florence, Vt., to Elizabeth Mine, whose own acid waste is the subject of the ongoing Environmental Protection Agency cleanup effort. Officials say the chemical compositions of the waste from Omya and Elizabeth Mine would neutralize each other, allowing Strafford site to recover faster and giving Omya a safe place to dispose of refuse from its mines, which has touched off legal battles elsewhere.

But some regulators and Strafford officials, who were notified of the proposal in March, said they are wary of bringing more sensitive materials to the mine, even if the 200 tons from Omya would be only a fraction of the 2 million tons of mine tailings currently sitting in Elizabeth Mine.

“The problem is there is a lot of uncertainty and it seems premature,” said John Freitag, a member of Elizabeth Mine Community Advisory Group (EMCAG). “It's kind of like the medical model-- first, do no harm. You don't want to be experimenting with something that has the potential for greater harm until you know everything about it.”

In response to the concern, Jim Hamilton, an Omya vice president, said yesterday that the company has agreed to postpone the pilot program until 2008, in hopes of winning community support.

“I don't believe there are any unanswered technical questions on our end, but that's not to say the community's concerns are unwarranted,” Hamilton said. “I don’t think it’s responsible to shoehorn that engagement (with the community) into three weeks. We're committed to doing this right.”

Ultimately, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and the EPA would have to approve the plan to dump Omya waste in South Strafford. John Schmeltzer, project manager from the ANR, said his agency received an application from Omya this week seeking to prove the plan would not harm public health or the environment.

“Conceptually, I believe it's appealing, but a lot of it has to do with the details and what the supporting data says,” he said.

Hamilton, the Omya executive, said the company would pay for the Strafford pilot project at a cost of “thousands of dollars,” but if it were to grow, may seek money from the EPA to cover the cost of shipping its waste to Strafford.

Currently, the EPA adds limestone, an alkaline material, into the Elizabeth Mine to counteract the mine's acidic waste. But using Omya's alkaline waste could be 50 percent cheaper than the limestone, officials said yesterday.

Omya is a Swiss-based mining company that has a factory in Florence and marble quarries in several Vermont towns. The factory north of Rutland grinds marble and converts it into calcium carbonate, which is used to make paper, paint and other products. Omya operations generate thousands of tons of waste that has been highly controversial. In 2005, a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of residents by Vermont Law School's Enrivonmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic alleges Omya's dumping of waste damaged the environment and human health. That suit is ongoing.

The Vermont Legislature has ordered a three year study of Omya's waste, which includes chemicals used to separate impurities from crushed marble, that is due to be completed in January.

Annette Smith, executive director of the non-profit Vermonters for a Clean Environment, which has battled Omya on other projects, said the parties should wait for the results of the study before proceeding with the Elizabeth Mine project.

“This is a very complicated and convoluted issue,” Smith said. “It might work, I don't know. (But) it's something that doesn’t appear to be well thought out. Let’s figure out what it does before we start trucking the stuff around.”

Elizabeth Mine produced copper between 1810 and 1958. Since its closure, acids and heavy metals have leaked into groundwater and nearby streams. The federal government has spent more than $13 million studying and stabilizing the 1,400-acre site, which consists of several open pit mines and extensive underground tunnels.