CHEEKTOWAGA
State to permit more mining at Cheektowaga quarry
The state Department of Environmental Conservation says it is poised to wrap up a five-year process and, in the next week or two, grant permission for more mining by Buffalo Crushed Stone.
The DEC said it will add special tarping and tire-washing conditions to the permit for the Cheektowaga quarry that has upset so many people with its dust, blasting, noise and pollution.
With the town’s review process about to begin, Cheektowaga officials say they expect to ask the mine to consider altering its Como Park Boulevard entrance, a source of public complaints about truck traffic and dust.
“We will assert our site plan review authority when they relocate,” said Daniel Ulatowski, town zoning inspector.
The pending DEC permit would allow the quarry to mine on the acres-large expanse called the “isthmus,” which lies between previously mined areas. Isthmus buildings for stone crushing and asphalt making would be relocated to these mined cavities.
These moves would bring mine operations closer to residential neighborhoods, said Jane Wiercioch, president of the Depew-Cheektowaga Taxpayers Association, a staunch mine opponent.
“I think it’ll be something the people didn’t imagine,” she said. “Everybody that lives in the area is going to know that the operation has moved.”
The DEC, Ulatowski said, did not adequately examine the town’s issues with smokestack pollution wafting closer to ground level from the structure’s new, lower position in the pit.
“We’re looking for the technical justifications as to why the DEC believes this will not have an impact on the environment. . . . We believe we still have review authority over that action,” Ulatowski said. “If the asphalt plant is 150 feet below grade, where will the emissions then go? . . . It was our contention that the environmental impact statement did not adequately address what was going to happen.”
The DEC, however, says worries about emissions are not valid.
“We required an extensive air emissions analysis that showed no problem,” said David Denk, deputy permit administrator.
An administrative law judge also dismissed that criticism during the review process, said David Stever, the DEC’s regional attorney. “It’s really a settled issue as far as we’re concerned,” he said.
This summer, Buffalo Crushed Stone won another victory when the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, said the company has a right to try to mine property it owns beyond town zoning borders.
But getting DEC permission to mine those new areas is expected to go slowly. David Daniel, a DEC regional engineer, said he has concerns about disturbing water tables near the acres of mine land by Indian Road and old landfills.
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