A coalition of organizations representing environmental, historical and community interests filed an appeal Feb. 21 in Berkeley County Circuit Court challenging a permit to allow quarrying on North Mountain.
North Mountain Shale received a permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection in January 2011 to quarry shale from a 100-acre site at Gerrardstown, in Berkeley County.
Three groups — Potomac Riverkeeper, Gerrardstown Presbyterian Church and the Washington Heritage Trail — appealed to the state Surface Mine Board; among their concerns were views and water quality.
North Mountain is the visual backdrop of historic Gerrardstown, they said, and a crucial source of water for Mill Creek.
On Jan. 25, the Surface Mine Board upheld the permit.
The board determined that the state Department of Environmental Protection had issued the permit in accordance with the West Virginia Quarry Reclamation Act.
Its order addresses issues including dust, water runoff, viewshed impact, truck traffic and pond size relating to the proposed Gerradstown quarry.
The quarry's impact on the viewshed in south Berkeley County will be "minimal and will not destroy aesthetic values, recreational areas or the future use of surrounding areas," the board found.
The board stipulated, among other restrictions, that the company cannot disturb more than two acres during its first year of active mining and cannot remove more than five truckloads of shale per shift, with a maximum of two shifts per day.
The groups found the ruling flawed in two areas, according to the media release announcing their appeal.
It does not adequately control sediment discharge, they wrote, having been approved based on the quarry's last minute claim that it is going to add chemical flocculant to its discharges.
The groups also decried the prohibition of arguments challenging the adequacy of WVDEP's review of the impact of quarry operations on Garrardstown, which they said is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places as containing more than ninety historic buildings.
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