by David Flint
The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), as lead agency, has determined that the proposed expansion of the Troy Sand & Gravel mine on Tayer Road in Stephentown will not have any significant adverse impact on the environment. TS&G submitted a proposal some months ago to expand the gravel mine from 37.7 acres to 58.7 acres. DEC’s action is open to public comment until May 29. Anyone concerned may contact Nancy Baker at DEC’s Region 4 Office, 1130 North Wescott Road, Schenectady, NY, 12306. Her phone number is 518-357-2452
and email address is nmbaker@gw.dec.state.ny.us.
At the time the TS&G application was submitted residents in the area of the mine came before the Stephentown Town Board to ask that the Town act as lead agency in the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process, hoping that the application would prompt the Town to take action to finally end the mining at this site. They expressed concerns about water quality, about heavy truck traffic using a steep road down into East Nassau, about the amount of water that comes out of the pit flooding local fields, about the danger to children playing in the area and about the possibility that topsoil that was supposed to have been stockpiled for reclamation may have been sold off. The Town Board, however, declined to act as lead agency on the basis that it would be too costly.
One of the residents, Lory Hogan, upon hearing of DEC’s negative declaration, recounted how she and others in a group called the Stephentown Concerned Citizens had been fighting against the expansion of this mine for many years. At one point they sued the Town in an attempt to shut it down or prevent further expansion. They were finally overruled by the NYS Supreme Court Appellate Division. She said some in the Town were angry about that but, in Hogan’s words, “We were really suing ourselves. We just wanted help against mining people coming in.” She said the group spent a lot of money and energy trying to document their concerns but in the end they realized that neither they nor the Town had the resources necessary to continue the fight. High priced lawyers, engineers and experts in a wide variety of technical fields must be hired to sift through complicated application documents and prepare rebuttals. It takes time and a lot of money. And once a mine is permitted, it becomes doubly hard to stop its growth. Hogan said the Stephentown Citizens eventually just ran out of money and energy. “They wear you down,” she said.
