BY MICHAEL R. SISAK
STAFF WRITER, Citizens Voice

RICE TWP. — Rick Caranfa, the designer of revised plans for the proposed 189-acre expansion of Small Mountain Quarry in Dorrance Township, explained and defended the proposal at a hearing Tuesday before the township’s board of supervisors.

Caranfa, a geologist and project management consultant hired by the quarry’s owner, Pennsy Supply, stood at a podium in the auditorium at Rice Elementary and testified for more than two hours on a myriad of environmental and quality-of-life issues related to the proposed expansion.

Often he relied on schematics, maps and a satellite image of the site as he explained the quarry’s boundaries and the location of its grinding equipment.

The expanded quarry would be located on the south side of Small Mountain Road, west of Interstate 81 and northeast of the winding Blue Ridge Trail. Balliet Run, a small creek, runs through the southern portion of the property and has been a point of contention for opponents of the expansion.

“It’s a legitimate argument that they’re mucking up the stream,” said William Higgs, an attorney who is arguing against the quarry expansion.

Caranfa said Pennsy Supply would implement a system of controls and monitoring devices to prevent sedimentary runoff from polluting the creek.

The expanded quarry would also protect area residents from noise and dust, Caranfa said.

Mining would be conducted on 132.62 acres of the property, Caranfa said, but not all at once. Operations would expand westward incrementally over the projected 30-year life of the quarry. The nearest residence is located 1,100 feet from the mining zone and 1,500 feet from the grinding equipment used to process stones, Caranfa said.

The proposed expansion would eventually replace the quarry currently in operation on the north side of Small Mountain Road. According to the quarry’s general manager, Patrick Bartorillo, the 60-acre facility, which employs 150 people, will be completely mined within three years.

“They need to expand the quarry or they will run out of usable stone,” said George Asimos, an attorney for Pennsy Supply. “If they run out of usable stone, they will have to shut down everything.”

Pennsy Supply, which had its previous expansion plan rejected by a unanimous decision of the township’s zoning board in July, is appealing the zoning board’s decision in Luzerne County court while submitting its current proposal to the board of supervisors.