Quarry Owners Gave to Senator who Authorized Bill

Reprinted from "Our View" – Pottstown Mercury – May 26, 2011

A law proposed in the state Senate to nullify township regulation of quarries has the New Hanover Board of Supervisors rightly upset.

The fact that the prime sponsor of the bill received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from quarry owners battling New Hanover is even more cause for concern.

Township supervisors recently took action expressing their opposition to Senate Bill 898 proposed by Sen. Robert Tomlinson, R-6th Dist.

The provisions of the bill would be a boon to Gibraltar Rock Co., which has been trying for years to open a quarry in New Hanover.

Of particular concern to the officials is the passage that reads "all local ordinances and enactments purporting to regulate surface mining are hereby superceded."

The next sentence also proposes that the "act shall apply to any subdivision and land development plan pending on or after the effective date of this section."



The language is eerily similar to the exact situation faced by Gibraltar Rock in its years-long struggle to establish a quarry in the area of Route 73, Colflesh Road, Route 663 and Church Road.

Gibraltar Rock, along with Sahara Sand, is a subsidiary of the Silvi Group of Companies, whose owners have given more than $18,000 in campaign contributions to Tomlinson, according to a search of public records conducted by landfill opponent Celeste Bish.



State Sen. Bob Mensch, R-24th, said in a letter to The Mercury that after he learned of the bill, he met with Tomlinson, who agreed to permanently table the bill. Mensch said the bill will stay in the Appropriations Committee.

Had citizen activists and the township not gotten involved and read the fine print of the bill and the forces behind it, it might have moved forward before anyone could stop it.

HB 898 could have caused serious problems for townships, and yet, it could have become law with the aid of campaign contributions and a "helpful" senator.

The vigilance of New Hanover watchdogs paid off.