The DEP held a hearing on May 28, 2003 at 6:00 PM at Boyertown Jr. High East.

Keith Laslow, representative of the DEP opened the meeting.  The meeting was open to anyone in the township who wanted to make a statement or provide the DEP with comments or concerns about Gibraltar Rock's plans.  Over 125 people attended.

A concise summary of the meeting can be found at the Pottstown Mercury.  See this article.

The following is a brief summary of the comments made by PA State Senator Rob Wonderling. Senator Wonderling is concerned about the environmental and public issues surrounding the quarry.

Senator Wonderling opened by saying that he was disappointed at the DEP for not informing him that there was a meeting on this topic. He said there was no formal notice of this meeting, and that he as the senator responsible for this area should have been informed.  He questioned the credibility of the DEP process that could allow for this.

He stated that he hoped this wasn’t the only opportunity for the residents to voice their opinions to the DEP and said he would do whatever in his power to make sure there were other meetings.

That being said, the senator mentioned that he had “deep concerns and reservations” about:

• The company (Gibraltar Rock, Inc.) who has no experience in this type of mining.

• The testimony of the witness who is a paid employee of Gibraltar Rock, Inc. (GRI) and who is an advisor to DEP (Uday Patankar)

• The actual proposal in question

Wonderling elaborated the final point by saying that he has approximately a half-dozen quarries in the four districts that he represents, and that he wants to review the information presented by GRI¾specifically, information on noise, dust, traffic, and the cone of depression (area in which water will be siphoned into the quarry).

He went on to say that he has past experience with companies that supply road materials (before being elected to office he was Vice President of Bentley Systems, Inc., an engineering and construction-related company and was the Department Secretary of Transportation in the Ridge Administration).  Based on his experience, he said that he has “serious questions on the technical merit” of the GRI application.

In summary he said that he will use all of the resources available to his office to make sure the facts are straight and all of the questions are answered. He said he would be “vigorous and vigilant.”

At this meeting the president and vice president of the Paradise Watchdog's also read statements to the DEP.

This statement is about the environmental impact of the proposed quarry.

This statement is about Mr. Uday Patankar's possible conflict of interest with the DEP.