Note: The following is not a verbatim transcript of the Zoning Hearing Board meeting; it is simply one person’s summary of the major points made by those involved in the hearing process.  For that reason, quotation marks are not used unless a direct quote was recorded.  For information about obtaining an official ZHB transcript, contact the New Hanover Township office.

The meeting started with the cross-examination of Mr. William Flederbach by township residents and the zoning hearing board members.  Flederbach is the township’s air pollution and meteorology expert. He works for O’Brien and Gere.

Mr. Roger Buchanan, President of Paradise Watchdogs asked Flederbach about projected dust emissions. Flederbach said that much of the dust at 150 micro grams is not visible and that there are no regulations that control invisible emissions.  Flederbach said that 150 micro grams exceeds standards.  But, it’s not standard practice in PA to monitor or enforce invisible dust emissions, even if they cause health problems. He also said that in PA facilities are not required to set up monitoring stations for air quality.

The zoning board asked a few clarification questions.

At this time, Ms. Julie Von Spreckelsen, an associate of Bob Brant, township solicitor, redirected Felderbach.

Von Spreckelsen began with a clarification of the mistake Flederbach made in the numbers on his charts back in January when cross-examined by Mr. Stephen Harris, attorney for Gibraltar Rock, Inc.  The discrepancy was that the charts had 1.5 microgram of particulate/meter² instead of 1.5 microgram of particulate/centimeter²

Flederbach said that this does not invalidate his data; it actually has no impact on the conclusions.  He then went on to show a number of tables that he created after re-running his mathematical models.  In his tables he used three years of operation:

• 2004, which was to be the first year of operation (originally Gibraltar Rock thought they were going to have the quarry operating in 2002 and then 2003, then 2004…)

• 2005, proposed second year of operation

• 2009, proposed full operation of all three plants (quarry, asphalt, concrete).

The table headings are year of operation and % of standards. % of standards means that if the standard is 1.5 microgram of particulate/centimeter^2, then the number listed is either less than or more than the standard. You will see in the tables he presented that most are over the allowable standards.

We will summarize his corrected slides below.

Table 1 – Total Monthly Particulate Matter Deposited on the Land Surrounding the Quarry

Flederbach also listed that the rate of dust and particulate material emission (See December 9, 2003 summary for definitions of PM (particulate matter), PM10, and PM 2.5) 

Table 2 – Total Yearly Emissions 

Table 3 – Re-run of model for only proposed quarry south of Hoffmansville Rd.

Table 4 – Comparison of Previous Testing and Modeling Only Land South of Hoffmansville Rd. (This is a look at only one quarry pit, not two.)

Table 5 – Total Monthly Amount of Suspended Particles Coming off Site

Table 6 – Comparison of the Results of Deposited Materials

Table 7 – Concentration by Source

Flederbach then said that his earlier estimates were based on the plants operating 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. So, he said he re-ran the models using a more normal work schedule.  He used Two shifts a day (16 hours), 7 days a week, but only running the operation during months of good weather (March through November.  After running this he found the following:

Table 8 – Total Amount with More Normal Working Hours

And finally,

Table 9 – Total Amount Over a 30-day Period (2 shifts/day)

Von Spreckelsen ended her redirect of Felderbach. Harris proceeded with a weak re-examination of the redirect; so weak in fact that I didn’t write anything about it.  Ok, maybe it wasn’t so weak as it was getting late.

Ms. Bell, the attorney for the Zoning Hearing Board explained to the residents, board, and attorneys that Von Spreckelsen’s next witness was not permitted. Because of this, the next meeting, April 1, 2004 will be set aside to allow those residents with party status to make statements. 

The next GR 1 meeting is April 1, 2004 at the New Hanover Township Building, 7:00 PM.

See Also:
Summary of the previous meeting (February 11, 2004)