PA Hearing Board Rules Against Quarry Owner

The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board has ruled against Eureka Stone Quarry Inc.’s appeal of actions taken by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection for air violations at the company's three quarries in Wrightstown and Warrington townships, Bucks County.

In the company's appeal, Eureka claimed it lost around $750,000 when it could not get a plan approval application reviewed for its new asphalt plant in Rush Valley. The company also appealed DEP’s decision to place it on the compliance docket—a move that prevents Eureka from obtaining air quality permits or approvals until full compliance has been achieved.

"The board did not accept Eureka's claim that DEP, as well as the Environmental Hearing Board, should have considered the financial hardship such an action had on a company," Southeast Regional Director Joseph Feola said. "We are pleased that this ruling upheld our earlier decision to place Eureka on the compliance docket. The hearing board agreed that the company clearly lacked the intent to comply with our regulations, leaving us no choice but to take this serious action."

DEP originally ordered Eureka to submit corrective action plans and pay civil penalties for numerous air violations. In addition to the order and penalty assessment, the agency placed Eureka on the compliance docket from Jan. 3 until May 1, 2006, when the company entered into an agreement with DEP to comply with regulations.

In its Aug. 6 ruling, the Environmental Hearing Board also reduced the January 2006 civil penalty from $126,550 to $69,600 and the June 2006 penalty from $48,750 to $23,750.