Vermont regulators give green light to fill quarry with C&D debris

Vermont state regulators have ruled that filling an abandoned limestone quarry in Colchester with construction and demolition (C&D) debris won’t pollute a nearby river, reports The Burlington Free Press.

The 100-foot-deep quarry—which will be filled with crushed brick, concrete, asphalt, mortar and sewer-drain grit—will take roughly a decade to fill back o ground level, according to Richmond-based developer J. Hutchins Excavation Contracting.

Months of debate over potential groundwater contamination preceded the project receiving the greenlight, with the Natural Resource Board awarding an Act 250 permit to Hutchins and St. Michael’s College, the quarry’s owner, on Oct. 28.

As reported by The Burlington Free Press, the ongoing building boom in Chittenden County has created a growing demand for local places to dump C&D debris.

In the past, the 3-acre quarry was an active industrial site from the early 1800s until 1971. Limestone was crushed and processed into a soil amendment, as well as supplying raw materials for a wide variety of other products, including disinfectants, pharmaceuticals and photographic plates.

In the decades following its closure, the quarry filled with about 40 feet of water. When it was last drained in 2001, University of Vermont archaeologists documented the remains of old excavating equipment, cars and tires appliances.