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DAILY FREEMAN February 8, 2002 Dawn Letus staff writer
STATE GETS PLANS TO FIX SHALE MINE
SAUGERTIES - State Department of Environmental Conservation officials will
review past-due plans received this week for rehabilitating a portion of the
Parr shale mine overlooking the state Thruway before making recommendations
on the proposal
As outlined in an order of consent, William Parr's engineers Praetorius and
Conrad were to have gotten remediation plans to the state agency by Dec. 7,
2001. Richard Praetorius said he hand delivered the plans Wednesday, almost
two months late.
Robert Martin, state Department of Environmental Conservation mined land reclamation specialist, said Praetorius and Conrad had some trouble creating a plan to have heavy machine operators repair the damage on the steep slope safely.
Initially, Martin said the mine was approved for work on 6 acres of a 23-acre parcel with an unlimited amount of material allowed to be taken.
But Parr began meeting with state officials last October after his operators cut 15 feet too deep into the hillside of the intermittently active mine. Instead of a face height of 15 to 20 feet, people driving along the state Thruway are looking at exposed heights of nearly 25 feet, 470 feet up the slope, Martin said.
Praetorius said, "We had to figure out how to take off an unstable portion of the south side of the slope and grade it back into the hill in back and underneath it. The overhang, from the north, looks like it's hanging in the breeze. From the south, on the Thruway side, you can't even see it."
"The concept here is aesthetics. We want to terrace the exposed benches and put trees in to make them look like ledges. When the trees grow, they begin to look like smaller ledges. We had to adapt a little on the south side - scratch our heads a little, but Bill (Parr) is comfortable with being able to do the work," he added.
The consent order calls for grading to be done and 5 feet of topsoil applied by April 1. Planting of new vegetation is supposed to be completed by Oct. 31, the order says.
"Let them review the plan and fine tune it, but I think it is as good as it is going to get," Praetorius said.
The work can be completed in a timely manner, Praetorius said. It will just take Parr, who works for himself, a little more time and effort.
The state is also waiting for a mined land reclamation permit modification application, which was to have been filed by Dec. 28, to show plans for proposed mining in the future, the order states
See DEC September 7, 2001 letter addressing the violation and see the Daily Freeman report on the cease and desist order Nov 5,2001