Save Our Schoharie Website

A. .No. SOS is not anti-mining, but pro-balance. SOS supports the Town’s comprehensive plan and zoning laws that accommodate mining but also ensure that there is a community environment that is supportive of other commerce and industry.

Q. Does SOS represent a particular political party?

A. No. SOS participants represent all party affiliations. SOS is a non-partisan group.

Q. Are contributions to SOS tax-deductible as charitable contributions?

A. No. SOS chose to incorporate as a civic organization rather than a charitable organization. Charitable status would have made contributions deductible; however, charitable organizations may not engage in efforts to affect legislation to any significant degree. Because SOS needs to be free to work with village, town, county, state and federal policy makers, the civic designation was chosen. SOS is also not a political action organization.

Q. How many people are involved in SOS? Is this just a small group of newcomers to the community?

A. The number of formal, financially contributing members of SOS currently approaches 100. There are other supporters who do not wish to be members. Participants range in age from young adults to senior citizens and include many long-time Schoharie residents.

Q. What’s involved with being a member of SOS? What do I have to do?

A. Membership is available to anyone wishing to support the objectives of SOS who Contributes $10 or more per year (individual) or $20 per year (family). You do not Need to be a member to help out by displaying bumper stickers or lawn signs, but membership is a great way to make a statement about your position on Schoharie’s future.

Q. The quarry has been in Schoharie for a long time. Why make a big deal about the expansion?

A. Well, yes. A quarry has been in Schoharie for 100 years. But that quarry was not the current quarry. Aerial photographs as late as the 1940’s show just a small quarry along Eastern Avenue behind the school property. The quarried area expanded considerably through the 20^th century, culminating with a doubling to tripling in size when Rickard Hill Road was relocated in the 1990’s. The activity of the current quarry is significantly greater than that of the quarry of the 1940’s in terms of visual, noise, dust and traffic impacts.

Q. How big would the expanded quarry be?

A. The current quarry has already grown to 98 acres. The Cobleskill Stone Products application to the state is for a permit to operate a quarry on an additional parcel of nearly 100 acres from Rickard Hill Road to Ward Lane, immediately behind Lasell Park and adjacent to the existing quarry. A majority of the property is proposed to be actively mined as an open pit, and other portions are proposed to be used in support of that operation.

Q. Aren’t there laws to require mine operators to restore or reclaim the land? Won’t the land at the existing quarry be nicely restored before activity moves to the proposed new site?

A. Technically, Cobleskill Stone Products is already following applicable restoration laws. Expectations for the extent of restoration of the landscape in vertical-cut quarry operations are much different from that for strip mining. The final result will likely still show all the exposed vertical rock surfaces -- essentially leaving the landscape looking very much like a former quarry. Additionally, restoration efforts are not required until mining activity is completed on a parcel. As long as there is additional material to be taken, no reclamation is required. Adding roughly 60 acres to the site would extend the time frame before any degree of reclamation would be required.

Q. Isn’t the quarry running out of rock? Don’t they need the additional land to stay in business?

A. The remaining capacity of the existing Schoharie quarry depends upon the rate of removal. The operation in recent years has exceeded the pace of removal that was stated by Cobleskill Stone at the time of the last expansion. On the other hand, Emil Galasso publicly stated in 2005 that the existing quarry has 40 or more years of life left. The company also has additional mines and the prospect of buying and permitting land located in less populated environs within the county and beyond.

Q. How will the decision about the quarry expansion be made? What can SOS do about it?

A. Actually, the decision has already been made. The Town of Schoharie passed in August 2005 a new Land Use Law derived from the Town and Village Comprehensive Plan adopted several years earlier. The law limits large-scale mining to two existing Industrial Zones. The area of the proposed mine expansion lies outside these zones, and mining is not a permissible activity on the proposed site. The law was passed with strong positive public support, including that of SOS. SOS does not need to “do” anything to prevent the expansion of the quarry.

Q. Why all the lawn signs and bumper stickers if the decision has already been made by the Town?

A. The signs and bumper stickers are not intended to win an argument -- the question of Mine expansion has already been settled in the Land Use Law. The signs and bumper Stickers are simply to remind everyone, including Town Board members, that the Public continues to stand alongside our elected officials in honoring and preserving The Land Use Law.

Q. What do the signs mean by “It’s the Law”?

A. “It’s the Law” refers to the Town’s adopted Land Use Law. Mine expansion outside A current zone is not allowed by law.

Q. What about the State? Aren’t they involved? Can’t it overrule the Town and issue a mining permit anyway?

A. In a word, no. Before any mine can operate, it must have both local approval through zoning and any other special permits required, plus NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) approval. DEC can issue a permit, but that would not overrule local prohibitions.

DEC has an internal policy that provides the applicant the benefit of the doubt by reviewing mining permit applications whenever the applicant asserts that mining is an allowable activity on the land. However, the State cannot overrule the town. Even if a mining permit is issued by DEC, the quarry expansion cannot happen if zoning remains as it currently stands. New York is a “home rule” state, and municipalities have considerable control over land use.

Q. What is the status of the DEC permit application by CSP?

A. The initial application was submitted in January 2005. Late in 2005, DEC provided Cobleskill Stone Products with a lengthy list of issues to be addressed in an Environmental Impact Study of the proposed expansion. The DEC direction to Cobleskill Stone incorporated most of the issues raised by SOS an also by the Town, in commenting on the draft scope of work.

Until DEC receives a Draft Environmental Impact Statement that the agency believes addresses all the issues, it will not review the actual environmental impacts and potential for mitigation, nor will it seek public comment.

Q. Why is DEC spending time reviewing the application if the Town still holds the land use control?

A. SOS has raised this very question to DEC and elected officials repeatedly. Continuing to process the application as if mining were legal on the site is at best awaste of money -- of the applicant, DEC, SOS, and Town government. The Environmental Impact Study required to address the issues in the scope of work for the mining expansion is so extensive that investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars or more will be required on the applicant’s part alone. All for a permit on land on which mining is not allowed by Town law.

Q. Can’t the Town allow the quarry to expand, but set restrictions on the operation to keep it compatible with the surroundings?

A. No. If the land is zoned to allow mining, controls and restrictions on the operation are set almost exclusively by DEC. Use of local roads for entrance and exit is one of the few aspects under local jurisdiction. In other words, once permitted, the mine operation is largely outside of Town authority.

Q. What is the position of our elected officials on mining expansion?

A. The Town of Schoharie has clearly stated its opposition to any mine expansion beyond lands currently zoned for industrial mines. Further, every candidate (both successful and unsuccessful) for Town Board or Town Supervisor in the 2005 elections supported preserving and/or strengthening the new Land Use Law. TheVillage of Schoharie has no direct authority over the land in question, but has passed a resolution opposing expansion. Further, SOS and its members have contacted our state and federal elected officials. Congressman McNulty has toured the site, interviewed nearby residents and remains engaged in the issue. Senator Seward has offered to consider state legislation to prohibit DEC from reviewing mining applications that are inconsistent with the law.

Q. I heard that Cobleskill Stone Products has sued the Town. What if the Town loses this suit?

A. Cobleskill Stone filed an “Article 78” challenge in state courts shortly after the Town Passed the new Land Use Law. Challenges to the process used in enacting local laws are allowed by the state, but even if the Town loses the lawsuit, it cannot be forced to allow mining on the proposed site. The worst that can happen is that the Town would need to fix whatever was seen as incorrect in the process used to pass the law, and adopt the law again. There is no “right to mine” in New York. If the Town says “no”, the answer is “no.”

Q. Doesn’t this boil down to a battle between business and residents?

A. No. SOS’s adopted mission statement states the belief that “. . . only through cooperative efforts to create and sustain an attractive, safe, cohesive and inviting community will Schoharie have sufficient appeal to residents and visitors to support a healthy economy and provide an adequate tax base for the schools and public services that we all desire.”

SOS reflects the views of many individuals in the business community who are concerned that a dominant gravel industry, with its noise, dust, visual impacts and traffic, will be a negative factor in efforts to revitalize Schoharie’s downtown business district, attract commercial activity, preserve agriculture and expand tourist trade.

Q. Cobleskill Stone is a significant employer and taxpayer. Shouldn’t the Town do What they want?

A. Clearly, the Town of Schoharie is interested in supporting business ventures that fit well with the community and provide jobs and tax base. Cobleskill Stone’s employment countywide is highly valued. In the case of the mining expansion, however, the property tax contribution is debatable.

Quarries are not assessed at high property value rates relative to other commercial, industrial or residential land uses. The total property taxes paid by Cobleskill Stone on all 200 acres owned within the Town and Village of Schoharie is equal to that paid by seven or eight average houses. Further, if the presence of an expanded quarry hurts the overall image of the community, other property values may decline. Regarding the jobs issue, Cobleskill Stone has indicated in 2005 that expansion would not add any jobs to the site.

Q. What if Cobleskill Stone sells the property to another mine owner?

A. Any status of the land would convey with the property. That is, the value of the Property would increase substantially if DEC issued a mining permit on the new land -- even if the Town prohibited the mining expansion. If DEC issue a permit and the Town changed its zoning, the land could be mined by Cobleskill Stone or sold to another operator. Any assurances from Cobleskill Stone about the operation would disappear once a new operator took control.

Q. Isn’t most of the truck traffic on Main Street from Carver in Middleburgh?

A. Often, yes. The combination of the large operation in Schoharie and the expanding operations by Carver in Middleburgh is a key argument against further expansion in Schoharie. Based on 2005 counts, in a typical day, over 500 heavy gravel trucks rumble through Schoharie -- some from the Schoharie mine, some from the Middleburgh mine. Among the mix are Carver and Cobleskill Stone vehicles, Schoharie County trucks and trucks from numerous private firms.

25Feb07