Eureka Stone Quarry, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Protection

957 A.2d 337, 2008 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 398, 2008 WL 4180360
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 12, 2008
Docket1656 C.D. 2007
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 957 A.2d 337 (Eureka Stone Quarry, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Protection) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eureka Stone Quarry, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Protection, 957 A.2d 337, 2008 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 398, 2008 WL 4180360 (Pa. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

OPINION BY

Senior Judge FLAHERTY.

Eureka Stone Quarry, Inc. (Eureka) petitions for review from an order of the Environmental Hearing Board (Board) which sustained in part and dismissed in part Eureka’s appeal, reducing the January 3, 2006 civil penalty assessment from $126,550.00 to $69,600.00, reducing the June 29, 2006 civil penalty assessment from $48,750.00 to $23,750.00 and dismissing the appeal from the Department of Environmental Protection’s (Department) January 3, 2006, placement of Eureka on [339]*339the Department’s Air Quality Compliance Docket (Compliance Docket). We affirm.

This is a case of first impression, as only one other company has been placed on the Compliance Docket during its 15 year existence and that company was on the Compliance Docket for less than a week; so, there has been virtually no litigation addressing the issues raised by Eureka in its appeal.

Eureka owns and operates three quarries in Bucks County, the Rush Valley quarry, the Chalfont quarry, and the War-rington quarry. Each quarry has a crushing system consisting of primary, secondary and tertiary crushers and related screens and conveyor systems. Chalfont and Rush Valley also have hot mix asphalt plants associated with them. Chalfont and Rush Valley have operating permits under the Air Pollution Control Act (Act), Act of January 8, 1960, P.L. (1959) 2119, as amended, 35 P.S. §§ 4001-4106. Warring-ton does not have a hot mix asphalt plant, nor does it have a permit under the Act.1

On October 26, 2000, Eureka operated the baghouse associated with its asphalt plant at Rush Valley in a manner such that its pressure drop was at 0 w.g., which is 5 w.g. below the limit set forth in its operating permit. On June 8, 2001, Eureka operated Rush Valley in such a manner that caused emission of fugitive dust into the outdoor atmosphere from one of its asphalt plants. On that same date, the Department discovered that Eureka was not maintaining a log of its road cleaning and sweeping operations at Rush Valley, as required by its operating permit.

On October 18, 2001, Eureka operated its Chalfont quarry in a manner that caused the emission of fugitive dust into the outdoor atmosphere. On April 2, 2002, the Department discovered that Eureka had failed to maintain daily records of preventative maintenance of the fabric collectors on the stone crusher at Chalfont, as required in its operating permit.

On November 15, 2001, February 26, 2002, April 11, 2002, June 20, 2002, and June 5, 2003, Eureka operated the Rush Valley facility in a manner that caused the emission of fugitive dust into the outdoor atmosphere from one of its asphalt plants, its stone crushing plant or the baghouse. Also, on February 26, 2002, the Department discovered that Eureka had failed to maintain daily records of pressure drop readings, collector exhaust conditions, and preventive maintenance of the fabric collectors at Rush Valley, as required in its operating permit. On October 17, 2002, Eureka operated one of its asphalt plants at Rush Valley in a manner that caused visible emissions into the outdoor atmosphere, such that the opacity of the emissions were over 20 percent over six-minute and fifteen-second periods during twenty-seven separate readings by the Department.

On June 5, 2003, Eureka operated one of its asphalt plants at Rush Valley in a manner that caused visible emissions into the outdoor atmosphere such that the opacity of the emissions were over 60 percent over six-minute and fifteen-second periods during twenty separate readings by the Department. On September 9, 2003, Eureka operated Rush Valley in such a manner that it caused the emission of fugitive dust into the outdoor atmosphere from its stone crushing plant at its secondary crusher house, the scalper house, and secondary screen house.

[340]*340On June 14, 2004, the Department and Eureka entered into the June 14, 2004 Consent Assessment of Civil Penalties (June 14, 2004 CACP) and Eureka paid a civil penalty in the amount of $41,100.00. This CACP resolved Eureka’s civil penalty liability for conduct at Rush Valley and Chalfont from October 26, 2000 through September 9, 2003, which the Department had determined to be in violation of the Act, 35 P.S. §§ 4001-4106. Eureka agreed to the truth and accuracy of most of the findings set forth in the June 14, 2004 CACP and agreed not to challenge the findings in any other proceedings.

Beginning on September 20, 2004, the Department conducted a series of inspections at the three quarries. On September 20, 2004, Robert Guzek (Guzek), the Department Inspector, and Christian Vlot (Vlot), the Compliance Specialist, inspected Chalfont and observed fugitive dust coming from the belt scraper being used on the conveyor to the final screen house at the stone crushing plant. On that same date, Guzek requested that Eureka provide the Department with required volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxide compounds (NOx) emissions records. Eureka did not provide those records to the Department upon its request.

On April 22, 2005, Guzek and District Supervisor Shawn Mountain (Mountain) inspected Chalfont. During the inspection of the asphalt plant operations, they observed fugitive dust coming from the tertiary crusher and screen house, from a window and transfer point at the secondary crusher, and from an opening in the conveyor cover between the primary and secondary crusher house.

On June 23, 2005 and August 12, 2005, Guzek inspected Chalfont and observed fugitive dust coming from the primary crusher dump hopper when trucks were unloaded.

On September 9, 2005, Guzek and former Air Quality Specialist Brady Wassom inspected Chalfont and observed fugitive dust coming from the primary crusher dump hopper when trucks were unloaded, from the conveyor off of the primary crusher near the belt tensioner, from an opening in the conveyor cover for the conveyor leading from the primary crusher, and from underneath the screening bin house.

On November 7, 2005, Guzek inspected Chalfont and observed fugitive dust coming from an opening in the screening house and from a belt scraper on the conveyor belt leading to the final screening house.

On February 10, 2006, Mountain and former Inspector Rebecca Schremp inspected Chalfont and observed fugitive dust coming from the primary crusher during dumping of trucks, from the crusher itself during operation, from the loading of bin trucks, from the bottom of the creek screen house, from the use of the haul road in the pit by truck traffic and from the creek screen house in the area where the upper conveyor enters the building.

On May 23, 2006, Guzek and former Inspector Andrea Kalup (Kalup) inspected Chalfont and observed that Eureka had begun installation of two National Environmental Service Co., Inc. (NESCO) wet suppression control device systems at Chalfont’s stone crushing facility without first obtaining a plan approval from the Department.

With respect to Rush Valley, Guzek and Vlot inspected it on September 17, 2004, and observed that Eureka was not keeping VOC and NOx emissions records for Rush Valley in the manner required by the operating permit, was not keeping records of daily facility monitoring for malodors, visible emissions, and fugitive emissions, and was not keeping a maintenance log for the [341]*341baghouse of the tertiary crusher.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

J.P. Bologna v. Armstrong County TCB
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2025
Hempfield 115 Trust v. Westmoreland County Tax Claim Bureau
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2025
J. Ware v. Trustees of the Univ. of Penn (WCAB)
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2023
Bennington Investment Group, LLC v. DEP
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2020
Kiskadden v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
149 A.3d 380 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)
Harvilchuck v. Department of Environmental Protection
117 A.3d 368 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Department of Environmental Protection
25 A.3d 421 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2011)
Pines at West Penn, LLC v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
24 A.3d 1065 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2011)
Natiello v. Department of Environmental Protection
990 A.2d 1196 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Eureka Stone Quarry, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Protection
957 A.2d 337 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
957 A.2d 337, 2008 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 398, 2008 WL 4180360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eureka-stone-quarry-inc-v-department-of-environmental-protection-pacommwct-2008.