ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Health Wednesday heard a presentation from representatives of Specialty Minerals about why the facility needs to modify the plans for a previously permitted landfill.

 

Ziad Kary of Quincy engineering firm Environmental Partners explained to the board how the new plans for the landfill will dispose of and contain waste from the limestone mill and processing operation, which has operated in the town in one form or another since 1848.

 

"We do have the permit today and could start filling the quarry based on the number of 135 tons per year," Kary told the board. "We're looking to modify that number.

 

"In terms of changing the tonnage and sequencing, this is not going to change, in any way, the landfill that will be built. The geography remains the same size. The elements of design will never change."

 

What has changed, according to the presentation on Wednesday at Town Hall is the daily rate of mill waste production.

 

Due to the increased tonnage, SMI needs to accelerate the timeline for filling the cells that comprise the landfill, which is filling in an existing quarry.

 

"Existing mill waste on site is in the way of daily quarry operations," read a slide that was shown to the board on Wednesday. "[Modifying the permit] allows SMI to relocate the waste into the regulated area."

 

Kary said that SMI and Environmental partners started working with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection on a plan to use the quarry for the landfill.

 

"It's a massive hole," Kary said. "If you can fill it with clean material, put the waste on top of it and cap it .. it blends with the natural surroundings."

 

Much of Kary's presentation focused on how the landfill design segregates waste and ensures it does not impact the environment.

 

"These landfills are extremely well regulated," he said. "There are monitoring wells to monitor water upstream and downstream."

 

And the readings from those wells are reported to Mass DEP regularly, he said.

 

Members of the board asked Kary to elaborate on the protections for groundwater.

 

"[SMI's existing landfills have] 12 monitoring wells in use since the early 1990s," he said.

 

Water test results are mailed to DEP every week, he said. If there ever was a compromise in the landfill that altered the pH of groundwater, there is a plan to inject it with carbon dioxide to neutralize the water, similar to what SMI does with its wastewater treatment at the plant.

 

Board of Health member Amy Oberlin asked how that monitoring and mitigation plan will be maintained if and when Specialty Minerals or its parent company, Minerals Technologies Inc., leaves town.

 

Kary explained that the state requires bonding to pay for continued maintenance and will step in to continue monitoring in that event.

 

Kyle Ledbetter of Specialty Minerals told the board the company believes it has between 60 to 80 years of operation left on the limestone deposit in Adams.

 

Ledbetter opened SMI's presentation on Wednesday by discussing the history of the business, how its products are used for everything from food additives to adhesives applied in the automotive industry.

 

Ledbetter also focused on Specialty Minerals' place in the community and the fact 70 percent of its workers – many second- and third-generation employees of the company – live in Adams or North Adams.

 

That part of the presentation resonated with the only member of the public to address the Board of Health in the public comment portion of Wednesday's hearing.

 

"I want to encourage the board to recognize that Specialty Minerals has been a good employer and good neighbor to our community," Catherine Foster said. "I hope the board recognizes that."

 

Joseph Nowak, who serves as the Board of Selectman's liaison to the Board of Health, also spoke at the hearing, asking for clarification about the construction of the landfill and noting that SMI had, in the past, been responsive when it had environmental spills.

 

No votes on the permit modification were made on Wednesday. At the end of the hearing, Chair David Rhoades said the Board of Health is waiting to see what happens with state regulators and that the applicant would be back before the local body to seek final approval.

 

Previously, it was announced that SMI would hold at least one other public hearing to gather input to report to state regulators.