DALTON, Mass. — Residential concerns and frustrations grow as Berkshire Concrete Corporation plans to expand its gravel mining operations. 

 

On Sept. 17, Berkshire Concrete, a subsidiary of Petricca Industries, submitted an application for a special permit, to excavate, extract, and transport minerals including sand, gravel, topsoil, rock, and fill on several parcels, some of which abuts residential neighborhoods. There will be a public hearing on the permit on Nov. 19. 

 

In addition to its annual renewal of its current permit, the application requests the continued excavation on the unauthorized dig site on parcel 105-16, part of which has since been partially mitigated, and continues the work up towards Renee Dr., on parcels 101-25 and 105-12. 

 

"To access parcel 105-12, [Berkshire Concrete] will construct a road from the current extraction area on parcel 105-16," the applicant narrative summary said. 

 

"This road will follow the tree line marked in green on the Extraction Area Map and will cross

parcel 101-25 before reaching parcel 105-12." 

 

The application requests to remove a total of 250,000 yards of material on the 10,693,980, during the year round operation from 6:45 to 5:15 p.m. 

 

"That's basically the equivalent of a football field. The area of a football field, if you dug a pit 120 feet deep of sand or gravel, that's what they want to remove, and if you put that in one little spot that is an extremely deep hole. They're not going to be able to do that, so they're going to spread it around," resident David Borowsky said. 

 

While constructing the road access Berkshire Concrete would extract gravel from the area between abutting neighborhoods and into parcel 105-12, which is currently mostly trees above the solar farm. The path is marked in green on the "Proposed Extraction Area and Direction" document. 

 

To mitigate the dust, Berkshire Concrete proposes extending the existing earth berm, between the neighborhoods and the requested excavation path. 

 

According to the application sheet, 120 certified abutter letters will be sent out. This is subject to change. 

 

This is a massive project with significant implications, such as the effect it will have on the traffic pattern, because of the volume of trucks hauling material, and the water supply, Borowsky said. 

 

"We are prone to droughts now in this area, and I'm concerned that they're going to tap into the town's water supply, and I don't want to be covering their need to transport sand, and I'll be out of water if I can't fill my pool or water my lawn," he said. 

 

Select Board member John Boyle said he does not believe that the project would affect the town's water capacity because 98 percent of it comes from Pittsfield. However, he did agree more data on the effect of the project needs to be done. 

 

During the meeting, several residents said that the material particles from the operation is a great risk to public health. 

 

"His operation is going to produce a situation that is going to create health problems beyond your imagination, beyond your imagination," resident Ronald Griffin said. 

 

"This stuff is going to get airborne. People are going to breathe it, and it's going to have an effect on the health of the children in this community, and all of the adults."

 

Residents have previously advocated for ongoing, continuous air quality testing and highlighted how this would aid in enforcement because it shows when the violations take place. 

 

The state Department of Environmental Protection previously determined that the dust is not an air quality health concern but a nuisance, which the town is the regulatory authority to mitigate. 

 

However, residents insist that the testing was not thorough enough, considering increased wind conditions and other environmental factors. 

 

Resident Sue Persson said there are several community members experiencing health issues, they believe to be related to the dust from the mining operations. 

 

"We know [Lynne Griffin] has health issues related to her lungs. We know that several other community members that live in the same neighborhood that Griffin and I live in have the same. I have recently found out that, out of nowhere, I have lung nodules in both lungs," Persson said 

 

"I have never smoked. I have never lived with a smoker. I've never worked in an environment where I was exposed to smoke, chemicals, or any of the above. So with that said, I've gotten a lot more invested in this than I already had invested in this. So, please be mindful of that, and when we say we're going to do things to get things changed, then we need to follow through." 

 

Resident Pete Persson passionately expressed his frustration with the town’s inaction on addressing Berkshire Concrete not abiding by the town bylaws. 

 

"I'm just going to flat out, say bullshit, because none of the bylaws that we have have been followed. There's clear evidence in the bylaws that tell us what we're supposed to do, and it's not being done," he said. 

 

During the Select Board meeting last week, residents asked the board to take stronger action to protect the community, including sending a letter to Berkshire Concrete to prevent unauthorized work and a request to hire a specialized attorney with federal evidence. 

 

"We have to be careful about the use of town resources. It's not an endless well that we can just pull money from," said Daniel Esko, board vice chair, adding that residents can hire their own lawyer. 

 

During the Clean Air Committee meeting later in the week, Pete Persson expressed his outrage, highlighting the funds allocated at a town meeting to "hire a lawyer." 

 

At a special town meeting in June, voters authorized $59,000 to hire professional and technical work to ensure the compliance of the Berkshire Concrete Corporation with the conditions of their special permit and with town orders.

 

These funds were used to hire the environmental consultant that is reviewing the mitigation plan. 

 

When Berkshire Concrete started mining on the unauthorized dig-site, it cut down a lot of forest, resident Richard Hall said. 

 

"Can we send them a letter by the end of the week to make sure they don't try and jump the gun and cut down trees in pieces of property they had, because trees take decades to grow and five minutes to cut down," 

 

Hall also advocated to include in the letter a request for Berkshire Concrete to give the town a notice of intent when they plan to work in wetland areas. 

 

The board decided not to send a letter to Berkshire Concrete because these concerns can be addressed during the public hearing on Nov. 19. 

 

Additionally, Berkshire Concrete submitted a mitigation plan, however no one seems to know what is going on with it, which is why it’s imperative the town respond to it before the public hearing, Hall said. 

 

The town has contracted Berkshire Environmental Consultants Inc. to conduct an independent assessment of the Berkshire Concrete site's mitigation efforts.

 

"The planning board has 90 days to decide on a special permit application, and they have every opportunity to comment on their mitigation plan in that process as well and object to or suggest different measures be taken," Esko said 

 

"I don't know that we've got feedback from our engineering company regarding the mitigation plan, because it was just received. So, I think the bottom line is, your comments are, I think, more suited for that special permit hearing in general. Although that being said, if we get the feedback from the engineers, we can certainly give that to Petricca before the special hearing comes up."