Rails-to-Trails users will find a notice like the one above, taken from the Juniata Valley Audubon’s newsletter, stapled to posts by the path. Other groups are also angry that the quarry might reopen. Photo by David Hutto.

By David Hutto

An abandoned limestone quarry near a popular Rails-to-Trails route in Blair County will blast back to noisy life if the owners are permitted to proceed as planned, a move that has greatly angered regional environmentalists and quarry neighbors.

Quarry activity necessarily involves blasting, bulldozing, heavy truck traffic, dust, and noise that neighbors and environmentalists fear will harm recreation and wildlife. One of the groups opposing the mining is the Juniata Valley Audubon Society.

“The popular anger against this is really high,” said Dave Bonta, president of the society. “One of the most disappointing things for us is the utter failure of our state agencies in protecting a natural area.”

Heller Quarry, also called Carlim Quarry, is located in Catherine Township not far from Williamsburg. The quarry, which hasn’t operated for 70 years, sits on 187 acres purchased by Clifford Wise, from Pittsburgh, who owns several companies united as the Gulf Group. With the purchase in Catherine Township, Wise formed Catherine Properties Inc. to operate the quarry.

Adjacent to the quarry is the Lower Trail, popular with residents of Centre County for hiking, bicycling, horseback riding and cross-country skiing. More than 100,000 people use the Lower Trail each year, according to a letter from the Moshannon Group of the Sierra Club posted on the Rails-to-Trails website. The group’s leaders fear that the quarry will negatively impact trail use.

Lower Trail runs beside the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River, and the Pennsylvania Biological Survey has declared the trail and surrounding area an Important Bird Area for cerulean warblers.

A local colony of eastern small-footed bats (Myotis leibii) is also at risk. The bats live in caves in the Heller Caves Biological Diversity Area, also near the proposed quarry. This species of bat is threatened in Pennsylvania, and the state’s Wildlife Action Plan has named it a “priority species.”

Blasting and earth moving can destroy the habitat for the bats, according to the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory, created under the direction of the Blair County Planning Commission.

The Gulf Group has already set land aside at the quarry site for historic preservation, according to a company profile. Of the 187 acres purchased by Wise, he has held out 52 acres surrounding a historical building, a stone house built in 1818.

The Gulf Group also said that the project will provide 34 jobs in Blair County working directly for Catherine Properties, as well as an additional 10 jobs indirectly connected with the project.

As part of the application process for operating the quarry, Catherine Properties was required to perform an environmental assessment. Since the quarry is being partially funded by a $5.4 million grant from the USDA Rural Development Program, the final assessment was written by the USDA. It concluded that the quarry would have no impact on endangered species and no detrimental effect on the surrounding area.

“The project site has operated as a limestone quarry since the 1880’s,” according to the USDA assessment. “There is no plan to change its current use; therefore, there is no affect [sic] on surrounding land uses and those within the project’s area of environmental impact.”

Since the quarry has not been operating for more than 70 years, environmentalists question the reliability of an assessment that states it has been. Environmental groups also cite other problems with the assessment. Stan Kotala of Juniata Valley Audubon Society said that the quarry will have a “severe adverse impact on the Lower Trail and its users.”

The Lower Trail is mentioned in the assessment only by the statement that the quarry “is located adjacent to the Juniata River and a Rails-to-Trails trail, neither of which is considered an impediment to the mining operations.” The environmental assessment also did not mention that quarry operation could impact both the Heller Caves Biological Diversity Area and the Important Bird Area.

In the Williamsburg area, a local petition in opposition has gained 600 signatures and 15 environmental groups are opposing the plan.

In July, the USDA acknowledged that the environmental assessment was flawed and halted the $5.4 million grant until it could perform a new one.

Under Pennsylvania law, townships have the authority to require “setbacks” around historical and natural resources. In August, the Juniata Valley Audubon Society called on its supporters to show up at the Catherine Township Board of Supervisors meeting to ask for a quarter-mile setback (1,320 feet) from the trail and caves.

“We didn’t pull that number out of a hat,” said Kotala. The quarter-mile figure comes from the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory, he said, which describes the space necessary for the habitat of the bats in Heller Caves.

Gulf Group owner Wise told Voices that the Department of Environmental Protection has suggested a setback of 300 feet, which his company would find acceptable. In September, the Catherine Township Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting to discuss the quarry.