The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is accepting comments on an application submitted by Block Mountain Slate and Stone for a permit to operate a rock quarry at seven sites located near Plains.
Six of the sites are on private land with the seventh on Department of Natural Resources and Conservation land. The operating permit would cover a total of 501.2 acres. About 52 acres would be disturbed over the next five years, with about 99 acres to be disturbed over the life of the operation, which is estimated to be about 20 years.
The materials to be quarried are rock outcrops and talus slopes. Rock would be removed by various methods such as hand picking, drilling and blasting, and ripping with a dozer and/or excavator. The rock would be used for landscaping, building stone, riprap and as aggregate.
Access to all sites would be by existing roads. All of the sites have been previously quarried. Some sites have been logged in the past and have had limited livestock grazing.
The operations would be from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and occasionally the may may have to run two shifts to meet contract timeframes, the DEQ said.
The DEQ has prepared a Draft Environmental Analysis for the proposed permit. Comments on the Draft EA may be submitted by mail to Herb Rolfes, Hard Rock Mining Bureau, PO Box 200901, Helena, MT 59620-0901 or by email to [email protected].
Comments must be received by June 10.