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Our Vanishing Hills
By John Carter
This is a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" story.
A good share of my career as a geologist has involved working within the aggregate industry. Aggregates are natural earth products used in the construction industry. Although not noticed by the general public, aggregates are absolutely necessary for us to maintain our lifestyle. The use of earth materials is literally one of the signs of our human state. If you can't grow it, then you must dig it. Aggregates are generally sand and gravel or crushed stone; they both have the same uses, as filler for concrete and blacktop. For those who live beyond the reach of a municipal sewer system, a leach field made of sand is why your septic system works. There is not a single day in your life that is not touched by your use of aggregate materials.
In Western Connecticut there is a severe shortage of sand and gravel, to the extent that this winter for the first time this became an issue on talk radio. In January I heard on the WTIC morning show a comment that there was a shortage of sand on the highways. I am not surprised, and you may be sure that this situation is only going to get worse. About ten years ago, the New England Council of Governors sponsored a study of the availability of sand and gravel in New England. The answer that came back was that the available supplies were seriously depleted, and that severe shortages could be expected early in the 21st century.
The only viable substitute for sand and gravel is crushed stone and man-made sand from stone. Some of the best stone to produce crushed stone products is found right here, where we live. This is where the "damned if we do, and damned if we don't," comes in. As I stated in the beginning of this article, these products are absolutely necessary for us to maintain our lifestyle. Without them, it won't be long before we are living in trees and undoubtedly swinging by our tails. If you travel up Route 8 from Torrington to the Colebrook town line, you will notice that there are five mines producing crushed stone, and what appears to be yet another in the planning stage. Each of these mines is chipping away at the scenic beauty of our hills; yet, we must have the materials that these mines produce.
This is a situation that must be addressed. In many places these mines have been moved underground where they are out of sight. This is an entirely acceptable way to continue production, but a large producer has told me that it costs too much. How much are your hills worth to you? I am sure that the producer's comment is based upon old-fashioned ways of thinking and just plain greed.
The kind of rock we have locally will easily support a cavern sixty feet wide and a hundred feet high. If this were to be translated into a room-and-pillar underground mine there would be plenty of rock for everyone, our local green hills would not be destroyed before our eyes, and in the end the producers would be left with some extremely desirable space to rent out for commercial or industrial purposes. In other parts of the country this desirable property is used for warehouses, manufacturing plants and a myriad of other uses. In addition to their other advantages, the steady year-round temperature of these spaces makes them extremely energy efficient.
Locally and statewide we could ban all above-ground mines, permitting only those mines that are going to operate underground, and we could also give the present producers a period of five years to move their mining operations underground, too. How much are your hills worth to you?
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