The agency board voted 8-0 for the Barton Mines permit that has been in the works for three years.
By Gwendolyn Craig
Editor’s note: this story has been updated to correct the sea level measurements.
A sixth-generation, family-owned garnet mining operation in Johnsburg and Indian Lake received Adirondack Park Agency approval for its expansion plan on Thursday. The plan allows the hard rock mine to operate for another 66 years.
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The agency board voted 8-0 for the Barton Mines permit that has been in the works for three years.
The application received extensive support from past and present mine workers and local governments, but pushback from environmental organizations and some neighbors, who have sought an adjudicatory hearing. It was “one of the most technically complex and resource impactful private land use applications to come before the APA,” said David Gibson, managing partner of Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve.
“We’re obviously pleased and delighted with the approval of the permit by the park agency,” said Randy Rapple, CEO of the mine. “We look forward to the review by the DEC (state Department of Environmental Conservation) in the coming weeks and being able to continue our operations in the North Country as we have for the past 146 years.”
The mine still needs a DEC mined land reclamation permit. That permit is out for public comment until Nov. 22, according to the DEC’s environmental notice bulletin.
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The agency’s board, with barely enough members for a quorum, went along with the business’s expansion despite the controversy.
The board’s park ecology chair, Zoe Smith, was absent due to a broken ankle. Dan Wilt, the agency’s regulatory committee chair, was on vacation. Its Department of State representative, Matthew Tebo, tuned in remotely to the meeting, but was able to vote remotely. And the agency remains without one of its in-park board members since January 2023 when Andrea Hogan resigned.
The agency’s meeting grew to standing room only when the board heard from Corrie Magee, an environmental program specialist with the APA, on the mine expansion. About a dozen representatives of the mine attended.
Environmental groups have been perplexed that the APA decided the application was complete, pointing to a number of unanswered questions the agency had in its fourth notice of incomplete application.
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Claudia Braymer, deputy director of Protect the Adirondacks, said the organization is considering taking legal action, and its board will discuss it at its next meeting in December.
An adjudicatory hearing is the only way the APA can deny or substantially alter a permit. The APA has not held such a hearing in more than a decade, and Magee noted the call for such hearings has become “almost universal.” She called the hearings “trial-like” and said they are intended to “elicit and clarify factual information that is conflicting, missing from or concerning a project record.”
“Staff believes the facts for this proposal indicate no undue adverse impacts to the park’s resources under the laws administered by the agency,” Magee said, and therefore recommended the permit be approved with conditions.
Prior to the agency’s public comment period on the application, it received more than 600 comments, 555 in favor and 75 opposed. During the official public comment period, it received 370 favorable notes and 428 opposing.
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Those in favor stressed the economic importance of the mining business. Rapple said there are 65 full-time people working at the mining operation, 35 full-time workers at headquarters in Glens Falls and an additional 30 people working full time throughout the country representing Barton.
Jerry Delaney, executive director of the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board, pointed out how supervisors for the towns of Minerva, Warrensburg and Johnsburg attended the meeting to show support.
“You don’t usually see those people in this room, and that’s because this company is such a big part of their communities and their economic sustainability,” Delaney said. “You know this is a really important thing for them.”
Johnsburg Supervisor Kevin Bean addressed the board, saying he can’t begin to imagine Johnsburg without Barton Mines. He thanked the board for passing the permit.
Those against the Barton plan have worried about noise, dust, the visual impacts of the growing residual minerals pile and the mining activities’ proximity to one of the park’s largest wilderness areas.
Board members, including APA Chairman John Ernst, asked APA staff about the concerns. Staff defended the mine’s application, saying they anticipate low noise levels, dust mitigation measures and pile stability. Some of the aspects of the mining operations are also overseen by the DEC, they said.
John Passacantando, from the organization Friends of the Siamese Ponds Wilderness and a neighbor to the mine, felt the APA ignored a number of their concerns and was disappointed with the permit outcome.
“As citizens we did our job to put these issues into the public record and to make the governing bodies aware of them so they could find solutions,” he said. “The APA chose not to see or hear.”
The permit involves an 848.6 parcel on Thirteenth Lake Road and Beach Road and is adjacent to the Siamese Ponds Wilderness Area. It allows the following:
- Expanding the mine’s tailings pile from 73 acres to 88.4 acres;
- Lowering the quarry floor from 1,860 feet below mean sea level to 1,790 feet above mean sea level;
- Increasing operation of on-site trucking and mining activities from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday to 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday;
- Expanding the footprint of the residual mineral pile to a maximum of 128.2 acres and expanding its height from 2,275 feet to 2,375 feet above mean sea level. The reclamation plan includes eventually using the residual minerals to backfill the quarry. That is to lower the pile height to 2,355 feet above mean sea level.
Permit conditions include no tree-cutting outside the life of mine area, no blasting on Sundays or legal holidays, allowing a maximum of three blasts per month and providing the agency with an annual report summarizing all aspects of the project that have been undertaken, as well as daily truck trips and blasts per month.
The mining operations and reclamation will take place in four phases through 2090. The first phase is expected to go through 2036 and involve at least two more reviews before the APA. The first phase will not include any additional height to the residual minerals pile, though it will grow laterally.
The second phase from 2037 to 2048 calls for the pile to grow taller with vegetation planted atop the tailings.
The last phase, which will include the final reclamation of the mine, is expected to begin in 2067 and end in 2090. During the final two phases, the pile will grow in height. The reclamation plan includes vegetating the pile.
Top photo: Barton Mines. Photo courtesy of an Adirondack Park Agency permit presentation
Every time the APA approves a mega vorp permission, they should be forced to approve something fun in the park for the people.
Very pleased to see APA being sensible on recent projects in accordance with common sense and the strong wishes of local residents. If we could not live and work here there would be no park for alI to enjoy.
The seasonal tourism, while critically helpful and appreciated, does not cut it for residential income generation and you cannot force all the good year round jobs out of the ADKs or you will have no one left to live here. Barton mines is a “good” job here, I have lived here 40 years and know many people for whom this was their first job with health care, a decent wage and year round job stability. I know one guy whose life was a mess till he got a job there and finally straightened himself out just because he knew, given his history, he lucked out to get a good job there and should not mess it up.
I grew up being told to hate the APA and they really were unreasonable in the past but they have considerably repaired their reputation in the last 10 years by not working against some of the projects like these that are both environmentally balanced and critical to the local economy.
There would have been serious local pushback on many levels if this had not gone through and I appreciate the APA not pushing things to that point.
If the APA can continue in this trend for another decade I believe they will have achieved generational change where their name is no longer a pariah to park residents. I for one looked at this as a bellweather event and the 8-0 ruling shows me that the APA has changed from how I grew up, and is a more fair agency now, and that they care about how their actions affect park residents.
I would agree with your assessment if the 8-0 ruling was AFTER a suitable adjudicatory hearing. This critical step was noticeably skipped. 66 years is a long time, which one would think would deserve an in-depth hearing of the ongoing consequences and likelihood of eventual reclamation. Think Tahawus.
^^^ Word!
Reclamation is usually my biggest concern. How many companies that have profited from extraction over the period of their ownership go belly-up around the time the extraction ends and reclamation is to start? This then dumps the bill onto the taxpayers, or it is left as a scar and reminder of the “golden days”. As I mentioned above – think Tahawus and other abandoned mines scattered around the Park. I don’t know if this particular license involved a paid BOND FUND for future reclamation of the site, but it should before any extraction licenses are issued.
Tahawus is not an abandoned mine. Mitchell stone is actively reprocessing the overburden into valuable product. Reclamation work has had a positive aesthetic effect on inactive areas of the operation. Mitchell is good for the local economy and access to a local product benefits us in reduced trucking cost for the immediate area. Balance is a good thing.
Dave,
You are right – the National Lead Industries (NLI) site still has activity, but with tailing removal only. One of hundreds of small mines scattered across the area, the original Tahawus (McIntyre) iron mine was abandonded in the 19th century. The actual titanium mining activity at the former NLI site was terminated decades ago. Indeed, what we are seeing is a slow tailing reclamation process that is not guaranteed to be completed. I would no longer consider it a “working” titanium mine.
Mitchell is indeed good for the local economy, but what happens (in the best-case scenario) when the tailings are totally removed or Mitchell can no longer operate at a profit? Who remediates the former excavation pits, does any chemical clean-ups, and finally caps the site? In fact, Mitchell himself stated in the article below, “We don’t know what we’re going to do with it long term. There’s no grand plan.”. It is estimated that it could take 70 years to remove the tailings at the current rate.
Also from the article:
“State law requires that every mine must be reclaimed at the end of its productive life. According to DEC, NL posted a $50,000 financial guarantee for a 138-acre “affected” area of its mining operation and completed that reclamation in 1996. Mitchell has established $51,500 financial security for final reclamation of 2.3 acres, about one-tenth of the reclamation site.
Mitchell will be required to remove all stockpiled material or grade the site to blend in with the surroundings. He will not have to plant trees or fill in the deep pits. “We don’t have very grand plans for this place,” he said. “We want to just continue running our stone business like we’ve been running it the past ten years.””
I doubt $100k is going to go far in reclaming the NLI site considering its size and depth – let alone restoring the natural stream bed of the Hudson River headwater. While the former NLI mine is not officially abandonded, the old McIntyre/Upper Works site was – along with many other early mines around the Park being slowly “reclaimed” by Nature. I do trust Mitchell to continue removing the tailings, but for how long if there is no long-term plan? However I do wish the venture well as at least it is progress in the right direction!
https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/digging-into-tahawus-mine
Good !
We just had our driveway done with tailings from Tahawas.
Feels a bit like recycling to me. Looks good too.
Just a note to correct the summary of the permit in your article. You stated:
“Lowering the quarry floor from 1,860 feet below mean sea level to 1,790 feet below mean sea level;”
This should read:
“Lowering the quarry floor from 1,860 feet above mean sea level to 1,790 feet above mean sea level;”