Mine owner promises no more fly ash

The operator of a controversial Gambrills surface mine assured residents last night that he has no plans to use potentially dangerous fly ash to fill in pits at the site.

But some who live nearby are concerned that a future owner could decide to reintroduce fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal that is believed responsible for contaminating groundwater with heavy metals.

Rob Scrivener, president of BBSS Inc., which owns the mine, has applied to the Maryland Department of the Environment to mine sand and gravel from another 19.9-acre site near the end of Brickhead Road.

Around half of the material mined would be used for commercial purposes. The other half would be used to fill a large pit adjacent to the southern edge of the Village of Waugh Chapel, a nearby shopping center.

Mr. Scrivener, who is also manager of Reliable Contracting Co. which will do the mining, had originally intended to fill the hole with fly ash produced in coal-fired power plants owned by the Constellation Energy Group.

However, community and government fears about the health effects of fly ash landfills changed his plans. In September BBSS and Constellation Energy voluntarily agreed to stop dumping fly ash in Gambrills, leaving empty pits the mine owner had hoped to fill.

"I'm now left with a hole that I had planned to fill with material," Mr. Scrivener told about 25 people last night during an MDE permit hearing at the Village at Waugh Chapel.

Mr. Scrivener now wants to fill the hole with dirt mined from the 19.9 acres at the end of Brickhead Road and has no plans to use fly ash on his property again.

"We, as a property owner, have no intention of putting any fly ash on that site," he said.

In his original permit request to MDE, Mr. Scrivener said he would not put fly ash there unless he received the department's approval.

But at the urging of Madonna Brennan, co-chairman of Crofton First, a grassroots activist group, he agreed to change the language in his application to avoid dumping any further fly ash at the site.

His promise won support from some people who live near the pit, but they are still not at ease.

"It's great from a personal standpoint, we like and trust him, but the issue isn't Rob Scrivener, it's a future owner," said Chuck McIntosh, who lives in a nearby condominium.

Mr. McIntosh said he is concerned that one day Mr. Scrivener will sell his land and the new owner will try to change the mining permit to allow fly ash to be dumped there.

The MDE will now evaluate Mr. Scrivener's permit application, determining in 30 days if he can mine the 19.9 acres.

Beginning in 1995, Baltimore Electric Co. and later Constellation Energy contracted with BBSS to dump fly ash into the mine pits.

Surface mining of sand and gravel used in construction had left large holes in the ground, and the fly ash was intended to fill them, making it possible to eventually develop the property.

However, rainwater seeped through the fly ash landfill into the groundwater below, contaminating it with heavy metals, some of which are carcinogenic, and others that can cause nerve damage. A county investigation tested water samples collected from 83 wells, with 23 showing dangerous levels of contamination.

The MDE last fall fined Constellation $1 million, and the County Council banned new fly ash dump sites for one year. And County Executive John R. Leopold recently proposed a 12-month extension to the moratorium.

Today, developer Greenberg Gibbons Commercial Corp. is planning to build the 88-acre Village at Waugh Chapel South, which will cost in excess of $100 milion. It will include a movie theater, a Wegmans grocery store, restaurants, shops and condos and will connect to the southern edge of the old Village at Waugh Chapel.

When built, it will be atop one of the old mine pits Mr. Scrivener is trying to fill.