Springfield Twp. mining changes include residents’ ideas

By HAILEY ROGENSKI

HeraldStaff Writer

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP — Springfield Township supervisors held a hearing Monday to discuss the amending of an ordinance, proposed by residents who previously opposed the ordinance, to oversee mining in the township.

Township Solicitor Raymond Bogaty said the opposition occurred roughly six months to a year ago during prior litigation with a coal company that was

See MINING, page A-2

Shawn Gallagher, representing Amerikohl Aggregates, an excavating company, speaks to Springfield Township supervisors at a hearing Monday.

HAILEY ROGENSKI | Herald

Springfield Twp. mining ordinance changes include residents’ ideas

FROM PAGE A-1

previously interested in mining for minerals in the township. He said the request from the coal company in the conditional use trial was withdrawn, so the supervisors never came to a decision.

“They (residents) had an attorney, presented witnesses and objected, and probably 40 or 50 people spoke – various people who opposed it,” he said.

He said this led to residents initiating ordinance amendments in the fall and winter of 2024.

“We’ll enact the ordinance if the supervisors approve it in August,” Bogaty said. “The ordinance was written in part by the citizens and we tweaked it a little bit and added some things to it, but they did all the homework and leg work basically.”

Bogaty said prior to voting on the ordinance, they will advertise the ordinance amendments. He said the amended ordinance will better protect the public.

He said it will also better protect the employees performing the excavation. During the hearing the township heard from Shawn Gallagher, representing Amerikohl Aggregates, which is interested in doing mineral excavation in the township.

Gallagher said 1,000-foot setbacks, the restriction of mining operations to 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and potential additional emission control restrictions outside of what the the state Department of Environmental Protection has put in place would pose challenges for Amerikohl.

Bogaty agreed to allow supervisors to permit flexibility on the 1,000-feet setback. During an executive session following the hearing, Amerikohl requested an extension on its conditional-use application stating that some of their witnesses weren’t ready.

If approved, the ordinance will be amended to define mineral extraction as “all activity which removes the surface or beneath the surface of the land for some mineral resource, natural resource or other element of economic value, by mechanical excavation to separate the desired material from an undesirable one or to remove the strata or material which overlies or is above the desire material.” It defines mineral excavation as “the excavation of earth, sand, gravel, stone, coal or other minerals by surface or deep mining.”

It will be amended to require an application for conditional use for mineral excavation, which will require a drawing showing the excavation plans. The excavator must also comply with township regulations, make no landfills or dumps, follow updated township operations and exemptions.

The amended ordinance will also redefine minor excavation as “excavation activities involving the removal, relocation or disturbance of earth, soil or rock for the purpose of landscaping, gardening, creating private walkways, installing or repairing utilities, constructing or maintain residential outbuildings or other similar non-commercial improvements.”