CASTLETON — Larry Nicklaw was mowing his lawn last Friday when he heard a whistle blow, a signal that a slate quarry near his home was about to begin blasting.
Soon, he saw rocks flying in his direction.
“He just turned around and ducked, trying to protect his head, hoping nothing would hit him,” said Jayne Nicklaw, his wife. “When he stood up, one of the rocks was like 2 to 3 feet (away).”
The Nicklaws estimated that hundreds of pieces of slate of all different sizes landed on their property on Friday. Some hurtled through the air with such force that they tore through the lawn and became lodged in their dog fence.
Nearby, rock showered the lawns of other neighbors, and one shot through a resident’s roof and attic, leaving a hole in the second-floor ceiling.
The rock came from Camara Slate, whose quarry is just west of Route 30, according to Castleton Police Chief Peter Mantello, who went to the neighborhood after receiving calls from at least six residents who live up to a half-mile from the quarry. He picked up rocks, scattered across their properties, that weighed anywhere from a few ounces to more than 20 pounds.
“It was a blessing that nobody got hurt or killed,” he said.
Both the Vermont Department of Public Safety fire and explosion investigation unit and the Vermont State Police are investigating the situation, according to Adam Silverman, a spokesperson for the department.
Shawn Camara, owner of Camara Slate, did not return a request for comment.
“This residential area is right next to the quarry,” Mantello said. “There’s certain guidelines they’ve gotta follow — give warnings and, obviously, contain a safe blast area. Those things will probably be brought up locally through the town. I don’t know where that’s gonna go.”
It’s the third time Jayne Nicklaw’s property has endured this type of rock shower, she said. Two other incidents took place in 2003 and 2006, and during one, she was outside with her son.
“They came down with such force that they blew apart into pieces, like shrapnel,” she said. “I couldn’t see my son, my son couldn’t see me. We were both screaming bloody murder thinking one of us was going to be dead at the end of it.”
“This isn’t funny,” she said, and she’s fed up with local, state and federal officials for failing to protect residents from the repeated incidents.
Annette Smith, executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, has advocated for more regulation of Vermont’s slate industry, which is largely exempt from Act 250, the sweeping law that regulates the state’s land use and development.
In 2015, her organization conducted an investigation of the quarries, which they then presented to the House Committee on Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife. She found violations that included wetlands filling, property encroachment and illegal dumping.
Under the current regulatory structure, quarry owners can mine holes that have been otherwise unused for decades, often surprising landowners who think the holes have been abandoned. A proposal before the committee sought to change this and other parts of the regulatory structure, including a method to track drastic changes in the size of quarries, and an updated system for informing landowners about reopening quarries.
Quarriers replied to the proposal with presentations of their own, which highlighted the precariousness of a waning industry that is geographically confined to the western edge of Rutland County. Many slate quarries are owned by local families, and quarriers have argued that more enforcement of existing laws can abate the need for increased regulation.
“We believe these changes to Act 250 are unnecessary and will place a heavy burden on the slate industry,” a 2019 presentation to the Natural Resources Committee reads.
So far, nothing has come of the conversations in the Legislature. In light of Friday’s blast, Smith is asking legislators to reconsider the testimony they heard several years ago.
“The slate industry cannot self-regulate,” Smith said. “As much as they have expressed the intent to do so, and that they will be good neighbors, there’s absolutely no excuse for what happened.”
State Sen. Cheryl Hooker, D/P-Rutland County, called the Nicklaws after she saw a WCAX story about the blast. Hooker told VTDigger she thinks the stakeholders need to have a “frank conversation” about protecting residents from future incidents. She said the scenes of flying rock described by her constituents sounded apocalyptic.
“Certainly, there’s a real need to balance the rights of the individuals with the rights of the businesses that are there,” she said.
Correction: The year of Vermonters for a Clean Environment’s investigation into quarries has been corrected.
