Swampscott Extends Aggregate's Blasting Permit As Lawsuit Persists

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — The Swampscott Select Board voted to extend Aggregate Industries' blasting permit in town on Wednesday amid an ongoing legal dispute with the company over restrictions on the frequency and depth of blasting allowed at the quarry.

The permit was extended through June 30 in order to give the town an additional five months to negotiate the terms of a new permit or see the lawsuit filed against the town last year proceed.

"There is current litigation between Aggregate and the town and so there are issues to be worked out with the current permit," Select Board Chair Neal Duffy said. "We are not ready or able to make any adjustments to the permit at this point."

Both sides had proposed a new dialogue on the disagreements during a September public hearing on the permit that led to the extension of the permit through January. But Aggregate Attorney Aaron Rosenberg said during the public comment portion of Wednesday's meeting that those conversations have yet to take place.

"Aggregate remains more than willing and, frankly, would like to sit down and have the conversation that we discussed with the members of the Select Board back at the September 2022 meeting," he said. "Aggregate has been willing since at least February 2022 when we first had a meeting with town representatives and they asked Aggregate to propose language for a permit, which we did in February, we've been eager to sit down and discuss those terms."

Rosenberg said that the meeting "still hasn't been set up."

"I thought we were going to move forward with it," he said, "with the obvious understanding that there was no guarantee of what anyone would agree to at that meeting — just that the meeting would take place."

Chris Drucas, an attorney for Aggregate Industries, said during the September public hearing that the restrictions the town seeks "must allow the company to function on its property and must be based upon science."

Drucas said the last permit (covering June 2021 through June 2022) contains numerous
restrictions that go too far.

"We believe they are unlawful and significantly hamper my client's ability to use its property," he said.

Among the aspects of the current permit that Drucas said Aggregate believes "are not rationally tied to science" include the restriction on the number of blasts per year at 50, a prohibition of any blast lower in the ground than 50 feet, and a vibration requirement that exceeds state guidelines on acceptability."

Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said at the September hearing that while he would prefer to "amicably figure this out" he would not "equivocate on things that we believe are essential to balance the needs of this community with the needs of your business."

"I don't look forward to going and talking to a federal judge about this," Fitzgerald said that night. "But, if we have to, we will."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)