Commission OKs plan for wash plant

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O&G Industries Director of Planning and Permits Ken Faroni talks about a plan to build a new modular wash plant at the company’s site on Railroad Avenue in Beacon Falls during a public hearing Feb. 15 at Beacon Falls Town Hall. –LUKE MARSHALL

BEACON FALLS — The Planning and Zoning Commission last week unanimously approved an application from O&G Industries to build a new modular wash plant facility at the company’s site on Railroad Avenue.

O&G Industries Director of Planning and Permits Ken Faroni said the existing wash plant on the 14.94 acre site would be dismantled and removed in an effort to modernize work done at the site.

“It had become a little rusted and antiquated and we have had issues with vandals. We had a lot of the copper wire stripped and stolen,” Faroni said.

In its place, the company would place a modular, portable wash plant that would be brought in as needed, Faroni said.

Faroni said the company would continue to store raw materials that need to be processed on the site, such as soil and stones.

“When the pile is sufficient and we have a need for the material, we will bring it in, process it, develop it, and export it to our facilities or for sale,” Faroni said.

This will not be the first time the company moves from permanent to portable wash plants, Faroni said.

“That is the way the industry is trending. More and more sites that had permanent facilities are using portable systems. We have done that at two of our wash plants in Woodbury,” Faroni said. “We have removed our permanent plants and brought in portable units.”

The plumbing from the current plant will remain, Faroni said. Currently the wash plant is on a closed loop system, he said. This means the plant is fed by a small man-made pond on the property and drains back into the same pond.

Since the wash plant is on a closed loop system there is no discharge into the Naugatuck River, which is adjacent to the property, Faroni said.

Faroni said O&G will also import 41,000 cubic yards of fill to level off the section of property where the outside storage units are currently.

“In the short term it would give us some flexibility as to where we would site the modular plant and where we would stock pile the material and finished product,” Faroni said. “In the long term, we would site the property for other industrial uses.”

Any other industrial uses would not be considered for many years, Faroni said.

The commission approved the application with little discussion. O&G can move forward with the new wash plant immediately.