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January 17

Pike fined $4,500 for blast violations

By Leslie Bridgers lbridgers@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

WESTBROOK — Pike Industries will pay $4,500 in fines for blasts in its Spring Street quarry that violated vibration limits set in a consent agreement reached by the city, Pike and neighboring Idexx Laboratories.

The city's code enforcement officer issued the fine on Jan. 11. Tom Spellman, Pike's crushing manager for Maine and New Hampshire, said today that the company plans to pay the fine.

The consent agreement reached in the fall of 2010 set the maximum ground vibration of a blast at 0.5 inches per second. A blast on Dec. 9 registered at 0.73 inches per second, and a blast on Dec. 14 registered at 0.59 inches per second.

A third blast on Dec. 16 did not violate the standards set in the agreement.

Pike was fined $3,000 in June after conducting blasts to construct an access road to its quarry that violated limits on noise, vibration and time of day, as set in the agreement.

The blasts conducted in December to produce loose rock for construction projects were the first such blasts in the Spring Street quarry since 2008, before a conflict arose between Pike and its neighbors, including Idexx, who contended that Pike didn't have the proper permits to operate in the quarry.

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