SULLIVAN, Maine — In the latest chapter of a seven-year dispute over safety measures at a local quarry, a federal agency has obtained a permanent injunction against the quarry company and its owner, according to federal officials.
As part of the injunction, U.S. Department of Labor reached a settlement with quarry owner Conrad J. Smith, who agreed to correct cited safety violations from last year and this year, agency officials indicated Thursday in a prepared statement.
Judge John Woodcock, presiding in U.S. District Court in Bangor, granted the injunction on Oct. 24 against Sullivan Granite Company and Smith, according to the release. The injunction “bars Smith and his company from refusing entry to Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors and otherwise hindering or delaying the department in carrying out its duties under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977,” labor officials wrote.
The site in question, called Brown’s Meadow Quarry, is located off Taunton Drive at the end of Track Road.
Contacted Friday, Smith said he still questions whether the federal mining inspectors have jurisdiction over his quarry but that he has addressed all the safety issues they have raised. He said he never forced inspectors to leave his property and that he has clearance from federal officials to continue operations at the quarry.
“Everything has all been fixed,” Smith said. “It’s just petty little stuff that I never objected to fixing. My biggest problem has been [the inspectors].”
According to federal officials, the Labor department obtained a temporary restraining order against Smith a year ago after he hindered inspections of the quarry in August and September 2015. Inspectors with MSHA again tried to gain access to the site on Dec. 16, 2015 — after the temporary restraining order was granted — but again they were rebuffed.
In the complaint federal officials filed a year ago, they said they received an anonymous phone call on Aug. 17, 2015, about alleged safety violations at the quarry. When a federal mine inspector showed up the next day, he saw that there were no guard rails around the rim of the quarry opening, which is a violation of federal regulations.
When he attempted to discuss the matter with Smith, however, Smith allegedly was uncooperative and told the inspector to leave, federal officials indicated.
“Rather than engage, Mr. Smith stood in front of [the inspector], turned his backside to him, and bent over and exposed half of his naked posterior,” federal officials said in the November 2015 complaint. “‘I’m bending over now,’ [Smith said]. ‘Give me what you want.’”
In 2010, federal officials accused Smith of similar violations, alleging the quarry had no mandated safety chains or suitable locking devices on high-pressure air lines, no railings or warning signs in certain locations in the quarry and that power switches were unlabeled and oxygen tanks unsecured. That case was dropped the following year after Smith stopped interfering with federal inspections of the property.
