Loopholes in Vermont Act  law as it applies to Quarries and Strip Mines    Strip mines and quarries are among a few places where Vermont Act Environmental permits are allowed to close or expire   Most other permits remain open forever  If the permitted activity is found to cause environmental or other harm the Act office can take steps to help in most cases  This is not true for strip mines and quarries  Once these permits are closed Act  control is limited  From my research to date the three main things lacking from the law are  Notification  When an Act permit expires or is closed it does so quietly  There is no requirement for the quarry owner to notify adjoining land owners town governments or regional planning districts  The cost of this would be minimal compared to future damage  Snapshot  When a permit is closed  expired the Actt office can only take a snapshot of the site  They cannot look at what changes are occurring like rising water or pumps being stopped in my case  There does not seem to be a provision to extend jurisdiction in these cases to see where it will level off  Future Damage  If an expired  closed permitted activity is found to cause unforeseen subsequent damage there is no way to reopen the permit for that reason    Expired quarry permits are difficult to reopen  You must proove that they were closed incorrectly  This takes much time and effort    If you live near a quarry  strip mine or know someone who does pay extra attention to the Act permits  Failure to do so may cause serious environmental damage or damage to your property  Civil action may be your only solution which can be very expensive  Mining and quarries are important industries to the state of Vermont  It seems that most are operated responsibly  We just need the controls to be sure that this activity does not cause damage in the future