Environment: All the Marble

The way Annette Smith sees it, Omya Industries is trying to blow up part of her town. To be sure, it's not a very big part--just a few dozen acres on a 400-acre tract in the Vermont mountains where the company wants to dig a marble mine. Still, Smith, head of the group Vermonters for a Clean Environment, wants to stop it.

The way Omya sees it, Annette Smith is denying the world its calcium carbonate. That's pretty much all marble is, after all. Crush it down fine, and it becomes a powder pure enough to be mixed into food to boost its mineral content; be molded into ceiling tiles to replace asbestos; and serve as an environmentally friendly filler in medicines, paper, plastics and other products. Industry is clamoring for the stuff, and Omya wants to supply it.

That has been the big issue in Danby, Vt., for nearly three years, as a stare-down--sometimes a shout-down--plays out between environmentalists, led by Smith, and the Swiss-based, privately held Omya AG, one of the world's largest suppliers of calcium carbonate. The battle is far more nuanced than the familiar turf war between small-town preservationists and a megacorp. Omya seems more environmentally sensitive to this quiet corner of New England than many other companies might be. Most mining foes, who disapprove of digging almost as a matter of principle, agree that the product Omya wants to quarry is a relatively benign and beneficial one (though processing the stuff does involve the use of pesticides).

The town is not united against the mine; some allege that the fight is being led not by locals who grew up with the marble industry, but by "flatlanders"--newcomers from the cities--who don't want their sight lines or property values disturbed. "No one wants the Vermont marble industry to go away," says Smith, 45, a full-time activist and former artist. "But Omya is the wrong fit for Danby."

Whatever happens to tiny Danby, global Omya--with an estimated $2.5 billion in revenue last year--has reason to do business in the state. Vermont marble was once one of the construction industry's most highly prized materials, until steel-and-glass architecture pushed it aside. More recently, a host of new industrial uses has caused demand to rise. Omya maintains operations in 30 countries, including pits in six U.S. states. "The marble market has grown," says Jim Reddy, 58, president of Omya's U.S. division, "and we've grown with it."

Omya first arrived in Vermont in 1977 and today operates three mines and one processing plant in a necklace of towns near Danby. The company pays well, boasting average salaries roughly double the local median (though the number Omya touts includes the paychecks of well-compensated executives). Omya has also tried to respect indigenous businesses, hiring local truckers, for example, rather than bringing in its own. Vermonters appreciated this, and when Omya acquired a new 400-acre tract on the face of Danby's Dutch Hill, its executives figured they had at least a fighting chance of being allowed to dig.