GORHAM, Maine—Supersonic shockwaves shook the bones of Charlie Hamblen’s historic Maine farmhouse more than a dozen times last year, travelling over half a mile from blasts at a nearby quarry.
The quarry is one of two active in Gorham, a vibrant and growing town of nearly 20,000 residents a few miles west of Portland, and its frequent blasts are emblematic of a broader trend spanning Maine in recent years: The state’s construction aggregate industry is booming, thanks at least in part to climate change, as property owners erect or repair stone walls to protect against sea level rise, flooding and erosion.
The number of permits to develop new quarries have more than tripled in Maine over the past five years compared to the prior decade, according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Meanwhile, quarry owners in Gorham and beyond are looking to expand their existing pits, potentially bringing more Maine residents into the pathway of the quarries’ shockwaves.
“If they expand this quarry, we figure it’s going to impact at least another 300 existing houses, let alone the new houses being built,” said Hamblen.
The growth in quarries coincides with trends in Maine and elsewhere in New England, including steady increases in construction and recurring annual road maintenance needs, but also the climate-amplified boom in stone walls.
