Montana Department of Environmental Quality Director Richard Opper said Helena Sand & Gravel's actions Wednesday have made him lose trust in the company's dealings with his department. The firm may be penalized with an administrative fine for moving forward with work at the site without permission from DEQ.

Senior DEQ officials on Thursday said they now believe the company knew it wasn't supposed to use an access road off Valley Drive to restart work Wednesday on its new gravel pit north of East Helena.

The company, without asking for permission from the agency, had begun using the access to bring heavy equipment onto the site in order to build a permanent access road leading from the mine to Lake Helena Drive.

The company's permit, issued last week, specifies it must use Lake Helena Drive to access the 111-acre pit. Helena Sand & Gravel Environmental Director Jerry Bowser told DEQ officials Tuesday evening he would suspend work at the site until the issue was resolved. Late Wednesday afternoon, he said the company had restarted work that day, believing they had permission from the agency.

Initially, DEQ officials and the company blamed a miscommunication for the decision to restart work. The company's vice president, Scott Olsen, on Thursday reiterated his belief that a voicemail from a DEQ official Wednesday morning allowed the company to restart work. Opper disagreed.

"They used that as an excuse ... but that voicemail was pretty clear," Opper said. "We don't think it was a miscommunication on our part.

"We had directed the company to cease all mining-related activities. They violated that," he added.

DEQ officials noted they had received two e-mails from the company Wednesday, asking if workers could resume operations at the site. DEQ didn't respond to those e-mails until nearly 5 p.m., but the company had resumed work several hours earlier.

Opper said the department considers the company's work Wednesday to be in violation of its permit. DEQ is still investigating the use of the Valley Drive access, and officials said any work done at the site prior to Thursday may be the subject of an administrative penalty of between $100 and $1,000 per day.

Olsen said he believes workers were at the site for three days.

"If they had held off, there would have been fewer irate neighbors and less damage to our relationship with them in terms of trust," Opper said.

"It changes, quite frankly, my attitude toward the company. I'm frustrated with them," he added.

Olsen said the company is doing the right thing, although it may have moved too quickly.

"Perhaps we should have consulted with DEQ earlier, but they've since given us permission to do exactly what we did yesterday," he said. He declined to specifically address Opper's comments about the company's relationship with the agency.

"We've always been cooperative, and we're going to continue being cooperative going forward," Olsen added.

Opper said he still believes the department's agreement with the company, allowing workers limited access to the site from Valley Drive, is a sound decision. The agreement allows the permanent access road leading from the mine to Lake Helena Drive to be constructed from the pit's location to the road.

If the temporary access hadn't been granted, Opper and Olsen said, the company would have had little room adjacent to Lake Helena Drive for the heavy equipment it needs to build the access road. Olsen also said the decision to use the Valley Drive access was for public and and employee safety.

The pit will eventually cover at least 111 acres of the 440-acre property, located south of Canyon Ferry Road between Lake Helena and Valley drives.

Opper said he expects a "relatively quick" decision from agency officials regarding the potential administrative penalty.

The department investigated the situation after receiving more than two dozen calls Tuesday regarding the company's use of the Valley Drive access.

"We're taking the neighbors' calls seriously," Opper said. "There are a lot of eyes and ears on this project right now," which makes up for the department's inability to have "boots on the ground" to monitor work, he said.

Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com