| State-By-State & Province News |
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December 2005
by , Executive Editor |
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Alaska Gravel operators have one year to comply with a new law that will limit hours of operation, require site plans, and give borough planners the option of requiring operators to pay for effects on roads as necessary. According to the Anchorage Daily News, the new rules require setbacks, visual screening, noise limits, and lighting shields. They are aimed at reducing conflict between gravel pits and their residential neighbors. Arkansas The director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality gave approval for a temporary permit to mine gravel near South Sylamore Creek in Stone County — via a letter dated more than three weeks after the 90-day temporary permit had expired. According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the conditional approval clears the way for an appeal to the state Pollution Control and Ecology Commission. A citizens group is expected to file such an appeal against the operation run by Mountain View Ready Mix Inc. California A presentation by air quality experts on the effects of sand and gravel mining on public health turned into a referendum on the expansion of Vulcan Materials Co.’s Azusa Rock operation. According to the Pasadena Star-News, more than 25 of the 150 people attending the meeting claimed that living near a pit is probably making them sick. Since Aug. 20, the South Coast Air Quality Management District has monitored air quality around the operation because of a request from Duarte officials and found that measurements were below federal standards for PM10. The point of the lawsuit is to put all Maine companies on notice that they need a prevention plan in place and must protect the state’s waters from stormwater pollution. Ferraiolo has six concrete and asphalt batch plants in the state. Colorado Nearly 40 years after a bill authorized construction of the Ridges Basin Dam in Durango was signed, the first core materials were placed for the 275-foot tall dam. According to the Farmington Daily Times, a ceremonial blessing was held by the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes before the placement of base material. The Southern Ute tribe owns Sky Ute Sand and Gravel, one of the main contractors for the $500 million project. Florida Aggregate producers in Horry County must contend with new rules. As the number of mining operations in the area continues to grow, the county council voted unanimously in favor of temporary measures such as council approval for all new mines of more than 5 acres. According to The Sun News, the county took the authority from the Zoning Board of Appeals, which had handled regulation of local mines but was under fire for being too permissive. The temporary restriction will remain in place as the county works to create new county mining law. Georgia Following a two-hour meeting, the Jones County Planning and Zoning Commission voted 3 to 1 to recommend that Rinker Materials’ Hitchcock Quarry be granted permission to extend its aggregate mining operation onto an adjacent 100-acre tract. According to The Telegraph, property owners contested the decision, saying they planned to file complaints against the company to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. Indiana Children throwing rocks in an Indiana gravel pit triggered a landside that killed one boy. According to the Associated Press, five children were playing at the Rome City site when a 30-foot-high sand pile collapsed, bringing the tree down on a fifth-grade student. No trespassing signs were posted at the site. Maine According to the Portland Press Herald, an environmental group is threatening court action against Rockland-based Ferraiolo Construction unless the company complies with the U.S. Clean Water Act. An attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation told the newspaper that the point of the lawsuit is to put all Maine companies on notice that they need a prevention plan in place and must protect the state’s waters from stormwater pollution. Ferraiolo has six concrete and asphalt batch plants in the state. Massachusetts More than 75 residents packed hearing at Sheffield Town Hall to voice their opposition to a proposed sand and gravel mine in Ashley Falls. According to The Berkshire Eagle, approximately two hours of testimony and questions were heard regarding the proposal, but the board said it would gather additional information and make a site visit before making a decision. New Mexico Citizens near the La Bajada mesa are opposing plans to mine 108 acres of the mesa’s basalt surface. According to The Santa Fe New Mexican, Albuquerque-based Buildology Inc.’s permit application has hit some roadblocks and received a negative recommendation from Santa Fe County Land Use Department officials. To date, the county has received more than a half-dozen letters protesting the proposed mine. New Hampshire According to The Union Leader, Manchester Sand and Gravel has proposed a plan to develop a parkway through Hooksett to alleviate traffic congestion throughout the community. The aggregate producer is the largest private landowner in the town and, along with Southern New Hampshire University, has offered to donate land for the plan. Development of the $3.5 million corridor requires significant additional land acquisition before the plan can move forward. New York Plattsburgh-based Graymont Materials purchased 171 acres of land for sand and gravel extraction. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has issued a permit for the operation, which is expected to open in the spring. Company President and CEO Todd Kempainen told the Watertown Daily Times that the new site will produce materials primarily for St. Lawrence County. North Carolina Raleigh-based Martin Marietta Materials shipped mobile homes to five of its workers in the New Orleans area who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina. According to The News & Observer, about 150 of the company’s employees live in the disaster zone, with 83 sustaining damage to their homes. For those in need of temporary shelter, the company leased apartments. It also gave generators to employees who lost electricity, and it promised hourly workers full paychecks as work sites are repaired. Ohio Cleveland lawyers are challenging the legitimacy of nearly 1,800 Ohio claims of silicosis, according to reports in the Plain Dealer. Their challenge is based on the ruling of federal judge Janis Jack in Texas. Defendants in the Ohio cases have asked the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to require plaintiffs to bring medical evidence supporting their claimed injuries and to allow defendants’ lawyers to investigate the silica diagnoses. The newspaper reports that defendants also want the court to adopt the same standard it uses for pending asbestos cases — objective medical evidence in the form of pulmonary testing of a breathing impairment due to exposure to silica. Oregon After more than five years of collaboration and compromise, a former overflow parking lot became Portland’s newest community garden. Ross Island Sand and Gravel donated concrete as its contribution to the $100,000 Rigler Community Garden project, which was built with all-volunteer labor. Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board unanimously ruled to dismiss the appeal of the issuance of a mining permit to Quality Aggregates Inc.’s Myers operation. Through an appeal, mining opponents contended that the 197-acre operation, located in Slippery Rock Township, negatively impacted the air quality, water quality, noise levels, ecology and safety in the nearby McConnels Mill State Park. In its synopsis, the court stated that “the department and permittee adequately addressed every allegation raised by the Appellants and the evidence indicates that the mine is both well planned, carefully monitored, and well run.” In reaction to the decision, QAI President Joe Aloe says, “This decision affirms Quality Aggregates Inc. is doing things right. Safety, environmental stewardship, and community relations are essential in today’s mineral extraction industry.” Rhode Island A beach replenishment program in South Kingstown resulted in a $30,000 project for George Sherman Sand & Gravel Co. According to The Providence Journal, the company trucked in 2,600 tons of sand to replace some of the 5,000 tons of sand swept away from the beach earlier in the year. Utah After a yearlong debate, the Cache County Planning Commission voted 7 to 0 to issue a conditional use permit for gravel extraction on a mountainside east of Smithfield. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the site is near a high school and a citizens group has voiced concerns about property devaluations and student safety. State Spotlight CREATE-ing a solution for rail transportation Now that the federal highway bill has been reauthorized, pending road projects are able to move forward knowing there is funding available as well as support. However, this legislation doesn’t solve the problems with the often-criticized rail system used to take aggregates to market. The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program, an Illinois rail program that has both local and national significance, is trying to address some of the rail transportation issues that frustrate aggregates producers — such as congestion and reliability. The program, which is structured as a public-private partnership including local and state government, the federal government, and the freight and passenger railroads serving Chicago, is a six-year project with a price tag of about $1.5 billion, according the CREATE Program Draft Feasibility Plan. Currently, the CREATE corridors handle rail freight valued at about $350 billion and more than 60 percent of this rail freight is high-value traffic. However, according to the CREATE Feasibility Plan, the economic activity of the CREATE corridors extends far beyond the Chicago region, affecting every state — about 58 percent of the jobs and 61 percent of the programs’ rail freight flows originate or end outside of Illinois. So seven railroad companies have come together to form a new corridor, says Earl Wacker, director of the Chicago Transportation Coordination Office. CREATE is a partnership between the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago, Metra (the railroad mass transit system in the Chicago area), and the nation’s freight railroads. The plan is a $100 million project that is slated at taking about four years to complete and focuses on nearly 122 miles. It focuses on five key corridors for 22 miles. The project will not only help eliminate congestion with the Chicago-area rail system, but it also will recognize the importance of the rail industry. Chicago is currently the busiest rail gateway in the country — it accounts for one-third of freight rail traffic in the United States. Every day, nearly 1,200 trains pass through the Chicago region, but during the next 20 years, demand for freight rail service in Chicago is expected to almost double, according to research done for the CREATE program. The program will invest $1.5 billion in capital improvements to increase the efficiency of the region’s infrastructure to reduce train delays and congestion by focusing rail traffic on five rail corridors.” To achieve the rail efficiency sought by CREATE, capital improvements are being completed on more than 60 projects including roadway overpasses and underpasses, viaduct improvements, grade crossing safety enhancements, and upgrades of tracks, switches, and signal systems. With these improvements, shipping times will be decreased — which will ultimately boost the competitiveness of manufacturers and businesses, as well as encourage long-term job growth both in Illinois and throughout the United States, according to the CREATE Feasibility Plan. Shippers will save nearly $40 million annually in reduced inventory costs, according to the plan. For the aggregates marketplace, even more significant than this is that reductions in highway needs and user costs will yield more than $10 billion in savings for the United States throughout the next 20 years. “This is an opportunity to untangle one of the world’s busiest and most complex railroad systems,” Wacker says. For more information on CREATE, go to www.createproject.org . To see the full CREATE report, go to www.createprogram.org/PDF/Draft_Feasibility_Report.pdf . — by Tina Grady Barbaccia, Senior Editor |
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Reprinted from Aggregates Manager Magazine |
