State & Province News

December 2007

State & Province News

by , Executive Editor
 

Alabama

Vulcan Materials Co. reached an agreement with the city of Modesto, Calif., to resolve the city’s claims against the company for alleged contamination from a dry cleaning compound produced by the company’s former chloralkali chemicals unit. FinancialWire reports that Vulcan will recognize a charge to discontinued operations of approximately 9 cents per diluted share during the third quarter of 2007. The chemicals unit was sold off in 2005. Vulcan representatives said that the company will pursue reimbursement for settlement costs, legal defense costs, and any other losses from other potential claims against it relating to this matter from insurance companies who insured Vulcan during the applicable time periods.

Arkansas

Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co., of Pine Bluff, Ark., was awarded a $1.49 million contract by the U.S. Army. According to Targeted News Service, the company will handle channel improvement and stone dike construction in the Mississippi River. It also received a $410,490 contract for improvements to the Mississippi River and its tributaries and a $2.76 million contract for work on various waterways in Texas.

California

Shasta County planning commissioners voted to allow the expansion of a depleted gravel operation in Redding. According to the Record Searchlight, Northstate Sand and Gravel will be able to mine the site until 2015. Although one commissioner asked how much traffic the plant would create — in conjunction with another pit opening in the area — all four commissioners present at the meeting voted for the request. The site is allowed up to 66 daily round trips. The second operation, Shasta Ranch, is allowed up to 77 daily round trips.

Colorado

A well-organized neighborhood effort to stop the expansion of a gravel pit near Calhan failed. In mid-October, four of the five El Paso County commissioners voted to allow the expansion of the Sokol gravel pit south of Calhan. Despite community protest, Rocky Mountain Materials and Asphalt will be able to expand its aggregate operation from 40 to 295 acres, with 50 acres to be mined at a time. Each segment of mining will be reclaimed immediately after mining. The Gazette quoted one commissioner as saying that balancing the rights of the pit owner with neighboring property owners was the “most complex land-use issue we’ve had to deal with.” The producer will be responsible for making improvements to local roadways if truck traffic exceeds 20 percent of historic loads.

Georgia

The U.S. Department of Interior awarded three contracts to Hunter Sand & Gravel. The contracts are worth $62,500, $80,000, and $91,000 to provide dirt for the Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, for clay gravel, and for crushed concrete, respectively. Targeted News Service reports that the Atlanta office of the department’s U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services awarded each of the contracts.

Indiana

Indiana Group Services LLC’s bid for a sand-mining operation in south Lake County was rejected by County Council, according to The Post-Tribune. The council voted unanimously not to grant a zoning change that would have allowed mining, and members noted their concern at reports from residents of the rural area that illegal mining may have already been taking place. An attorney for the company argued that it has the right under state law to mine the land because of the low population density in the area. He also told the newspaper that it is “probable” that the company will pursue its rights in court.

Kansas

Water concerns were raised before the Shawnee County Commission in early October. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the three commissioners considered but didn’t act upon a request from a resident who asked that a nearby aggregates operation pay for him to receive rural water service because his well went dry soon after the quarry’s construction began last year. One commissioner, who was elected after a permit was granted to the operation, said that the permit conditions dictated that the producer should pay for the water hookup. Another commissioner, who wrote the language, said that the producer was intended to be held responsible only if the operation caused the well to run dry. An attorney for the operation, run by Kansas Sand, stressed that the well ran 10 feet below the water table and that the operation had no impact on its demise. While the newly elected commissioner moved to have the Kansas Sand pay for the resident to receive rural water service, the motion died for the lack of a second.

Maine

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) resolved disputes with two sand and gravel producers who expanded their pits by more than 5 acres without first filing a Notice of Intent to Comply with the DEP. According to the Sun Journal, Edwin R. Rolfe, Jr., and Jack L. Cross paid $2,500 and $3,500 fines, respectively, to resolve the violations. In addition, Rolfe agreed to pay past-due licensing fees, and Cross agreed to immediately cease mining until a variance is approved. If the variance is not approved, he agreed to submit a reclamation plan to completely backfill areas where the water table is exposed.

Maryland

In the biggest fine the state has levied on a polluter in at least seven years, Maryland slapped a $1 million penalty on Constellation Energy and the operator of its fly ash dump in Anne Arundel County for contaminating drinking water, The Baltimore Sun reports. The state’s largest power company and BBSS Inc. agreed as part of a negotiated settlement to clean up the ground water where regulators say cancer-causing metals have seeped into private wells. BBSS owns former gravel mines in Gambrills where Constellation has dumped about 8 billion pounds of ash from two coal-burning power plants since 1995. Constellation will provide permanent hookups to the county’s public water system for 40 homes whose wells may have been polluted.

Michigan

Kalamazoo County Circuit Judge Alexander Lipsey ruled in mid-October that the court had jurisdiction to sign off on a Sept. 19 settlement agreement between Alamo Township and Aggregate Industries. The Kalamazoo Gazette reported that the ruling takes the development of a 165-acre site one step closer to commencing. The only remaining option for mine opponents may be to file an appeal of Lipsey’s ruling with the Michigan Court of Appeals. Aggregate Industries sued the township in July, attacking its gravel-mining ordinance and claiming that it was being harmed financially by not being able to develop the site. The town’s zoning board denied a special-use permit for Aggregate Industries to mine the site and claimed that the mine would have “very serious consequences” for the township, including reduced property values and loss of prime residentially zoned space.

Missouri

Teams from Kentucky, Nevada, New Mexico, and Missouri — along with a squad from Vulcan Materials Co.’s quarry near Naperville, Ill. — participated at a mine rescue competition held at the University of Missouri-Rolla. The university has hosted the site for 25 years, according to The Associated Press. The site offers one of the most realistic venues for simulated rescues. Ivan Howard, an engineering student and the captain of one of the school’s two rescue teams told the news service, “Granted, we’re not responding to real disasters, but we are the mine managers of tomorrow. This exposes us to what goes wrong.”

New Hampshire

The Union Leader reports that Manchester Sand & Gravel may donate up to 25 acres behind Legend’s Golf for a new elementary school. The company is the town’s biggest landowner, and its attorney outlined the proposal in mid-October. The local school board was looking for a site for a third neighborhood elementary, but a site considered earlier was deemed too expensive due to infrastructure costs that would be incurred during its development. Manchester Sand & Gravel’s property is next to the police and fire stations.

New York

Nassau businessman Russ Freeman of Russ Freeman Excavating Inc. pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges for filing false information on town records regarding gravel purchases, and charges against others are possible, The Times Union reports. Freeman was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine after he pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree offering a false instrument for filing. Problems with gravel receipts became evident in 2005 when a landowner attended a Stephentown Town Meeting and complained that he was not paid for gravel the town and Freeman mine from a pit on his land. The mine was not permitted and the town refused to pay Freeman’s bill of $30,715 after discovering the mine was illegal. State investigators have collected records from the town clerk’s office, Freeman’s office, and the office of highway Superintendent Neil Gardner as part of their investigation.

North Dakota

The U.S. Army has awarded a $471,471 contract to Harvey Sand & Gravel Co., of Sheyenne, N.D., for stabilization of the North Cannonball Bank at an archaeological site in Lake Oahe, Morton County, N.D. According to Targeted News Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Neb., awarded the contract.

Ohio

Ezra Helmick of Walhonding Valley Sand and Gravel played Good Samaritan to a single father waiting for a lung transplant. According to the Coshochton Tribune, Helmick organized 12 individuals and businesses to bid well beyond market value for animals auctioned by Dave McMullen’s children at a Junior Fair Auction. One hog was purchased for $2,400 while others were purchased for $450 to $700 — including two purchased by Helmick’s business. Helmick told the newspaper that his company supports the Junior Fair every year, usually purchasing the animals of neighbors, like a $1,000 chicken purchased the previous year.

Oregon

The Department of Land Conservation and Development recommended that the state reject Phil Krouse’s request to allow mining on 20 acres of his land. The Associated Press reports that the department found that the highest and best use of the property is for the production and sale of wine grapes. That decision followed court and agency proceedings regarding Oregon’s land-use laws which require governments to either compensate landowners for lost property value when zoning changes or to waive the rules. The landowner said that the zoning changes would cost him $737,000 to $824,000.

Pennsylvania

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has hired an acoustical expert to study noise levels from dredging operations along the Allegheny River in Allegheny Township, according to The Valley News-Dispatch. At Aggregates Manager press time, an evaluation was slated to begin. DEP officials say that the experts will independently evaluate each residential concern. Hanson Aggregates has placed a new muffler on its dredger to reduce noise and is expected to install a second muffler on its tender boat. It has also changed out the clamshell bucket on its dredge in an effort to reduce noise. A DEP regional director said in a prepared statement that if the company is not able to reduce the noise to an acceptable level as determined by the study, it would initiate an enforcement action.

Vermont

A White River Junction man is in critical condition following an accident at Twin State Sand & Gravel Co. in West Lebanon. Longtime employee Charles Hughes, 56, was struck on the head by a piece of equipment while doing maintenance work at the plant. According to a report in the Valley News, Hughes was struck on the head by a conveyor roller that fell from 40 feet. He was one of four people working on an elevated conveyor. Apparently, he was walking under the conveyor to get a tool to help with the maintenance project when the roller fell. At Aggregates Manager press time, he was in critical condition.

Virginia

Luck Stone Corp. put the finishing touches on its new architectural stone store next to its Goochland County headquarters. The Richmond Times Dispatch reports that the company will reposition its architectural stone division with the launch of a 3,254-square-foot studio and a 2,808-square-foot garden. The result is a space that is part upscale retail store, part laboratory, part museum, and part monument to the history and beauty of stone. “This is not your typical showroom,” Charlie Luck IV, Luck Stone Corp.’s president and CEO told the newspaper. “We want this to be a place where somebody dreams and thinks about using stone in ways they have never thought before.”

Provincial Government Focuses on Safety

Earlier this fall, four mining fatalities in British Columbia prompted Kevin Krueger, Minister of State for Mines, to call for an action plan on how to operate mines more safely. According to the Canadian Press NewsWire, Krueger imposed a two-week deadline for the aggregates industry to develop the plan. “Safety of workers, the public, community, and the environment has always been our top priority,” Krueger told the news service. “People are in shock that we’ve had this sad sequence of events.”

The four fatalities so far this year follow only one such incident in the previous five years. Among the fatalities were Kesley Kristian, 22, who was killed at the Stave Lake Gravel Quarry in May; Scott Ouellette, 32, who died at Fraser Valley Aggregates Quarry in June; Dave Rowan, 58, who was killed at the Cox Quarry in September. Media reports did not list the name or details of the fourth victim.

The Abbotsford Times reports that members of the aggregates industry were working on a best practices handbook before Krueger’s directive. Paul Hallard, executive director of the Aggregate Producers Association of British Columbia, told the newspaper that the “rash of fatalities this year is an anomaly we’ve never seen before.” However, Hallard cautions that the goal of his organization is to have a comprehensive, detailed plan in place.

Krueger has told reporters that most of the victims were new to the industry and all died during incidents involving heavy equipment. He told The Vancouver Sun that the government will dedicate more inspectors to quarry operations, implement a mentoring system for new workers, and prepare a manual setting out standards for operators. The chief inspector of mines is also expected to exercise his power to issue stop-work orders. “We certainly want to send the message out to any careless operators in the industry that we are quite willing and eager to shut them down if there is any risk that workers are going to lose their lives or be injured as a result of {carelessness},” Krueger told the newspaper.