February 2007

State & Province News

by , Executive Editor

Arizona

Under fire from residents who live near sand and gravel mines, Robert Kard, the head of the Maricopa County Air Quality Department, addressed more than 50 residents of a retirement community in Coyote Lakes. The Arizona Republic said that residents cited concerns about air quality. In response, Kard explained that the mining industry accounts for approximately 2 percent of the PM10 emissions in the area, while the construction industry is responsible for close to 50 percent. He did agree, however, to place an air-quality monitor at Coyote Lakes.

Alabama

Vulcan Materials Co., Western Division named two new division presidents in its construction materials group, according to the Birmingham News. Alan Wessel will become president of the company’s western division on Feb. 1. Michael Mills will be the new president of the southeast division. Mac Badgett, Roland McAbnee, and Danny Shepherd were named senior vice presidents.

Alaska

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mining, Land, and Water, Northern Region provided public notice of a price change for sand, gravel, and rock materials for purchase from state-owned lands. The prices were effective Jan. 1, 2007. For more information, contact the department at 907-451-2740.

Arkansas

The director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality

(ADEQ) has affirmed the decision by his staff to reject requests to mine gravel at three sites along Crooked River in northern Arkansas. The Associated Press reports that the director announced his final ruling against permits sought by Guy King and Sons Inc. and Mountain Home Concrete Inc. for a total of three sites. James Stephens, chief of the department’s Mining and Reclamation Division, told the news service that the agency’s decision “came down to our site visits and the determination that there wasn’t enough gravel within the high water mark to be mined.”

California

A Sylmar contractor who had excavated crushed stone and gravel for more than a year has been charged with illegal surface mining, according to The Daily News of Los Angeles. A city attorney announced that Moshe Zemach and his two companies were charged with 31 criminal charges, including illegal surface mining, illegal use of land, and failure to comply with building and safety orders. Each count carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

Vulcan Materials Co., Western Division joined the California Climate Action Registry, a group of organizations demonstrating leadership by voluntarily taking action on climate change, Business Wire reports. The division will annually track, report, and certify its greenhouse gas emissions in California. Vulcan is the first aggregate producer in the state to participate in the project. The division also received the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for its work on the Colton Dunes Conservation Bank, in partnership with the Riverside Land Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.

Kansas

According to a report in the Topeka Capital-Journal, scientists who have studied the 169-mile Kansas River say they can’t conclude that dredging is the sole cause of the river’s degraded bed or harm to fish. Producers currently pay 15 cents for every ton of sand removed from the state’s rivers to pay for water projects, counties, and drainage districts. A board member of the Kansas Natural Resources Council, Dave Murphy, is a founding member of a 15-year-old group — Friends of the Kaw — that has focused on preventing dredging on a stretch of the river between Topeka and Lawrence. Murphy opposes one producer’s upcoming permit application and told the newspaper that he agrees with the group’s spokesperson who said that dredgers should leave the river entirely. 

Hawaii

The world-famous Waikiki beach is eroding at approximately a rate of one foot per year, according to an Associated Press report. The news agency says that a $425,000 test program will dredge 10,000 cubic yards of sand from about a half-mile offshore and pump it underwater back to the beach. Even if the program works and does not disrupt the ocean floor, officials say that it could cost up to $25 million to repair all of Waikiki’s beach.

Illinois

Concerns about the possibility of expansion for quarries or gravel pits led the Boone County Board to approve an amendment that allows BFI Waste Systems of North America to remove topsoil and clay from an adjacent property in order to repair its landfill in Belvedere. The Rockford Register Star reports that the land is located on an agricultural district where extraction of “earth materials” such as sand, gravel, stone, peat, topsoil, and clay is not allowed. The text amendment was crafted to allow topsoil and clay to be used, but to prevent mineral extraction.

Indiana

A third company, MA-RI-AL Corp. (which does business as Beaver Materials), was convicted of concrete price fixing in an ongoing FBI investigation, the Associated Press reports. A federal jury convicted the Noblesville, Ind., company and two of its executives on charges of conspiring with central Indiana competitors to fix the price for ready-mixed concrete. Cousins Chris and Ricky Beaver were found guilty on charges of conspiracy and lying to FBI investigators. The company faces a potential fine of $10 million as a result of the verdict.

Maryland

The county health department in Gambrills has decided to test more than 25 privately owned wells in Gambrills and Crofton after finding dangerously high levels of heavy metals in wells in Gambrills. The Maryland Gazette reports that the wells are within an area bounded by a sand and gravel mine. The wells are in the path of groundwater that flows from a fly ash landfill, and a department spokesperson noted that fly ash contains lead. Testing is expected to take place in an expanding circle pattern until the department reaches the level where no lead is detected.

New York

State officials extended a public comment period on Troy Sand and Gravel’s plan to deepen a section of its Route 43 mine in Sand Lake. The Times Union reports that the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) extended the notice until Jan. 12 to allow residents more time to review the company’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS). If approved, mining would continue below the water table. In its EIS, the company cites a DEC report on mines permitted to go below water tables, noting that of the “nearly 300 sub-aqueous mines currently in operation in New York state, DEC reports that none have exhibited significant impact on water quality or quantity.”

Missouri

The Missouri Air Pollution Control Program will be proposing a regulation change to require the submission of Emission Inventory Questionnaires (EIQ) once every three years for emission sources that have basic operating permits, the Missouri Limestone Producers Association (MLPA) reports. MLPA says that operations with deminimus permits would be required to submit an EIQ once every six years, while operations with major or intermediate operating permits will still have to submit an EIQ annually. The regulation is expected to be finalized sometime this year, so the association forecasts that it will be effective for reporting 2007 emissions. In intervening years between submitting an EIQ, emission sources with basic operating permits will have to submit a “fee only” form and pay the same emission fee as the year they last submitted an EIQ.

Ohio

Martin Marietta Aggregates may have begun its last major mining operation in Fairfield. According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, the company will be mining a 139-acre parcel for three to four years and then deeding the land to the city. Mining has taken place along the River Road area for more than 50 years. Martin Marietta is expected to mine 700,000 to 900,000 tons of gravel during the next three years and to create a lake throughout the process. When mining stops at the end of 2009 or early 2010, the company will have one year to stockpile material and the site would then be deeded to the city. Fairfield’s customer service manager described the partnership as a “wonderful public/private collaboration with Martin Marietta.”

Oregon

In December, an article in The Register-Guard commended Delta Sand & Gravel & Construction for its efforts to spread holiday cheer through its tradition of seasonal light displays at the operation. Throughout the year, it features various displays such as a Christmas tree with a star on top, a Valentine’s heart, St. Patrick’s Day shamrock, and so forth. Alan Babb, co-owner of the site, climbs a 15-foot platform to hang the displays. The operation’s risk manager, George Staples, told the newspaper that Babb “has a set of ethics from a different generation, and part of that is a desire to give back to the community.”

Pennsylvania

Waste Management of Pennsylvania Inc. bought 264 acres of property at the Keystone Industrial Port Complex Falls in Bucks County, according to the Houston Business Journal. The land will reportedly be used for sand and gravel extraction for landfill use.

Rhode Island

In mid-December, work began to dredge sand and silt from the channels of the Harbor of Refuge in Point Judith. The Providence Journal reports that the project was three years in the making and involved coordination among the state Coastal Resources Management Council and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as the tons of Narragansett and South Kingstown. Approximately 90,000 cubic yards of sand and sediment will be removed from about 20 acres encompassing the harbor channels and anchorage areas. A mechanical dredge will be used to replenish desperately needed sand for the area beaches. A total of $2.2 million in federal funds was designated for the project, while the Corps awarded a $1.5 million contract to Newborn Construction Inc., of Center Moriches, N.Y. Work will be overseen by the Corps.

Texas

Garden Ridge residents dominated a recent City Council meeting with complaints about blasting at Hanson Aggregates Servtex limestone quarry. According to the San Antonio Express-News, one resident, Clarence Cain, used a laptop computer to give an audio-visual presentation of what he called higher-than-legally-permitted blast vibration levels. Those levels were based on a seismometer he attached to a high spot on his house, rather than ground-level vibrations gathered by both the operation and the city. In 2000, the city established a Quarry Commission to address blasting complaints, but Cain said the commission is “irrelevant — they have done nothing.”

Tennessee

Residents in south DeSoto County are fighting APAC Tennessee’s efforts to operate an asphalt plant there. The Commercial Appeal reports that the company was scheduled to take its case to the Board of Supervisors early in 2007 after a deadlocked vote by the zoning appeals board. The site is owned by John Henry Miller, who has a conditional use permit to allow gravel mining on an adjoining tract.

Virginia

An 85-acre former sand pit will serve as the centerpiece of a new 240-home residential development in Virginia Beach. The Virginian-Pilot reports that Jim Arnhold will develop the former borrow pit as a lake with a 2.7-mile trail wrapping around it. Despite some opposition, Arnhold won approval from the Virginia Beach City Council to proceed with the project despite its location in a transition area designated as a buffer zone between the city’s agrarian and densely populated regions.

Province News

A citizens group called Grey County’s decision to allow a gravel pit on farmland in Grey Highlands poor planning, according to a report in the Owen Sound Sun Times. In late November, the county council approved an official plan amendment to allow a gravel pit on agricultural land. A planning consultant for the land owners said that the property contains sufficient quantity and quality of sand and gravel to justify rezoning it and getting a license for a permanent pit. The president of the citizens group called the report “seriously flawed, inaccurate, and contradictory.” He added that the group didn’t think the council was addressing its concerns.

A Chelsey construction company was fined $6,727 after pleading guilty on Dec. 15 to three offenses under the Aggregate Resources Act. According to the Owen Sound Sun Times, Wayne M. Schwartz Construction Ltd. had a wayside permit to remove gravel from a property in West Grey. Material from that pit was to be used only for the project identified in the permit. However, almost 2,250 tons of gravel from that pit were used for other projects. The owner of company said that the permit violation was the result of a dispatch error while he was out of town. He also voiced concern that a competitor hired a private investigator to follow his driver and to videotape where they were taking the gravel. According to the report, those tapes formed the basis for the Ministry of Natural Resources investigation and subsequent charges.

State Spotlight

Operator helps Craft Potential Recycling Ordinance

An anonymous letter writer may force Rich Baldi out of his Colchester, Conn.-based aggregates business. The Hartford Courant reports that the anonymous person began sending letters to town officials, the state, and reporters. The letters claimed that gravel pits were permitting the school system’s water.

As a result, the town issued cease-and-desist orders to the operators of four gravel pits, including Baldi, because their zoning permits had expired. Because the town had no ordinance on recycling, those operations were also shut down.

Baldi renewed his zoning permit, but a significant portion of his business comes from recycling. He then hired an attorney to draft an ordinance that would allow recycling.

The zoning and planning commission is considering adopting the ordinance, after tightening its language and clarifying that no new gravel pits would be allowed in residential neighborhoods. It would also require strict guidelines for recycling.

The newspaper reports that town officials said that Baldi has a good record with the town and that the anonymous letter writer should come forward rather than scaring residents about water contamination.

“It’s way off base,” the town’s zoning enforcement official, Gary Goeschel, told the newspaper. “Asphalt, I don’t believe, is hazardous in the sense that we know hazardous, like PCP or mercury.” He added that because the proposed ordinance allows recycling to continue while protecting the safety and health of residents, it may be an appropriate solution to the community’s problem.

Reprinted from Aggregates Manager Magazine
February 2007