State & Province News

June 2007 State & Province News by , Executive Editor

Alabama

Don James, CEO of Vulcan Materials Co., was named The Birmingham News CEO of the Year. A panel that includes investment professionals, financial journalists, and university business professors helped the newspaper select the recipient. James finished second in last year’s balloting, but the company’s blockbuster acquisition of Florida Rock Industries, the construction of a new $60 million freighter, and share prices that have risen 36 percent during the past 12 months helped him net the top spot on this year’s list. James has served as the company’s CEO since 1997.

Arizona

Trucks stopping along a residential road before entering a neighboring aggregate operation have members of the Mesquite Ranch Neighborhood Association upset. According to a report in The Arizona Daily Star, trucks stop along Poorman Road, near the operation, to check their load and tires and to make cell-phone calls. In the meantime, idling trucks lead to a buildup of diesel exhaust. Neighbors are working with a city council delegate to see if the city will improve a dirt access road that leads to the operation away from the residential area. In the meantime, the city has said it will step up enforcement of trucking violations along the route.

Arizona

A December 5-4 vote by the Maricopa County Mining District Recommendations Committee requiring gravel trucks to replace back-up beepers was declared null and void because it wasn’t listed as an action item on the meeting agenda, The Arizona Republic reports. Following the announcement, Committee Chairman Lyle Tuttle turned over his leadership position to Frank Mendola of Cemex. Tuttle wanted a vote on the issue at the committee’s March meeting, but industry representatives asked for more time to complete their studies on quieter alarm systems. The four industry members present at the December meeting voted against the proposal, but in the absence of the fifth industry member, the illegal motion was pushed through, albeit temporarily.

California

The management of Mineral Resources’ sand mine near Oroville has asked the Butte County Board of Supervisors to overturn a planning commission decision and to allow it to operate a 24/7 plant and trucking operation. The Oroville Mercury Register reports that a company spokesperson said that the operation needs to operate around the clock to meet customer demands for its industrial sand. The lower utility costs of working off-peak hours are also crucial to the operation’s ability to turn a profit, the spokesperson said.

California

In early April, the first freighter loaded with aggregate from Vancouver Island arrived in San Francisco Bay. According to the Times Colonist, a parade of barges unloaded aggregate for ready-mix producer Shamrock Materials Inc. Polaris Minerals’ Orca Sand and Gravel is importing aggregate to San Francisco. It expects to deliver a minimum of 771,000 tons to Shamrock during the course of this year.

Florida

Polk County Planning Commissioners voted unanimously against Florida Rock Industries’ request to route truck traffic for its 692-acre Green Swamp sand mine through a residential neighborhood. The Ledger reports that county planners recommended denial due to the impact of truck traffic on residents of the proposed roadway. An attorney for Florida Rock said that the company abandoned its original truck route after encountering engineering and regulatory obstacles due to wetlands. He told the newspaper that the current proposed route was the only practical option for transporting sand to construction projects.

Idaho

The Idaho Statesman reports that Canyon County commissioners have approved conditional use permits for two companies, Mike’s Sand & Gravel and Clements Concrete, to operate gravel pits in Canyon County. The two sites will use more than 300 acres near the Boise River for mining. Despite some community protest, the permits were approved. The permits did include more than 25 conditions including landscaping to mitigate noise and improvements to roads.

Illinois

An estimated $400,000 in damage took place at two separate sites owned by Concrete Resources, the Belleville News-Democrat reports. Both the Columbia, Ill., and St. Charles, Mo., sites were idled for at least a week as a result of vandalism. At the end of March, water was mixed into silos full of dry concrete powder. Because the same type of damage was done at both sites, investigators told the newspaper that there was concern that someone holding a grudge against the company was responsible. The company is offering a $10,000 reward, and the St. Louis CrimeStoppers program is offering an additional reward of $1,000 for information on the case.

Kansas

Civil engineer Tim Austin, owner of AM Consulting Inc., filed a lawsuit against Cornejo & Sons Inc. claiming that he wasn’t paid for work on a planned regional park next to the Brooks Landfill. According to the Wichita Business Journal, Cornejo has a long-term contract with the city of Wichita to create sand pits that will be turned into lakes for a park. Austin claims that he provided “substantial engineering and other valuable data” services to the company and that it was used on the project, but that he was never compensated. A spokesperson for Cornejo told the newspaper that it wasn’t the company’s policy to comment on litigation.

Massachusetts

Big Dig officials said they will post caution signs on ramps and curves near the Leverett Connector and the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, following two recent accidents. The Boston Globe reports that two accidents prompted a decision to post signs and to hire an independent safety consultant to review the entire system of ramps. In late March, a tractor-trailer barreled off a ramp and plunged off the Leverett Connector, critically injuring the driver. Less than two weeks earlier, a man was killed in roughly the same area when his car flew off a ramp to the Tobin Bridge and plummeted 70 feet to the property of Boston Sand & Gravel.

Michigan

At Aggregates Manager’s press time, a decision was imminent on whether the Alamo Township Zoning Board would grant a special-use permit to allow Aggregates Industries to mine on a 160-acre site. According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, the zoning board has heard much testimony against the planned operation. At the end of March, the board discussed the permit during open session. Members commented on whether the state’s less-than-healthy economy needed another source of gravel, while others commented on the fact that the area was zoned for residential use. Aggregate Industries officials have pointed to the I-94 widening project as one reason why local demand justifies a new operation.

Nevada

In mid-March, members of TRIP, a national transportation research program, traveled to Nevada to release its report, “Making the Grade in Nevada: An Analysis of the Ability of Nevada’s Transportation System to Meet the State’s Need for Safe and Efficient Mobility.” The report analyzes bridge and road conditions, traffic congestion, highway safety, and state funding. It also assigns letter grades in each category. The report finds that Nevada faces a $3.8 billion shortfall in transportation funding through 2015. As a result of the group’s two press conferences, several large state newspapers and four television networks covered the issue, including a front-page newspaper report.

New Hampshire

Residents near a proposed quarry site in Raymond are rallying against plans for a 200-acre aggregate operation. The Union Leader reports that Thibeault Sand & Gravel filed documents that identify 14 acres of the property as “excavation area.” Company executive Ernie Thibeault told the newspaper, “An existing gravel pit is there now, and years ago we quarried the property. We’re just going through the review process right now.”

New York

Town of Milan officials plan to appeal a state Supreme Court decision that struck down a law prohibiting gravel mining. The Poughkeepsie Journal reports that state Supreme Court Justice James Brands voided a law that removed the town’s floating light industrial zone. In response to Red Wing Sand and Gravel’s proposal to open a 69-acre gravel mine the town eliminated the zone. A town supervisor told the newspaper that it would appeal the decision, but that other actions had not yet been determined.

New Jersey

In early April, officials in Warren County’s Independence Township enacted an ordinance prohibiting quarries in residential areas of the township. According to the Newark Star-Ledger, the ordinance is the local government’s response to a grassroots campaign against a proposal for an operation on a 51-acre property. Nearly 200 community members flooded the region with anti-quarry posters and cheered a township committee decision to reject an application for the quarry. However, an attorney for a truck driver who wanted to lease the quarry says that he plans to sue the township committee and engineer for $120 million; the amount he said the property would have been worth if approved.

North Dakota

James Bradshaw, president and CEO of Strata Corp. — a vertically integrated construction materials, construction, and transportation company, was awarded the 2006 Pro Patria award from the Department of Defense in early April. According to the Grand Forks Herald, the award is given annually to one North Dakota business that supports its employees who are members of the National Guard and Reserve. The newspaper reports that the company provides employees who are deployed with one month’s salary and the continuation of health benefits and 401K contributions. The company also stays in contact with soldiers’ families while they are deployed.

Ohio

Some Enterprise residents who object to a proposed sand and gravel mine have formed a group called Concerned Citizens of Hocking Hills. The Zanesville Times-Recorder says that the group has gathered 100 signatures on petitions opposing the expansion of the operation owned by Mar-Zane Materials, a subsidiary of Shelly & Sands of Zanesville. The company is seeking permission to expand its operation from 4 acres to 186 acres. Its application is pending before the Division of Mineral Resources Management of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The Mineral Resources division said that it would hold a public meeting regarding the company’s application.

Washington

Central Pre-Mix Concrete Co. unearthed deposits of petrified wood at its Pasco pit, according to a report in the Tri-City Herald. The company dug up an estimated 15,000 pounds of fossilized material that is believed to be deposited by the Missoula floods 13,000 to 16,000 years ago. One chunk, a full tree trunk, is estimated to weigh 3,500 pounds. The company doesn’t plan to market the petrified wood, but a geologist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory says that he’d like to see the environment it was extracted from.

Province News

A 49-year-old man is dead following an accident in a gravel pit, The Canadian Press reports. John Dean Gwyer was buried under a large amount of gravel on April 3. He was operating a front-end loader. He was checking something on the front of the equipment when a large amount of gravel broke loose from a stockpile and fell on top of him.

STATE SPOTLIGHT

Indiana DOT Spotlights Certified Producers

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has recognized the state’s best Certified Aggregate Producers for their outstanding performance in 2006. The Certified Aggregate Producer Program was introduced in 1993. Certified producers follow a strict quality control plan, and the production, sampling, and testing procedures outlined in the plan are carefully monitored by INDOT. The agency says the program saves the state time and money by reducing the amount of material testing done at project sites while maintaining superior quality control. Since the program began, 193 businesses have achieved certification.

The agency reports that Outstanding Certified Aggregate award winners cooperate fully with INDOT, participated in an INDOT audit, and demonstrate a commitment to quality by going above and beyond the minimum requirements of the program.

The outstanding certified aggregate producers for Indiana in 2006 are Sellersburg Stone of Sellersburg and Elkhart County Gravel of Warsaw.

Winners in each INDOT district include:

• Northwest Indiana: Beemsterboer Slag, Hammond; and Vulcan Materials, Bass Lake.

• Northeast Indiana: Irving Materials Inc., Bluffton; and Elkhart County Gravel, Warsaw.

• West Central Indiana: Lincoln Park Stone, Putnamville; and Whitesville Mill Service, Crawfordsville.

• East Central Indiana: Barrett Paving Materials, Richmond; and Beaver Materials, Noblesville.

• Southwest Indiana: Mulzer Crushed Stone, English; and Mulzer Crushed Stone, Griffin.

• Southeast Indiana: Sellersburg Stone, Sellersburg; and Hoosier Sand and Gravel, Mooresville.