June 2003
Compiled by Angie Moehlman
Alabama
MONTGOMERY—According to the Associated Press, the Environmental Management Commission voted 6-1 against an appeal by a group of Lee County residents that were seeking to stop operation of a quarry by Florida Rock Industries near Loachapoka. The appeal alleged eight wrongdoings by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management in granting Florida Rock the permit, but the commission denied the appeal.
Alaska
JUNEAU—According to the Associated Press, the Murkowski administration decided to remove $68 million from the state’s capital budget for a ferry to run from Juneau to Petersburg and another to run between Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Mitkof Island. Senator Robin Taylor of Wrangell, introduced the amendment to the budget bill, saying the administration wants to wait a year to build the ferries in order to decide if the federal money should be used on high-speed ferries, road projects, or a combination of the two.
Arizona
PHOENIX—According to the Associated Press, residents of a north part of Phoenix requested the Phoenix City Council to require the mining company Buffalo Ridge, owned by the Melluzzo family, to inspect nearby homes for damage. Buffalo Ridge has operated at the location since 1953, when the borders of Phoenix were miles to the south. One resident, Gene Urban, is asking the city council to adopt a standard that requires the mine operator to pay for home inspections within a half-mile radius.
Arkansas
ROGERS—According to the Associated Press, a three-year-old boy was killed when he was run over by a dump truck backing up on the lot of Rogers Sand and Gravel, Inc. An employee was backing up the truck and hit the child as he ran behind the truck. The rear tires of the three-quarter-ton truck ran over the child. Police said the child may have been running to play on the mounds of dirt and gravel at the business.
California
PALMDALE—According to The Daily News of Los Angeles, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is delaying about 140 projects in the city of Los Angeles, anticipating cuts of $1.1 billion in state funding.
Colorado
DENVER—According to The Denver Post, a measure to lower Colorado’s legal intoxication level from 0.10 to 0.08 blood-alcohol content while abolishing the 0.05 limit on driving while ability impaired died in the Senate Appropriations Committee. The national standard of 0.08 is tied to $50 million in federal highway funds, which Colorado stands to lose if it does not adopt the standard by 2007.
Connecticut
HARTFORD—According to the Hartford Courant, the state of Connecticut renewed a push to build a four-lane Route 2A bypass that leads to the Foxwoods Resort Casino. The $95 million proposal faces stiff opposition and would require $76 million in federal assistance.
Delaware
WILMINGTON—According to The News Journal, the state of Delaware will receive the same amount of money it has received in prior years from the $247 billion Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA). Because of its small size, Delaware receives the minimum possible amount of federal highway funding.
Florida
TALLAHASSEE—According to Greenwire, the National Wildlife Federation, Florida Wildlife Federation, and the Florida Panther Society charged the Fish and Wildlife Service and Army Corps of Engineers with failure to conduct environmental assessments in approving a 3,212-acre limestone quarry in southwest Florida. The groups filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the federal agencies for issuing less strict permits that are typically used in situations of minimum environmental impact and do not require individual environmental assessments. The groups uphold that the project may have adverse impacts on eight of Florida’s fewer-than-100 panthers that roam in the proposed mine area. Florida Rock Industries proposed reserving 802 acres of the land as a panther habit, but the groups insist the project not proceed until the agencies conduct further assessment of possible effects on the panther.
Georgia
ATLANTA—According to The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Vulcan Materials Co. won a lawsuit against Fulton County that allows the company to expand its mining operation at the Red Oak Quarry. Vulcan mines about 60 acres of a privately owned 180-acre site.Vulcan can now expand its mining operation by 21 acres.
Hawaii
HONOLULU—According to the Honolulu Advertiser, the Bush administration’s SAFETEA proposal unveiled last month would give the state of Hawaii more than $900 million in federal transportation money over the next six years. The funds would go toward building new roads, fixing old roads, and improving traffic safety.
Idaho
COEUR D'ALENE—According to the Associated Press, Spokane Rock Products, Spokane, Wash., proposed a 490-acre quarry between Post Falls and Stateline. The company already operates a gravel pit and concrete batch plant near the proposed mine. The company is proposing a 23-phase project, which includes mining the land in up to 50-acre pieces at a time.
Illinois
CRYSTAL LAKE—According to the Chicago Tribune, the city council approved a $22,500 contract with Patrick Engineering to test soil trucked into Vulcan Lakes. The soil, brought in to stabilize the shore of the former gravel pit, shows traces of petroleum byproducts. The engineering firm will analyze 42 soil borings on the north slope of the 500-acre Vulcan property. It will also analyze five soil borings from areas where Vulcan Materials Co. had maintenance buildings during the company’s gravel mining operation, which ended a few years ago. The city is plans to turn the Vulcan Lakes property into a park and fishing spot. If more contamination is found during the tests, a costly cleanup could ensue.
Indiana
RICHMOND—According to the Palladium-Item, federal transportation funding for the state of Indiana would be reduced by as much as $16 million next year under the six-year funding plan unveiled last month by the Bush administration.
Iowa
AMES—Two Iowa State University projects were chosen as two of the most environmentally friendly transportation ideas in the nation. The Iowa’s Living Roadways project provides communities with populations less than 10,000 with planning and landscape design assistance and also provides funds for communities to plant native grasses, wildflowers, shrubs, and trees along transportation corridors. The other project to receive an Environmental Excellence award was the Aesthetic Initiative Measurement System, which was funded by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Iowa State. Both projects will be recognized this month by the Iowa Transportation Commission.
Kansas
TOPEKA—According to the Associated press, states that get the minimum return on the amount of gas tax they send to Washington may be supporting a bill that would help equalize funding. Under a 1998 law, states are guaranteed a minimum return of 90.5 percent of the amount of gas tax they send, but the new bill would increase the amount to 95 percent. The bill would also require an even higher minimum return to 15 states that have a population density of less than 50 people per square mile, including Kansas.
Kentucky
LOUISVILLE—According to The Bond Buyer, Kentucky Governor Paul Patton made his case for more federal transportation funds before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s highway, transit, and pipelines subcommittee at a hearing on state and local transportation needs. Patton told the panel that more federal transportation funds are needed because driving has increased at a rate of 14 times greater than capacity.
Louisiana
BATON ROUGE—According to the Palm Beach Post, Circuit Judge Jeffrey Winikoff ruled that Louisiana company Southern States Land & Timber LLC can not thwart a deal in which water managers agreed to pay $139 million for 900 acres of aggregate mines from Palm Beach Aggregates, Inc. Southern States owns mineral rights on the Loxahatchee tract in Florida and is arguing that the district paid more than the land’s fair market value.
Maine
AUGUSTA—According to the Associated Press, Maine, one of 15 states that have a population density of less than 50 people per square mile, would get a higher minimum return than 95 percent on gas taxes sent to Washington under the Highway Funding Equity Act of 2003.
Maryland
BALTIMORE—According to the Associated Press, the Ehrlich administration is considering selling state assets such as the World Trade Center in the Inner Harbor and land at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The sale would help replenish the transportation fund that will be borrowed from to help balance the state budget. The $315 million transfer from the transportation trust fund was contained in the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act of 2003. Budget Secretary James DiPaula said that disposing of state-owned property could generate cash for roads, rail lines, and other transportation initiatives.
Massachusetts
TEMPLETON—According to the Telegram & Gazette, selectmen refused to let Richard Marshall, Jr., mine gravel on property off West Road. The land is near an active gravel operation, but is distinct from that land and therefore is not considered a grandfathered lot. In 1975, the town documented all of the gravel banks that, because they were grandfathered, did not require a permit to operate, but stipulated that any lot that changed hands or was not mined for more than a year would lose its grandfathered status. There has been at least one other owner of the West Road land since it was grandfathered. Marshall must apply for a gravel permit or license on the lot, but until he receives one, the removal operation must be put on hold.
Michigan
DETROIT—According to The Detroit News, Senator Carl Lavin is pushing for the Highway Funding Equity Act of 2003, which seeks to change the distribution formula for federal gas tax revenue. It seeks to increase states’ minimum share of the tax from 90 percent to 95 percent. Michigan would get at least $42 million more in federal money to build and repair roads and bridges under the legislation.
Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS—According to the Duluth News-Tribune, the Republican-controlled House passed a transportation bill that will put $800 million into roads and a tax bill that cuts aid to local governments. The transportation-funding package includes $400 million in state money, borrowed over four years, with a $400 million match in federal money.
Mississippi
JACKSON—According to The Clarion-Ledger, the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol called on troopers statewide to apprehend speeders in metro-highway construction zones. Some 79 workers and motorists have died in the past three years in the state’s work zones. However, speeds of 90 mph are still being clocked. Two bills that would have doubled the fine for speeding in work zones failed in the Legislature, but the bills are expected to be reintroduced next session.
Missouri
JEFFERSON CITY—According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Missouri Senate is endorsing a plan intended to restore public trust in state highway officials. The bill calls for the position of an inspector general, who would be outside the transportation department and would look over the books and make sure the agency is spending its money wisely The department already has 15 different state and federal agencies and panels monitoring it, including its own inspector general.
Montana
HELENA—The Montana Transportation Commission concurred with the Montana Department of Transportation’s (MDT) recommended alternative for the Interstate 15 Corridor from Montana City to Lincoln Road at their meeting last month in Kalispell. According to MDT Director Dave Galt, the preferred option, Alternative 1, includes construction of a South Helena Interchange, reconstruction of the existing Capitol Interchange, and installation of a new northern interchange at Custer Avenue.
Nebraska
LINCOLN—According to the Omaha World Herald, despite budget cuts of funding for public schools, state colleges, universities, child care, and medical care for families, the road construction fund has not been touched, and this has some Nebraskans concerned. Senator Nancy Thompson tried to pass an amendment to divert $67 million from highway funds, but the amendment only received four votes. The highway construction budget was left at $338 million in each of the next two years. Meanwhile, lawmakers agreed to cut another $16 million from public schools and $13 million from higher education to make the budget balance.
Nevada
CARSON CITY—According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, last month was the 39th annual Forum on the Geology of Industrial Mineral at John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks. At least 250 people registered for the week-long conference, including visitors from as far away as Israel, Egypt, and England.
New Hampshire
CITY—The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration and two of its partners at the National Scenic Byways Conference in Albuquerque, N.M., recognized projects in eight states with national awards for their contributions to enhancing, preserving, and promoting America’s byways. New Hampshire was recognized for its implementation of the Kancamagus Interpretive and Facilities Plan (Kancamagus Scenic Byway).
New Jersey
TRENTON—The 40th Annual New Jersey Concrete Awards, sponsored by the New Jersey Concrete and Aggregate Association, convened in May. More than 500 concrete industry representatives and New Jersey legislators met to honor concrete projects constructed during 2002. The Grand Award “Rocky” statuette was presented to the constructors of the Ocean City Longport Bridge Replacement.
New Mexico
PENASCO—According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Oglebay Norton is seeking state approval to fill one of three mine pits with soil from another pit and also with waste from its Velarde mill site. Oglebay Norton’s spokesman Steven Herron said the proposal promises to fill most of the 90-ft. deep pit while reducing total mining on the 300-acre site.
New York
BUFFALO—According to the Buffalo News, residents and town officials of Cheektowaga requested the state to have a public hearing on the mining permit it granted to Buffalo Crushed Stone. The permit, which was to expire last month, was renewed in February, causing some to question whether the stone quarry was trying to avoid public notice.
North Carolina
GREENSBORO—According to the News & Record, the state House of Representatives passed Governor Easley’s Moving Ahead Plan. If the Senate also passes the bill, the state will be allowed to borrow $700 million from the Highway Trust Fund for road maintenance and public transportation.
North Dakota
BISMARCK—The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration and two of its partners at the National Scenic Byways Conference in Albuquerque, N.M., recognized projects in eight states with national awards for their contributions to enhancing, preserving, and promoting America’s byways. North Dakota was recognized for its Hidden Treasures of the Great Plains (Sheyenne River Valley Scenic Byway).
Ohio
NEWARK—According to the Newark Advocate, Ohio’s Congressional delegation, including Congressman Pat Tiberi, have been pushing for a greater return on the federal gas tax funds sent to Washington. Ohio, which operates the 10th largest highway traffic network and generates the fifth highest traffic violume, receives 89 cents for every tax dollar sent to Washington.
Oklahoma
TULSA—According to the Associated Press, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Federal Highway Administrator Mary Peters visited the state to look at two interstates. The two transportation officials are considering whether stretches of Interstate 44 in Tulsa and Interstate 40 in Oklahoma City should be deemed high priority projects for special federal funding. Mineta made no commitments after seeing Interstate 44, but said Oklahoma leaders made a strong case for a widening project. From April 2000 to March 2003, 390 crashes took place in a 3.5 mile stretch of I-44, including 150 injury accidents and seven fatalities. The stretch of I-40 known as the Crosstown Expressway in Oklahoma City is structurally ineffective and below current engineering standards, say state transportation officials. More than 100,000 vehicles travel that section each day. In the same three-year period, 452 crashes took place on the stretch of I-40, including 190 injury wrecks and three fatalities. Mineta said the Bush administration’s focus is on improving highway safety.
Oregon
SALEM—According to The Register Guard, the Oregon House of Representatives passed a bill 44 to 11 that changes state law to allow people who have expertise in geology, but are not registered as geologists with the state Board of Geologist Examiners, to give public testimony on geologic matters, without fear of bing fined or imprisoned for airing their views. The bill must pass both chambers of the Legislature and avoid the governor’s veto in order to become law. The bill has its roots in a Eugene area geologist, Mark Reed, who spoke out in opposition to the proposal by Eugene Sand & Gravel to dig new pits off River Road. Eugene Sand & Gravel filed a complaint with the geology board, stating that Reed’s testimony constituted the public practice of geology by an individual who is not registered with the state to practice geology — a violation of state law and regulations. Reed has taught geology at the University of Oregon for 23 years, but he doesn’t perform geologic services for paying clients and isn’t registered with the state as a geologist. The geology board urged Reed to sign a consent order under which the board would drop all complaints and penalties against him in return for him agreeing to apply to become a state-registered geologist. Reed declined to sign the order, and in November, sued the board in Lance County Circuit Court, alleging that the state violated his right to free speech. The geology board then dropped the charges Eugene Sand had filed against Reed.
Pennsylvania
TITUSVILLE—According to the Associated Press, the Titusville City Council is appealing a permit the state Department of Environmental Protection issued to Hasbrouch Sand & Gravel, Inc., allowing the company to mine almost 60 acres in Oil Creek Township. City officials are concerned that the mining operation will contaminate the municipality’s water supply.
Rhode Island
COVENTRY—According to the Providence Journal-Bulletin, remaining stockpiles of construction waste at the closed operation Global Waste Recycling were removed. The state Department of Environmental Management is overseeing the cleanup. The DEM states that there is still solid waste buried 3 to 4 ft. beneath the surface of the 25-acre site that was once a gravel operation. Resource recovery will continue to manage removal operations at Global’s site until the cleanup is deemed complete. The DEM issued a $174, 521 check to Resource Recovery out of Global’s closure fund, but the payment only makes a dent in the $750,000 debt Global owes to Resource Recovery. Global’s closure fund has almost been exhausted and Global also owes the DEM $550,000 in environmental penalties, as stipulated in a violation notice. The site cannot be sold until it is fully cleaned and all fines are paid. Resource Recovery officials have said that they expect to extract gravel from the site in lieu of repayments that Global can’t afford.
South Carolina
COLUMBIA—South Carolina is one of 12 states that have until Sept. 30 to enact a 0.08 percent blood alcohol content standard. States that do not meet the deadline will lose 2 percent of their highway construction funding, and the penalty climbs to a maximum of 8 percent by 2008.
South Dakota
PIERRE—According to the Associated Press, the South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment recently voted to approve the use of $33,293 from the inactive state environmental reclamation fund and another $16,931 from forfeited bonds posted by former operators to reclaim up to 10 gravel pits that former operators did not fix up .
Tennessee
CHATTNOOGA—According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is co-sponsoring the Highway Funding Equity Act of 2003, which seeks to change the distribution formula for federal gas tax revenue. It seeks to increase states’ minimum share of the tax from about 90 percent to 95 percent. Tennessee would get an additional $43 million for its road program under the legislation.
Texas
GEORGETOWN—According to the Austin American-Statesman, homeowners agreed not to oppose J.C. Evans Construction Co.’s rock crushing enterprise if the company minimizes the quarry’s effect on the area. The conflict between the homeowners and the company began several months ago when Jesse Espinoza of Espinoza Stone opened a quarry on 170 acres across from homes along County Road 239. J.C. Evans has a temporary permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to use the quarry until November. The company applied for an expanded permit that would allow it to crush rock and would allow J.C. Evans to process the stone 24 hours every day for the next 10 years. The company plans to limit quarry operational hours to mitigate the effect on homeowners, in return for no opposition for the project.
Utah
SALT LAKE CITY—According to the Salt Lake Tribune, transportation leaders told state lawmakers that traffic problems will continue to get worse, particularly in southern Salt Lake County and northern Utah County. This is in spite of a plan for a series of highway capacity enhancement projects along the Wasatch Front over the next three decades that could cost $8.9 billion, and transit projects scheduled over the next 30 years that could cost $4.2 billion. The problem is projected population increases by 2030 of 500,000 in Salt Lake County and 250,000 more residents in Davis County.
Vermont
BARRE—According to the Associated Press, steelworkers employed at the Rock of Ages manufacturing plant, citing unspecified “financial issues,” voted to strike in April after rejecting a three-year contract offered by the company. Many workers at the granite quarries returned to work after being released by the local chapter of the United Steelworkers of America union, but at press time, the strike was keeping the manufacturing plant idle.
Virginia
RICHMOND—According to the Roanoke Times & World News, Transportation Secretary Whitt Clement announced that nearly all of the deficits have been removed from Virginia’s highway budget, creating room for new road construction projects.
Washington
TACOMA—According to The News Tribune, Wyss and Son, LCC requested a conditional use permit for a multiphase expansion of an existing quarry. The project consists of a gravel pit, three basalt quarries, and a sandstone quarry located on five parcels of land leased form Plum Creek Timber. The total leased area is 625 acres.
West Virginia
BERKELEY SPRINGS—According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Better Materials Corp, a Bucks County, Pa., producer of stone, sand, gravel, and asphalt, is being purchased by Hanson PLC for $152 million in cash plus the assumption of $3 million in debt. Better Materials has been owned since 1998 by Better Minerals and Aggregate, Berkeley Springs, W. Va.
Wisconsin
MADISON—According to the Capital Times, state budget experts reported that a stagnant economy prompted a $43.7 million reduction in projected state transportation revenues.
Wyoming
CHEYENNE—According to the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, the Wyoming DOT was awarded $3 million in federal funds to upgrade its intelligent transportation systems and make other changes to the state’s highway system. To receive the grant, Wyoming must match the funds.