by Therese Dunphy, Editor-in-Chief

Alabama

According to the Huntsville Times, Gurley Mayor Stan Simpson is asking a circuit judge to dismiss a pending 4-year-old lawsuit that involves him in a dispute over the banning of a limestone quarry from near the town. M&N Materials Inc. sued Gurley in April 2005, saying the town’s leaders unfairly prohibited operation of M&N’s proposed limestone quarry by annexing the 240-acre property and adopting zoning that bans quarries. The suit claims that M&N was forced to sell the land to Vulcan Materials at a considerable loss and seeks $2.75 million in damages. M&N alleges that Gurley leaders, including Simpson, acted recklessly and wrongfully interfered with contractual or business relations. The case is scheduled for a jury trial on April 20.

California

Vulcan Materials submitted a new proposal regarding its plans to shift a mining operation from the east side of its 270-acre Azusa Rock Quarry to the west side, near Duarte, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports. The company hopes to sell the plan by including an updated reclamation design that would improve the look of the hills after mining, Vulcan officials said. Duarte city officials have raised health and aesthetic concerns, but Azusa has the power to approve the proposal. Vulcan has held a series of community meetings to explain its proposal. An activist group, Save Van Tassel, opposes the project.

***California

The Dutra Group, which operates the San Rafael Rock Quarry, advanced its cause in its bid to convince the public that its operations are not fouling the air surrounding the quarry with cancer-causing dust and diesel fumes, according to the Marin Independent Journal. As You Sow, a San Francisco-based non-profit environmental group, dropped a lawsuit that claimed the Dutra Group was violating Proposition 65 by not warning neighbors about diesel emissions from trucks traveling to and from the quarry. Proposition 65 prohibits businesses from exposing people to substances known to cause cancer and birth defects, without providing a clear and reasonable warning. The environmental group based its lawsuit on analysis of emissions prepared by a consulting group. The producer hired another consultant, who reviewed the report and discovered a calculation error that resulted in the health risk being overstated by 60 times. After reviewing the second report, As You Sow dropped its suit and apologized for the inconvenience and expense it caused.

Connecticut

It took a village to save a piece of local history known as a brownstone “arch.” The Hartford Courant reports that Quarrytown residents restored the only major artifact left from the town’s brownstone-quarrying era, which lasted from 1725 to the late 1800s. The arch is a 31-foot-long transportation device, once pulled by teams of oxen, that was used to move massive slabs of brownstone from the quarries to the holds of ships waiting on the Connecticut River. It was moved to a permanent home under a post-and-beam shelter on Main Street. A huge slab of brownstone hangs from the device, a reminder of the town’s past. The town raised approximately $70,000 for the structure. Everything from the site, landscaping, and architectural plans to the work of town crews was donated.

Missouri

Approximately 50 property owners who live along Lake Road 5-45 heard a pitch from Magruder Limestone Vice President Dean McDonald to re-route the road in order to expand a quarry that’s been at the heart of controversy in recent years. The WestSide Star reports that the new road would be improved, graded to meet state standards, and may include a barrier wall, berm, or buffer line so the new road wouldn’t front the quarry. McDonald told the group that the company would mine the property for four to five years and then create a commercial development. If residents don’t support the expansion, the mine will dig deeper in its existing quarry and possibly mine its property on the other side of Lake Road. Property owner concerns were noted, and McDonald offered to hold another meeting to address them.

Montana

According to Big Sky Business Journal, the Montana Contractors’ Association Sand and Gravel Committee launched a new Web site on issues affecting open cut mining, www.montanagravel.org. “We developed this site so anyone with a question or an interest in the industry now has a way to access information and contacts,” noted Mike Newton, chair of the MCA Sand and Gravel Committee. “Whether you’re a contractor or a member of the public concerned about gravel pits, this site provides a lot of good information, and we encourage everyone to use it.” The site offers downloads of the MCA-developed Good Neighbor Policy for gravel pit operators, as well as a download of the MCA Sand and Gravel Brochure.

Nebraska

The Buffalo County Planning and Zoning Commission approved two new gravel mining operations, the Omaha World-Herald reports. Mid-Nebraska Aggregate Inc. requested a special-use permit to excavate gravel near Gibbon. The operator will expand a creek into a pond that will be approximately 1,800-feet long. T& F Sand and Gravel received a special-use permit to mine gravel on 12 acres near the Odessa Interstate 80 interchange.