Ohio

The Shelly Co., an Oldcastle Materials Inc. company, received numerous awards for excellence in its commitment to community relations and outreach programs from the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association. According to the Zanesville Time-Recorder, the company’s Belle Center, Columbus Limestone, and East Fultonham quarries received gold awards; its Maumee and Celina quarries won silver awards; and its Auglaize and Scott quarries received bronze awards.

Pennsylvania

Lawrence County Commissioners planned meetings with state and federal legislative representatives in an effort to preserve about 100 jobs at the Wampum Cemex plant. The Beaver County Times reports that the company laid off 82 people in late March and ceased production at the facility. Cemex spokesperson Jennifer Borgen told the newspaper that additional layoffs are likely, but 13 to 15 people will be kept on to maintain the production machines and run the Wampum facility as a distribution and shipping center. She said the closure was originally intended to be temporary, but the company’s forecast called for the economy to remain sluggish for months to come. “We looked at the market and thought this would be longer than we thought it would be,” Borgen said. “So we made the hard decision to end production.”

Texas

Vulcan Materials Co. hopes to create a stockyard in Dallas County on a site zoned for industrial use, according to DallasNews.com. In a prepared statement, the company said it has met with neighbors several times and worked to address their objections. “As a result of these meetings, we have made changes to our site plan in order to improve appearance, reduce noise, and mitigate the impact of truck traffic,” the statement said. “We are committed to continuing to work with the community to ensure that our facility meets the needs of a growing economy and the community.” The Vulcan statement also noted that the stockyard would make building roads and other infrastructure in eastern Dallas County cheaper and more efficient.

Virginia

Vulcan Materials Co.’s Springfield Quarry in Glen Allen received an Excellence in Community Relations Silver Award from the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association for its efforts with Henrico School District, the local Boy Scouts, and operation tours. “Vulcan Materials has been an exceptional and generous business partner with our schools, Rivers Edge Elementary School…,” said Johnna Riley, school principal. “Through their financial support and hands-on labor, we have two paths (a boardwalk and a gravel path) leading to the watershed in our back school yard, which provides teachers the ability to access the grounds for environmental instruction and provides a positive watershed experience for our students, and we are able to provide recognition to the classrooms for positive student behavior.”

Washington

A gravel mine, two quarries, and a concrete batch plant proposed west of Kitsap Lake in Bremerton have been approved by the Kitsap County hearing examiner. The Kitsap Sun reports that Hearing Examiner Kim Allen ruled that mining operations would be consistent with Kitsap County zoning and would not unduly harm the environment, provided that the project complies with nearly 200 conditions during construction and operation. Conditions include hours of operation from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, with no truck travel before 8 a.m.; a daily total number of trips by all vehicles not to exceed 186; mining in 10-acre increments; crushers must be located in an excavated area below the surrounding terrain; a 20-foot berm must be built as a sound barrier for the nearest neighbors; and storm water must be directed into a series of ponds designed to infiltrate water into the ground. In addition, several requirements address dust suppression and air quality monitoring.

Washington

A gravel mine, two quarries, and a concrete batch plant proposed west of Kitsap Lake in Bremerton have been approved by the Kitsap County hearing examiner. The Kitsap Sun reports that Hearing Examiner Kim Allen ruled that mining operations would be consistent with Kitsap County zoning and would not unduly harm the environment, provided that the project complies with nearly 200 conditions during construction and operation. Conditions include hours of operation from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, with no truck travel before 8 a.m.; a daily total number of trips by all vehicles not to exceed 186; mining in 10-acre increments; crushers must be located in an excavated area below the surrounding terrain; a 20-foot berm must be built as a sound barrier for the nearest neighbors; and storm water must be directed into a series of ponds designed to infiltrate water into the ground. In addition, several requirements address dust suppression and air quality monitoring.

Oregon

Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) officials lauded Egge Sand & Gravel for a turnaround in its behavior with regulators, noting that after a recent minor spill, an Egge official immediately notified regulators, accepted culpability, and took — in the regulator’s view — “extraordinary efforts to ensure the violation would not be repeated. According to The Register Guard, the operation (purchased in 2006 by Oldcastle Materials) had a couple employees who decided to wash 10-inch cobble stones for a customer and washed it on the ground with a water truck, turning it over with a loader. When Dale Fortner, the company’s local environmental and land use manager, saw what happened, he stopped the activity, shut down the pump, and notified DEQ. Since then, the operation has retrained yard staff, erected signs marking clean water areas, and made maps explaining the system.