Indiana Quarry Seeks Permits
More than 75 residents of Lowell, Ind., weighed in on the permitting process for a proposed dolomite quarry, according to the Post-Tribune. A public hearing on the air quality permit request from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management by the developers of the project was held at Hebron High School.
Singleton Stone LLC is planning a limestone quarry on a 1- x 1-1/2-mile swatch of farmland south of Indiana 2, west of Rangeline Road and east of Interstate 65. The quarry is expected to be about 450-ft. deep and will pump between 50 million and 72 million gpd of water into the Singleton Ditch.
The air permit is the first in a series of permits the project will need to move forward. Last month the Special Drainage Board approved 2-1 the applications by Singleton Stone LLC to connect and discharge into Singleton Ditch and Dinwiddie Ditch in Eagle Creek Township.
Pete Lien Quarry Moving Forward
Albany County, Wyo., commissioners voted to approve an amendment to their resolution to support a grant on behalf of Pete Lien & Sons to the Wyoming Business Council, according to the Laramie Boomerang. The grant sought from the Business Ready Community Grant and Loan Program is for roughly $1.46 million. The funds are slated for a water well and infrastructure expansion.
The company is opening a limestone quarry and fine grind plant, and in the process of permitting a lime plant about seven miles north of Laramie, off U.S. Highway 30. Commissioners signed an original resolution of support for the expansion project May 6, said Sheela Schermetzler, Albany County grants manager.
The company is paying $740,000 for industrial electrical lines to the property. Originally, Pete Lien & Sons hoped to apply these funds to the required match for the Business Council grant. However, Business Council guidelines stipulated the investment in the power lines was ineligible for the cash match to the grant.
Quarry Permit Revoked
The Franklin-Simpson, Ken., Planning and Zoning Board of Adjustments revoked a conditional use permit it issued two years ago to Charles and Penny Deweese, owners of the land that contains a quarry, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.
In a 3-2 vote, the board found that the Deweeses were not in compliance with the permit because they were unable to meet travel restrictions on an access road leading to the quarry. The permit required trucks leaving the quarry
on Ditmore Ford Road, the only road accessible from the property covered under the permit, to turn west onto Ditmore Ford.
Subsequent ordinances from the Simpson County Fiscal Court and Franklin City Commission placed strict weight limits on commercial traffic on Ditmore Ford Road, and the board concluded that those ordinances made it impossible for the Deweeses to comply with the permit.
Quarry Expansion Opposed
Concerned citizens say a proposed quarry expansion near Highland Forest, N.Y., could ruin the vista at a county park famous for its scenic overlook, according to CNYcentral.com.
Mike and Velda Ward own a small farm on Oran Delphi Road in the Town of Fabius, next to the 25-acre Kinsella gravel quarry. For the past four years, the Wards have been trying to block the Department of Environmental Conservation from approving a permit to triple the size of the quarry to 80 acres. They say their fight should concern every taxpayer in Onondaga County, because the quarry is about a half mile from the base of Highland Forest County Park, which has one of the best views in all of Central New York.
They believe the quarry would be an eyesore that would discourage people from holding functions like weddings at the Skyline Lodge overlooking the valley where the quarry is located.