Crossfire Seeks Plant in Colorado
Crossfire Aggregate Services has applied to open a gravel mine and concrete factory at Durango, in La Plata County, Colo., in the Bondad area about a half-mile from the Animas River, according to the Durango Herald.
The operation will produce up to 876,000 tpy of aggregate, while the concrete plant is designed to produce up to 150 cu. yd. of concrete per day, according to documents related to the mine’s Environmental Protection Agency air permit application.
The application comes from Crossfire Aggregate Services, an offshoot of Crossfire, a local industrial firm that has its headquarters near Durango-La Plata County Airport, Colo. Both companies are owned locally by Ezra and Brook Lee.
Crossfire Aggregate has applied for a federal air quality permit, a storm water permit, a La Plata County permit, an operating permit from the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, and to the Colorado Department of Transportation for an access road off of U.S. Highway 550.
The air-permit application focuses on particulate matter. Plans call for using misters and other mitigation measures. Crossfire Aggregate could break ground on the mine in spring or early summer 2016, said Jay Nielson, general manager.
Judge Rules Against Rogers Group
A judge has ruled against Rogers Group in its case against Tippecanoe County, Ind., according to WLFI.com.
The suit was filed in January and named the county, county commissioners, the board of zoning appeals, the area plan commission and building inspector as defendants.
Rogers Group had been planning to build a stone quarry in Americus. Many residents opposed the plan. In July Tippecanoe County Commissioners passed an ordinance banning stone quarries near residential areas.
The lawsuit alleged the commissioners did not have the power to ban quarries near residential areas, and said the Rogers Group’s plan should be grandfathered in because it had already received several permits on the project before the ordinance took effect.
It also alleged that the Tippecanoe County Unified Zoning Ordinance, which mandates a special exception for a mining operation, violates Indiana code by preventing the Rogers Group from exercising its leased mineral rights for the land near Americus.
The fourth and final count in the lawsuit alleged that through its actions, in effect, the county took the property from them without compensation.
California Sand Operation Opposed
According to Fox 5 News, residents are up in arms over a possible sand mining project in the El Monte Valley in Lakeside, Calif. Dozens of residents filled the Lakeside Community and Teen Center to voice their concerns over the proposal.
Sand mining company El Monte Nature Preserve wants to excavate nearly 200 of the 575 acres of El Monte Valley. The company proposes digging nearly 100 ft. into the ground for sand that can provide products in San Diego County.
El Monte Nature Preserve presented the plan to the Lakeside Planning and company representatives said they expect the project to last at least 15 years, excavating 15-18 million tpy of sand. The work would generate an estimated 150 trucks trips in and out of the two-lane road leading into El Monte Valley.
Residents opposing the plan called on the planning board to preserve the valley as historic open space. Another concern expressed by some opponents to the sand mine is the threat of Valley Fever, a fungal infection that can spread with the disruption of the soil.
Vulcan Materials Scores Land Swap
According to the Washington Post, Fairfax County, Va.’s board of supervisors cleared the way for a two-phase land swap in Lorton, Va., that county officials say will create space for a new reservoir and safeguard the county’s long-term drinking water needs.
Roughly 148 acres of land currently owned by Fairfax Water, the county’s water authority, will be turned over to Vulcan Materials Co., which operates a rock quarry nearby.
In exchange, Vulcan will grant a portion of its current quarry to the water authority in 2035. In 2080, Vulcan will return the 148 acres to Fairfax Water, after that land has been excavated for rocks and other materials, officials said.
The exchange will give Vulcan new areas to mine, and ultimately will create the capacity for as much as 16 billion extra gallons of drinking water, culled and treated from the Occoquan River, officials said.