Aggregates USA Gets Expansion Permit
Aggregates USA’s, Blountville, Tenn., plant was granted an expansion that will give the facility at least five years of continued operations, according to a report in the Herald Courier. Sixteen people voiced their opinions on the expansion of a quarry in Sullivan County during the County Commission’s November meeting. The majority of the people spoke in favor of the expansion and either work for or are affiliated with Aggregates USA, or are owners of surrounding businesses.
The company submitted a rezoning request for two parcels of land it owns off of Shipley Ferry Road that are adjacent to the quarry to be used for the expansion. The commission approved the rezoning request 14 to 9 last month.
Concerns about the expansion included property damage as a result of the blasting, noise, air pollution, increased traffic, decreases in property value, and the effects the quarry would have on the land.
Aggregates USA representatives noted that the quarry has never received a notice of violation from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
Wallace Stone Seeks Special Approval Use Permit
Wallace Stone Co., a Bay Port, Mich.-based stone quarry, is seeking a Special Approval Use Permit for 85 additional acres of land that stretches through Fairhaven, McKinley and Winsor, Mich., townships. The request was rescheduled to come before the Huron County Planning Commission this month.
Planners originally discussed the request in November. However, due to complications in a computer system, the hearing was postponed because certain individuals did not receive notice.
“We found our system had not provided seven additional addresses that were not included in the first mailing,” Jeff Smith, county director of building and zoning, told the Huron Daily Tribune. “So we confirmed with our parcel maps that the fact was there were a few people not notified. We did send notices out again to property owners within 300 ft. of the five parcels for the project.”
Following the hearing, the Huron County Planning Commission will consider granting the permit.
Tennessee Quarry Requests Pollution Discharge Elimination Permit
A December public hearing is set for comments on Middle Point Landfill’s request for a water-quality permit in conjunction with blasting at the Walter Hill site north of Murfreesboro, Tenn. The state Division of Water Resources Mining Section is scheduled to hold the event to discuss and review permit applications and plans, according to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
BFI Waste Systems of Tennessee LLC is requesting a national pollution discharge elimination system permit for its limestone quarry and processing facility to discharge treated wastewater and stormwater into a tributary to East Fork Stones River, according to the Murfreesboro Post. The quarry is located on property across from a landfill and is used to produce rock for landfill roads and other operations.
Lawsuit in SOUTH Dakota Quarry Permit Dispute
KOTA News reported that the Pennington County, S.D., commission faces a $10 million law suit in a dispute with a local gravel quarry. This comes after the commission turned down a permit request by an Iowa company for its gravel quarry operations south of Rapid City, S.D.
In 2015, Croell Redi Mix bought the Perli Pit construction aggregate quarry south of Rapid City along Highway 16. Early this year the Pennington County Planning and Zoning board green-lighted Croell’s application for a construction permit to continue mining at the site. Neighbors appealed the decision to the county commission saying expanding the mine would hurt the environment and impede traffic on the road to Mt. Rushmore. In April the commission reversed the planning board’s decision.
Canadian Quarry Can Receive Soil
A rock quarry near Shawnigan Lake in British Columbia, Canada, can resume receiving and storing contaminated soil under a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling. In a defeat for the Cowichan Valley Regional District, the court overturned an earlier decision that halted shipments of soil to the Stebbings Road quarry on the grounds that it was operating as a landfill in violation of a district zoning bylaw.
The court of appeal found, however, that the quarry is a mine and that the province – not the regional district – has exclusive jurisdiction to regulate mining activities. The court said the mining activities include filling the quarry cavity with contaminated soil as a way to “reclaim” the site.
John Alexander, the lawyer representing quarry owner Cobble Hill Holdings Ltd., said the decision “clears the way, at least for now, to get this operation back up and running.”