The San Rafael Rock Quarry in Marin, Calif., won permission to recycle asphalt from Marin roads projects despite opposition from neighbors who worried the move will intensify operations, according to a report in the Marin Independent Journal.
The Board of Supervisors acted on a unanimous vote on a motion by Supervisor Susan Adams, who added a permit will not be extended in two years unless the quarry is in compliance with all 173 conditions that regulate quarry operations.
At issue was a plan for what the county said required a “narrow” permit amendment, allowing the quarry to collect paving “grindings” left over during repavement projects that occur within the county, for stockpiling at the quarry and recycling into asphalt products there.
The quarry already makes virgin asphalt at the site. The proposal to stockpile up to 38,200 tons of old asphalt concrete ground up when old roads are prepared for repaving would not change the maximum 250 daily truck trips allowed at the quarry – and would have beneficial impacts including recycling, cost efficiencies and cutting greenhouse gases spewed when hauling the material elsewhere.