Singleton Stone Fight Continues
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take over permitting of a proposed quarry in Lake County, Ind., saying much of the environmental impact will occur in the Kankakee River in Illinois, according to the Daily Journal.
A letter Kelly wrote to U.S. EPA Administrator Susan Hedman on Oct. 2 asks for the federal agency to assume jurisdiction over the water quality permit and hold public hearings in both states.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is appealing the permit issued to Singleton Stone Inc. to Indiana’s Office of Environmental Adjudication, arguing the jurisdiction should have been with the federal agency, not the state of Indiana. The 600-acre quarry would discharge between 12 million and 52 million gpd of water into the Singleton Ditch, which is the most significant source of sediment in the Kankakee River.
North Carolina House Considers Permit Issues
The North Carolina House Rules Committee rejected a measure that would have blocked the state permitting of new asphalt plants within two miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, according to WNCN news.
Republican Rep. Jonathan Jordan said the bill was a response to a pair of proposed plants in Ashe and Watauga counties, which he represents. He said emissions coming from the operations could harm air quality and the economic benefits the Parkway to western North Carolina. Two speakers spoke against the bill, including the operators of a Watauga County quarry that wants to expand to include asphalt production.
Cemex Pursues Texas Expansion
Cemex may wind up spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000, according to the New Braunfels Herald Zeitung, to qualify for a federal permit to widen its quarry operations into a 150-acre tract off Loop 337 and Highway 46 that is home to a single golden-cheeked warbler.
Because of that one endangered bird, the company is expecting to purchase “conservation credits,” at a cost of $3,000 to $5,000 for each of those 150 acres, before it can start quarrying on the tract, which is located generally between the Stone Crossing subdivision off Loop 337, the Hunter’s Creek subdivision off Highway 46 and the Shadow Hills subdivision off FM 1863.
Virginia Quarry Could Become Landfill
A Chesterfield, Va., landfill is moving forward with plans to convert an adjacent quarry into a waste disposal site.
If approved by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Shoosmith landfill on Lewis Road would become only the second landfill in Virginia permitted to store household trash in an abandoned quarry, according to the Chesterfield Observer.
The southwestern city of Bristol, Va., received state approval to conduct landfill operations in a quarry in the mid-1990s. According to DEQ’s annual solid waste report, Bristol’s quarry landfill took in about 150,000 tons of waste last year.
DEQ staff have drawn up a draft of the permit that would allow Shoosmith to begin storing solid waste at a quarry that the company owns once mining operations are no longer being conducted at the site. Shoosmith leases the property to Vulcan Materials.
MGX Minerals Pursues Permit in Canada
MGX Minerals Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is pursuing the development of industrial mineral deposits in western Canada that “offer near-term production potential, minimal barriers to entry and low initial capital expenditures,” according to the company.
The long-term strategic business objectives of MGX include constructing a quarry and processing plant to produce magnesium oxide from Driftwood Creek in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. The project is currently under permitting review for granting of a mining lease. Applications for associated operating permits are in various stages.
MGX announced in June that Industrial Furnace Co. of Rochester, N.Y., would install and operate industrial-sized kilns at Driftwood Creek.