Martin Marietta Fights Appeal
Martin Marietta Materials is looking to develop a 649-acre open pit mine outside of Vanceboro, N.C., but is facing continued opposition. The proposed disposal of wastewater into the nearby Blounts Creek headwaters could destroy the habitat for fish, according to mine opponents. The creek is a popular recreational and fishing destination.
Carteret County Superior Court Judge Douglas Parsons recently denied Martin Marietta’s motion to dismiss an appeal filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center in a ruling that allows the company to dump wastewater into Blounts Creek, according to the Coastal Review Online, and the hearing is expected to continue.
The appeal from the Southern Environmental Law Center, representing North Carolina-based coastal environmental groups Sound Rivers and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, was in response to a ruling by Administrative Law Judge Phil Berger Jr. allowing Martin Marietta to discharge 12 million gal. of mine wastewater into the creek.
The law center appealed the decision in Carteret County in December 2016, and was required by state law to send out notice of the appeal filing within 10 days to all involved parties. However, due to snowy conditions in January and a state of emergency declaration, the appeal’s delivery missed the 10-day window.
Super Aggregates Seeks Expansion
There is opposition to a proposed 510-acre quarry in Marengo, Ill., according to the Northwest Herald. The Marengo City Council held a hearing to allow concerned residents to voice their opinions on the proposed quarry, which would be located off Pleasant Grove Road.
McHenry, Ill.-based Super Aggregates sought an annexation agreement for the property, but residents are concerned about the long-term implications of the plan.
The company plans to merge an existing 256-acre quarry to adjacent land to create Marengo Lakes LLC, a sand and gravel mining entity. It also plans to have space for landscape waste and composting, dependent on an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency permit, company officials said.
City Council members voted to annex the property and give Super Aggregates the necessary special-use permits to carry out the plan, with Alderman Dennis Hammortree casting the only dissenting votes.
The company would let landscape waste such as grass clippings and leaves sit on the property until there was enough to transfer it to a composting facility, said Jack Pease of Super Aggregates.
Super Aggregates will pay the city 5 cents for each ton of gravel, sand and other products excavated or produced at the property. The company projected that over the course of the agreement the city would take in more than $2.5 million at the 5-cents-per-ton rate.
Work on Quarry Site Ordered Stopped
An Ottawa County, Ohio, judge ordered a quarry owner that is mixing spent lime on its Benton Township, Ohio, property to stop work until it is in compliance with zoning rules, according to the Toledo Blade.
Judge Bruce Winters of Ottawa County Common Pleas Court granted a preliminary injunction against Rocky Ridge Development LLC, which owns the former StoneCo quarry on State Rt. 590. Benton Township and Ottawa County officials filed the civil suit last month, arguing that the company was doing industrial work on property zoned as agricultural, and that it needed a special-use permit.
Company representatives had pointed to an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency permit to reuse the spent lime, and argued that permit supersedes local zoning codes. Rocky Ridge has applied for a permit to eventually fill the quarry with the blended material.
Last month, township officials got work suspended by obtaining a temporary restraining order. Both sides presented lengthy testimony and presented briefs in the case.
Extractive Ordinance Examined
A revised Lawrence County, S.D., extractive industry ordinance will move forward to the county commission with a favorable recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission, according to the Black Hills Pioneer.
Around 60 people packed the Deadwood City Commission chambers for a public hearing regarding presentation and discussion on proposed changes to the extractive industry ordinance. Lawrence County Commissioners will hold a public hearing and first reading in late March.
Planning and Zoning Director Amber Vogt clarified that the public hearing was not in regard to a specific conditional use permit and instead addressed clarifications and concerns with the extractive industry ordinance that county officials discovered through a Centennial Valley quarry conditional use permit (CUP) application by Mountain View Ranches LLC, on Crook City Road approximately one year ago, which was referred and went to a public vote.
The public vote rejected the quarry.