Geneva Rock Seeks Rezoning in Utah
A special meeting of the Draper, Utah, city council to hear public comment on a quarry rezoning application ended abruptly when the original application changed. Geneva Rock was asking the city council to consider its request to rezone about 72 acres of land at its Point of the Mountain mine. The application also said the company would place 78 acres in a conservation easement. But when a company spokesperson addressed the council, those numbers changed.
“We do have some revisions we want to explain today,” Geneva Rock spokesperson Dave Kallas said to the council, according to Salt Lake City’s Fox13. Kallas displayed a map, showing the company was requesting about 18.5 acres to be rezoned. Draper Mayor Troy Walker abruptly interrupted and called a recess because of the significant amendment. When the meeting came back in session, Geneva Rock was informed the council would only hear arguments about the company’s original request and it would have to file a completely new application if Geneva Rock wished to continue with the revisions.
Pennsylvania Quarry Opposed by Township
A citizens group that has opposed the Gibraltar Rock quarry in New Hanover, Pa., since it was first proposed 17 years ago has joined the township’s appeal of a state mining permit granted in July, according to The Mercury.
At issue are quarry blasting and groundwater pumping issues. The impact a proposed expansion of the Gibraltar Rock Quarry would have on groundwater pollution at an adjacent lot once owned by Good’s Oil Co. is central to the township’s appeal of the issuing of a state mining permit.
The township’s appeal was filed July 31 with the Environmental Hearing Board, a state board staffed by five administrative law judges who oversee disputes with the Department of Environmental Protection and will decide the merits of the appeal.
No matter what the board decides, either side unhappy with the result can subsequently appeal that decision to Commonwealth Court, a process which Stephen Harris, the attorney for Gibraltar Rock, estimated will take 12 to 18 months.
He has previously said he expected both appeals to be filed.
Rockhill Quarry Seeks Crushing Permit
Nine months after it re-opened in East Rockhill, Pa., the Rockhill Quarry is advancing through the state permitting process to operate a stone crusher at the site, according to The Intelligencer.
Meanwhile, an injunction the town filed last spring to halt the quarry’s operations has floundered in federal court, with records showing the two sides will participate in a settlement conference.
In late 2017, the Rockhill Quarry restarted for the first time since the early 1980s after its operator, the Richard E. Pierson Materials Corp. of Pilesgrove, N.J., obtained a $224 million asphalt contract from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Neighbors of the quarry cried foul, complaining of loud blasting that shook their homes and sharing concerns over impending truck traffic, air pollution and environmental degradation.
The matter is before East Rockhill’s Zoning Hearing Board, after the township claimed Pierson requires a special exception to operate. The town escalated the dispute in May by seeking a court-ordered injunction against the quarry from the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas.
Wyoming Quarry Opposed by Environmental Group
Asphalt Specialties Co. Inc., a Colorado-based company that owns 550 acres in Granite Canon, Wyo., plans to build a quarry there, much to the chagrin of surrounding landowners, who have formed an environmental committee to express their concerns about health and safety.
The landowners say Asphalt Specialties will be using at least 6,000 gal. of water per day. They are also expressing concerns about blasting near their homes, the Lone Tree Creek, and current road conditions, reported KGWN.
Asphalt Specialties maintains that they have been very transparent in the permitting process of Lone Tree Creek Quarry and that all permitting applications and plans are public record.