Aggregates Manager

July 2014

Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine

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State & Province NEWS by Therese Dunphy, Editor-in-Chief AGGREGATES MANAGER July 2014 4 State & Province NEWS by Therese Dunphy, Editor-in-Chief tdunphy@randallreilly.com Florida Cemex withdrew its application for a zoning change to facilitate development of Four Corners, a proposed 1,196-acre sand mine in Clermont. Sara Engdahl, Cemex's communication director, told the Daily Commercial that the com- pany wants to "take time to more clearly understand (neighbor) concerns and submit an alternative proposal." Area residents voiced concerns about traffi c, noise, and dust, but community leaders noted concerns about the sand mine being located in a 16,000-acrea area proposed for health, fi tness, biomedical research, and related industries. "At the present time, there are many rumors and statistics regarding our project that are false," Engdahl said. "We encour- age open and factual dialogue and look forward to communicating the many benefi ts Four Corners will have to off er Lake County, as well as dispelling myths about our project." To keep up to date with this breakdown of news in the United States and Canada, visit www.AggMan.com for daily updates. Indiana Rogers Group announced that it temporarily withdrew its application for a proposed quarry in Americus until it has had an opportunity to address community concerns about the operation. According to WLFI.com, residents were concerned about blasting, wells, and truck traffi c. Siobhan Robertson, Rogers Group's community relations manager, noted that blasting would typically take place only once a week, not 24-hours-a-day as some community residents believed. Sharing information such as blasting schedules and truck traffi c are two of the education issues the company would like to address. "We're not going to rush the community component," Robertson told the television station. "We want to make sure we're out there, we listen to everyone, and we move forward with something that's truly shaped by the community." Kentucky A state inspector visited a quarry owned by Drakes Creek Holding at the end of May to investigate blasting complaints. e Daily News reports that the company began blasting on May 27. In a le er to nearby residents, the company said it would blast between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., but residents claimed blasting took place a er 2 p.m. Hundreds of Simpson County residents a ended community meetings about the quarry and fought its approval. A vice president for Drakes Creek Holdings' sister company, Charles Deweese Construction, told the newspaper that the state inspector had visited the site, reviewed the records and documents, and "found us to be 100-percent compliant with all regulations." Georgia Broad River Quarries LLC is suing Rockdale County for knowingly allowing an illegal quarry and treating a competitor more favorably for "arbitrary and capricious" reasons. Rockdale News reports a new Watershed Protection Zoning designation was put into place in 2010, and that designation impacted the property in question. At the time, the existing operation was 'grandfathered' and allowed to remain in business. In 2010, Broad River Quarries considered buying the site in a bankruptcy sale, but was informed by the county that the grandfathered zoning status no longer applied. A Rhode Island company purchased the site, and a year later, Rhode Island-based Granites of America was operating a quarry there. e county planning director sent the company a notice that it was operating illegally and issued a cease-and-desist notice, but later that year granted a business license application to the current operator, Georgia Stone Industries, which has the same business address as Granites of America. California Soiland Co.'s Stony Point Rock Quarry expects to lower its energy costs following the installation of a new photovoltaic array of solar panels and a battery system designed to handle peak usage spikes. According to the North Bay Business Journal, a 300-kilowatt system was installed on 2 acres of the property. The series of solar modules uses sun-fol- lowing technology that is motorized so they can point toward the sun during more hours of the day than stationary arrays. Soland Co. President Mark Soiland told the newspaper that the system produces enough energy to accommodate normal operations, but the battery will help with peaks that can reach 700 kilowatts. This will allow the company to avoid utility bills that increased from $13,00 in April 2012 to $24,000 in May 2012, when the California Public Utilities Commission eliminated the average rate limiter, and penalties were assessed to high-usage commercial consumers. The solar array cost $1.6 million and was funded through a seven-year lease and government tax credits.

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