Aggregates Manager

July 2015

Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine

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State & Province Province NEWS To keep up to date with news from the United States and Canada, visit www.AggMan.com for daily updates. by Therese Dunphy, Editor-in-Chief tdunphy@randallreilly.com AGGREGATES MANAGER July 2015 6 Kentucky New leaders of the Kentucky Crushed Stone Association (KCSA) were re- cently announced. According to The Advocate Messenger, John Albright, of Caldwell Stone, was elected to a three-year term as a director of the association. Phil Crump, of Mercer Stone Co., was re-elected. In 2014, the state reportedly produced more than 40 million tons of aggregates valued at more than $350 million. New Jersey Millington Quarry Inc. received a renewal of its annual operating license in a 3-2 Township Committee vote, The Bernardsville News reports. Operators said they have an estimated fi ve years of mining remaining at the operation until it would transition to residential use. Tainted soil brought into the site in previous years has been an ongoing issue for the operator and its former tenant. Community residents opposed to the mine encouraged local offi cials to reject the license based on "Section 1" of the general licensing ordinance, which allows a license to be rejected if the applicant's "character, ability, or business responsibility is unsatisfactory." Massachusetts Representatives for West Roxbury Crushed Stone outlined their plans to fi ll in the quarry during a recent community meeting. Wickedlocal.com reports that key points to the op- erator's plan include ending blasting no later than 12 years after the reclamation process begins; fi lling the quarry with clean, S-1 soil that the state DEP considers to be acceptable for use in sensitive locations; instituting a cap on the amount of trucks entering and leaving the facility; holding truck driv- ers accountable for their driving; and having qualifi ed envi- ronmental professionals at both the site where soil is being taken from and where it is being transported. Earlier this year, a city councilor said that he was concerned about the soil that would be used to fi ll the quarry and authored a zoning code amendment "to provide for a robust community process before the acceptance of any soil or dirt." Missouri Winter Brothers Material Co. faces another round of com- munity opposition in its 14-year-long effort to permit a new quarry. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, it withdrew a petition for a special-use permit to allow mining on 363 acres in Eureka several months ago. Now, it hopes to permit a 537-acre property in unincorporated St. Louis County that it says is better suited for mining. While community members acknowledge that the opera- tor has committed to "high-tech mining processes," they continue to be concerned about the impact of truck traf- fi c. A study by the Missouri Department of Transportation shows that new access roads commissioned by the opera- tor will result in an increase of traffi c on area thorough- fares of only 0.6 percent. The operator has also agreed to address truck access near the local highway. Indiana In early June, Judge Randy Williams ruled against Rog- ers Group Inc. in a case it brought against Tippecanoe County. The Lafayette Journal & Courier reports that the lawsuit involved the county commissioners, the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Area Plan Commission, and the Tippecanoe County building commissioner. In 2014, commissioners passed an ordinance prohibiting new quarry operations when 100 residences are within a 2-mile radius. The lawsuit alleges that commission- ers don't have power to pass an ordinance banning the quarry, that commissioners violated the operator's mineral rights by passing the ordinance, and that the county had taken its land without just compensation. The judge's ruling states, "The Board of Commissioners of Tippecanoe County properly passed the Ordinance as an exercise of its broad home rule authority to regulate conduct, or use or possession of property that might en- danger the public health, safety, or welfare." Essentially, the judge says that the ordinance is a safety ordinance rather than a zoning one. New York At Aggregates Manager's press time, the Lockport County Council was expected to hear La- farge's proposal to expand its existing operation by using a parcel it purchased that is located within the city limits. According to The Buffalo News, the expansion of the Redlands Quarry received approval by the city's planning board in January 2014, but was never presented to the county council for offi cial action. One concern about the request was that blasting at the site might damage underground pipes that carry the area's drinking water. The county's legal representative said he had received materials from Lafarge that had not yet been reviewed. The operator's response to that concern may have been addressed in those materials.

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