Aggregates Manager

July 2017

Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine

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ee by Therese Dunphy | Editor-in-Chief tdunphy@randallreilly.com 6 AGGREGATES MANAGER / July 2017 To keep up to date with news from the United States and Canada, visit www.AggMan.com for daily updates. STATE & PROVINCE NEWS CALIFORNIA A former quarry in Novato has been transformed into a solar farm, KPIX reports. The Cooley Quarry solar farm includes more than 6,000 solar panels, which generate approximately 1 megawatt of electricity. According to the news outlet, that is enough to power 300 homes. Marin Clean Energy, the local utility, contracted for the power with a program called "Local Sol." The program is designed for "its most environmentally conscious clientele" based on the theory that some energy is lost in distance, making energy generated in close proximity the most energy efficient. CALIFORNIA Two years after being turned down in a close 3-2 vote, Las Pili- tas Resources LLC has once again applied for a permit to build a 41-acre quarry in rural Santa Margarita. According to The Tribune, the proposal is half the size of the original proposal, which would reduce the operation's impact on traffic — a key factor in its orig- inal rejection. The amendment to its original plan reduces annual extraction to 250,000 tons per year and suggests a different truck route. The proposal is under its initial review period by the county. CONNECTICUT ILLINOIS The owners of Farm River Rock are suing the town of East Haven for $25 million. According to WTNH, the 70-year-old quarry was handed a cease-and-desist order after being denied a blasting permit. The owner's attorney, Peter Alter, told the news outlet that the mayor has been bullying and harassing the operation. In one year, its land taxes increased from $15,000 to $107,000 per acre. "There is a concentrated effort by the mayor, at his direction, and town officials to attempt to tax this quarry out of business," Alter said. The town attorney didn't com- ment, but Alter says that additional lawsuits may be filed against the mayor and town officials as the operator looks to resume his business. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has argued in a state appellate court brief that groundwater monitoring on quarries is necessary to protect drinking water "from the ongoing threat posed by the placement of unchecked materials…directly into the water table." Clean construction-demo- lition debris has been allowed in quarries after meeting a requirement that professionals examine the waste first. Dan Eichholz, president of the Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers, told the Associated Press that a professional engineer or geologist must test the soil at the site where the waste material has come from to ensure that contaminants do not exceed allowed levels. "Any load that's suspicious has to be rejected," he said. Eichholz explained that it's a low-margin busi- ness and designed to prevent landfill burial. NEW JERSEY A teen who jumped into a Prospect Park quarry, going around fencing to do so, was rescued by police officers in a daring rescue. According to CBS New York, Jeremi- ah Surak jumped off a ledge into the water. Despite air temperatures in the mid-80s, the water was only about 40 degrees. Four officers climbed nearly a mile down the embankment and went into the water to get him out as quickly as possible. The officers struggled to get the 15-year-old out, but managed a successful rescue. They shared one piece of advice with local viewers: "if there is a fence, it's there for a reason. Don't go in." NEVADA Teichert Aggregates hosted a meeting for area residents living near its Martis Valley Quarry in Truckee prior to an upcoming permit review, the Sierra Sun reports. When it was discovered that there had not been a formal review of the operator's permit since 2002, the operator asked for a slight delay in the review so it could meet with neighbor- hood residents and hear their concerns directly. A member of a new citizens group, Protect Air and Water Quality in Truckee, told the newspaper that he was less concerned with the mining portion of the operation than he was the asphalt plant, noting concerns about the odor. COLORADO Transit Mix Concrete filed a case in El Paso County District Court after the Colorado Mine Land Reclamation Board overruled the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety's recommendation and denied the opera- tor's permit. The Gazette reports that the board's denial was based on three concerns: legal access to a local road, possible harm to nearby wells, and concerns about wild turkeys and the Mexican spotted owl. Transit Mix alleges that the objections are unfounded and the board "abused its discretion and acted in a manner that was arbitrary, capricious, unsubstantiated by the substantial evidence, and contrary to law." The columnist covering the issue described the last concerns as "environmental-activist spaghetti thrown against the wall in hopes something would stick."

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