Rock quarry riles residents

HALLTOWN – Over 150 members of the Halltown and surrounding communities met at the Halltown Community Center on Tuesday night to discuss their concerns over a proposed limestone quarry that they fear will affect their way of life.

The planned location for the quarry, which will be operated by Limestone Redbay, Inc. out of Columbus, Miss., is on the west side of Franklin 25 about one mile south of Alabama 24.

Residents living nearby or with properties adjoining the 100-acre quarry fear that it will cause damage to their homes, the environment and the surrounding community.

According to records, Limestone Redbay filed applications with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management on March 16 requesting both air and water permits, a step that must be taken before the quarry can become operational.

The public notice said the permits would be for “proposed discharges of treated drainage from a crushed stone mine, wet preparation, and associated areas to an Unnamed Tributary to Bear Creek” and “construction and operation of a limestone crushing, screening, and conveying operation [where] emissions of particulate matter would be minimized by the use of wet suppression.”

In the notice, ADEM stated they had tentatively determined that the proposed actions would meet water quality and air pollution standards, but Halltown residents aren’t so sure.

Jody Humphries, who lives less than a mile from the blast zone, said there are children living within the mile radius who have asthma and she worries the dust created by the quarry will be a health hazard.

“How are these children going to be able to play outside, especially the ones with breathing problems, if they’re having to breathe limestone dust?” she asked. “We don’t want dust everywhere.”

Limestone Redbay’s president, Thomas Comer, Jr., said dust shouldn’t be a factor in residents’ concerns.

“I have strict laws I’ll have to follow and I can’t put dust a mile away from here,” Comer said. “If I was going to cover the area in dust, I wouldn’t be able to receive my permits.”

ADEM public relations officer Scott Hughes said Comer’s company will have certain guidelines to follow to insure the air quality of the area isn’t compromised.

“Typically with this type of facility, the size of the particulate matter being crushed is large enough that it usually doesn’t get caught up in the wind,” Hughes said. “But to further prevent a problem, the company must use ‘wet suppression’ by spraying water on the piles of crushed material and they must be kept wet at all times.”

Halltown resident Jan Page said she knew the quarry would be under strict regulations, but it did not ease her concerns.

“If you pass by any rock quarry, you’re going to see dust. It’s just there,” she said. “I don’t see how they can keep all that dust contained to the quarry and not have it spread. But that’s the problem: we’re told things will be a certain way, but we won’t know until it actually happens.”

Hughes said the water permits issued by ADEM would allow the company to discharge treated water into surface water, which in this case means the creek near the quarry site that is a tributary to the Bear Creek water system.

“Limestone Redbay will have monitoring requirements, discharge limits and other qualifications to make sure there is no negative impact to the water quality in the area,” Hughes said.

Residents voiced several concerns about the water that would be flowing back into Bear Creek, but many residents in the Halltown community depend on spring or well water and worry the blasting at the quarry could have a negative impact on that water source, which isn’t regulated by ADEM.

“We only focus on surface water,” Hughes said.

Since this type of water source isn’t monitored by ADEM, the organization could not provide assurance that well or spring water would not be affected by the blasting.

While these issues with water and air quality weighed heavily on residents’ minds, the issue of what the rock blasting could do to their homes was what had them worried the most.

After consulting a map obtained from the county engineer’s office, Halltown resident Johnny Weatherford told meeting participants that within a two-mile radius of the blast zone, there were about 100 homes that could potentially be affected.

“Once again, I wouldn’t be given a permit if I was going to tear up homes,” Comer said. “I’ve been to quarries in Alabama and Arkansas and there are houses built all around these quarries. There are houses that are 300 feet from a quarry I went to in Arkansas, and those people haven’t had their houses fall apart.”

But residents attending Tuesday’s meeting heard a different story from Harley Kent, who lives nine-tenths of a mile from the Vulcan Materials quarry on U.S. 72 in Tuscumbia.

“My fight is with Vulcan, so I can’t talk about this company coming in here or what they’ll do,” Kent said, “but I can show you and tell you what blasting did to my home.”

Kent said he built his house in 1980 and 21 years later there wasn’t a crack in the mortar or the sheetrock. But once Vulcan started blasting rock, Kent said there are now cracks in the mortar, the sheetrock and the foundation of his home. He showed residents pictures he had taken of the damage.

Alton Barksdale, a Halltown resident and owner of a construction company, said Kent’s house was basically worthless.

“He won’t ever be able to sell that house with the damage that’s been done to it,” Barksdale said.

Residents know that quarry officials are saying the blasting won’t cause damage to their homes, but stories like Kent’s have them worried that if these officials are wrong, it will be too late.

“A vast majority of these residents’ assets are in their homes,” Jane Williams said. “What will we do if they’re destroyed?”

Wade Inmon, who said he lives three-tenths of a mile from the blasting zone, said he couldn’t stand the thought of his home being ruined due to the blasting.

“Most of the people around here are lower or middle class,” Inmon said. “I’ve worked my whole life to have the house I have and I don’t want to see it torn up.”

Comer said he will hire licensed companies to do the blasting and that if there is any damage as a result of that blasting, it would be that company’s responsibility.

“I don’t think there will be any damage, but if there if the blasting company causes the damage, I would think they should fix it.”

Comer said, to him, this quarry was “strictly a business,” but he stressed county residents should be more receptive to its coming because the quarry could help stimulate the economy.

“I don’t know how it is there, but it my hometown, there just aren’t any jobs to be had,” Comer said. “This quarry will provide around 30 to 40 new jobs and the county will receive a 10-cent-per-ton tax off the stone. It will help the local economy.”

Even though the county is in need of more jobs and money, Halltown residents are worried about the price they’ll have to pay for it.

“Our area is hurting for jobs and this quarry may be considered ‘progress,’ but if that progress comes at the expense of our homes and our quality of life, it’s progress we can do without here in Halltown,” Page said.

According to Hughes, residents have until April 15 to submit questions or concerns to ADEM or to request a public hearing. After that date, ADEM representatives will review the comments to identify things they might have overlooked. No time period is specified for how long the review process will take. Hughes said it will depend on the number of questions submitted and the technical nature of the questions.

Residents said Tuesday they planned to send questions to ADEM. They hope by voicing their concerns, they might be able to stop the quarry from becoming operational.

Hughes said after the questions have been reviewed, ADEM will make a decision as to whether or not permits will be issued.