PUBLIC HEARING ANNOUNCED - November 18, 2010

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the Division of Water Pollution Control, Mining Section, will hold the following public hearing pursuant to Rule 1200-4-5-.06 of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation:

Thursday, November 18, 2010
7:00 p.m. EST
Calhoun Elementary School Gymnasium
150 Sherwood Avenue
Calhoun, Tennessee 37309

Last Day to Submit Written Comments for Hearing Record: November 29, 2010

Click HERE for the PDF Full Announcement

County Ready to Close CR 971?

We're hearing County Mayor Gentry is quietly telling officials to prepare for the closing of CR 971, where the head start is located. If the quarry is permitted, CR 971 will be directly in the middle of the 421 acre quarry operation, with a giant conveyor belt overhead. Some speculate the County doesn't want the liability of giant rocks and boulders being conveyed over 971 from the quarry pit to the asphalt plant, concrete pipe plant, brink manufacturing plant, and ready-mix plant. We also imagine the insurance premiums for such an operation would be astronomical, so it's cheaper for the developer to just have the road shut down. Wonder how this will sit with members of the Hiwassee Baptist Church along 954?

We believe the County Commission will be forced to take a vote on closing this road - please call your County Commission members and tell them to keep this road open!

**READ ALL ABOUT IT**

Copy of Quarry Application is finally online, thanks to Channel 9

*****Click here for the PDF version*****

Remember, comments on the application and requests for a public hearing are due by September 20th.

Channel 9 Report

Our newest neighbor

The quarry developer owns another quarry in Indiana. From his website:

All of our employees are committed to doing everything it takes to satisfy our customers. We routinely work extraordinary hours to have products available when our customers need them - both from a production standpoint, as well as having the scales open and loading out trucks. Whether it’s opening at 3:45 a.m., or working through the weekends and holidays, we strive to continually surpass our customer’s expectations.

Sounds like he'll make a great neighbor, at least the trucks will be on the road before the school buses.

Calhoun Quarry Meeting

Over 100 people came to the quarry meeting in Calhoun last night, with more than 40+ standing outside trying to hear, and reports of one woman literally fainting in the lobby due to the heat and crowd. For those that could not get in or were turned away, here is the full meeting. The meeting lasted nearly 50 minutes, so this is broken into 4 parts. Enjoy.

PART 1




PART 2




PART 3




PART 4

The Quarry Pictured on Our Site

The developers made a big deal tonight about the picture of the quarry along the waterway, and how "misleading" it is. As we've said from the beginning, this is not the site in Calhoun...yet. The developers said this quarry was "probably from Europe somewhere", and was "massive" compared to their quarry.

Well, we are sorry to inform the developers this quarry is from the good old U.S. of A. This is a rock quarry in San Rafael, California. The "pit" of the San Rafael quarry started small and is currently roughly 50 acres, and the entire site is just over 500 acres. The "pit" for the Calhoun quarry will be 40 acres, and Ross Tarver said his quarry property he is selling is over 500 acres (although, to be fair to Mr. Tarver, only 421 acres will be in the "affected area" according to his application).

So yes, while the picture above is not exactly what Calhoun's new quarry will look like, it is very close, off by 10 acres.

For another picture, click here

Fuzzy Math

The developers tonight said the 421-acre quarry plus cement plant, ready mix plant, asphalt plant, and concrete pipe manufacturing plant would generate $20 million dollars in the first 5 years. But when the same group met with the McMinn County officials, they said the quarry would produce $100 million dollars in 5 years (this was also reported in the DPA).

We invite the developers to clarify in the comments section below.

MEETING TONIGHT - 6:00pm

Tonight may be the only time to hear more details about the proposed 421-acre rock quarry for McMinn County, just outside of Calhoun. County Mayor Gentry has said the developers from New York, as well as local land-owner Ross Tarver will be in attendance. Come hear from the developer, view the maps, and review the application. It may be the last chance you have to learn more about this project. See you there!

Calhoun Municipal Building
746 Tennessee 163
Meeting starts at 6:00pm (you may want to get there early)

*NOTE* This may not be a specific agenda item, so we will need to speak during the "public comment" period of the meeting.

Time to be heard

Mayor Gentry has said the developers from "east tennessee materials" will be in attendance on Monday night's Commission meeting in Calhoun. This may be the only opportunity to ask your questions. Please come prepared to ask your question and/or tell your story during the "citizen comment" period of the meeting.

Quarry opponents, developers will be at Calhoun meeting

The Daily Post-Athenian
Jason Reynolds, Staff Writer

More flyers have been distributed around the Calhoun area that rail against a proposed rock quarry, and one of the people involved in the venture plans to attend the next Calhoun City Commission meeting to defend the project.

“It’s great for McMinn County, or I wouldn’t be involved in it,” said Charleston businessman Ross Tarver. “We want to be forthcoming with information.”

The Calhoun Commission meets next Monday at 6 p.m. The quarry is being proposed for a site on Bowater Road, or State Highway 163 near the Hiwassee River, which is close to but outside Calhoun’s city limits. Tarver said he is the current owner of the 503-acre site where the quarry would be located. The property address is 130 County Road 971, or Oostanaula Valley Road, according to state documents.

Calhoun Mayor Gary Barham declined to comment for this story.

The quarry would operate as East Tennessee Materials Quarry, according to Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation documents. The operation would mine and process limestone. TDEC is seeking public comments on the quarry through Sept. 20.

Previous flyers denouncing the quarry prompted Tim Townhill, an investor in the project, to appear before the McMinn County Commission last month and describe his plans. Now, at least two more flyers are being distributed around the area, and Tarver said he plans to attend the Calhoun meeting in case people show up to discuss the quarry. He called the flyers “fictional material.”

The flyers do not identify their writer, but one does give an anonymous e-mail address for sharing information. One of the recent flyers says 264 trucks driving daily to and from the quarry would damage the roads, and posed a rhetorical question asking if East Tennessee Materials would post a bond to guarantee the roads would be repaired. The flyer also says the quarry would build a road leading into Calhoun.

One flyer also says blasting at the quarry will be felt for at least five miles away and asks how much dynamite will be stored there, and connects the 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City with rock quarry blasting materials. The five-mile blasting citation is not true, Tarver said. The quarry will use a controlled blasting technique, he said, and the blasting work will be done by contractors, so no dynamite will be stored on-site.

Tarver said it’s true the rock quarry would generate a lot of truck traffic, but the trucks would only use Highway 163. A lot of truck traffic would mean the quarry is generating a lot of business, which would be good for employment and for generating tax revenue for the county, he said.

The quarry would take water out of the Oostanaula Creek and return water to the creek after it is filtered, Tarver said. State and federal environmental guidelines regulate that process to ensure there is no harm to the creek, he said.

Townhill, an investor in the proposed quarry, previously said the quarry could generate up to 20 direct jobs, plus truck driving jobs. A ready-mix cement plant also could be built. He said he expected to receive state environmental permits by October and to begin operations by spring or summer 2011.

Tarver said he questions the motives of whomever distributed the flyers because the flyers are anonymous. He said he has investigated the quarry’s investors and believes they will be responsible community members. The quarry would operate on about 40 acres of the 503-acre site, he said.

Susan Brannon and her husband Richard own a home on County Road 954, which is about two miles from the quarry, she said. She has been in touch with the anonymous flyer distributor, as well as state officials because she is concerned about the quarry’s impact on her home. Brannon said she does not know who distributed the flyers.

I’m concerned about dust pollution from the blasting,” she said. “And I’m afraid it’s going to do something to my well. That’s my only source of water.”

Brannon said she and her husband are worried the blasting could damage their home’s foundation. Their homeowners insurance policy excludes damage from man-made shifting of ground, she said. Brannon said she and her husband plan to attend the Calhoun meeting Monday, even though the rock quarry is not located inside the city.

“I don’t think they’re going to be able to address my concerns,” she said of the people planning the quarry.

E-mail: jason.reynolds@dailypostatahenian.com

What does 50 years of blasting look like?

Someone suggested the quarry picture on this page is misleading. We have said the picture is indeed, not the current piece of property owned by Tarver. And we will say further, the Calhoun/McMinn Quarry will probably look different after 50 years of blasting. But the idea is the same. Townhill said the quarry pit will 30 acres, the rest of the 421 acres will be "affected area", according to the application. What does affected area mean? If you look at the picture of the quarry here, it appears the quarry pit is roughly 30 acres, the rest of the blasted area is "affected area". You CANNOT blast out 1,250,000 million tons of rock EVERY YEAR for 50 YEARS (as the Quarry application states - their words, not ours) and keep a rock quarry to 30 acres. Anyone who believes that is fooling themselves.

Endangered Species Prefers the Hiwassee

A new article in the Times Free Press details the efforts to save the "Hellbender Salamander", an endangered species that makes the Hiwassee River its home.

"The Hiwassee, they said, is one of the few waterways left in the United States that provides ideal conditions for hellbenders (salamanders)."

Construction, agriculture, mining and other human activities that disturb rivers and streams are displacing hellbenders, he said.

Click HERE for the full article

Traffic Traffic Traffic

The QUARRY application from “East Tennessee Materials, LLC” says they will mine 1,250,000 TONS of limestone EACH YEAR for the next 50 years.

According to Wikipedia, the average “Super Dump” truck hauls up to
26 TONS per load. This means:

48,077 - Truck Loads per year
96,154 - Truck Trips per YEAR (Load x 2 = empty in + full out)
1,849 - Truck Trips per WEEK
264 - Truck Trips per DAY (7 days a week)
26.4 - Truck Trips per HOUR (based on a 10 hr work day)

All this, for the NEXT 50 YEARS (their words, not ours)

For those of us on wells

A good point was raised the other night when talking with a neighbor - what will happen to those outside of Calhoun who are on wells?  Does the blasting affect those wells?  If I have a shorter well, am we more likely to be affected?  Will a deeper well be safer?  Do the investors plan to conduct surveys of peoples homes and wells before they start blasting every day?  If so, who will they survey, those in a 1-mile radius, 2 mile radius....???

If anyone has information on the effects of blasting on wells, please share it in the comments section.  Also, if anyone knows an appraiser or insurance contact that can tell us how to do a survey before these guys start blasting, share that here as well.  Thanks.

CEO of the New Rock Quarry

Meet Colin Oerton and his wife, Elizabeth.  Colin is the CEO of VantaCore Partners, the investment bankers out of New York City who want to build their first quarry here in McMinn County with a massive 421-acre quarry off Bowater Road. (Thanks to the reader who passed this along, you're right, not sure he looks like the quarry operator type)

Who is "East Tennessee Materials, LLC" ???

Just who is behind the quarry proposal?  The application materials list "East Tennessee Materials, LLC" as the official applicant.  But it also lists "Calhoun Materials, LLC" as the group who paid for studies a few years ago.  The application also mistakenly lists "Avenrock, LLC" as the applicant (as if old plans were hastily copied/pasted from a previous application).   We know Ross Tarver bought the property for just over $3 million dollars from Bowater.  And before that, it was owned by Portland Cement (who, for some reason, never tried to develop a quarry).

The spokesperson is an investment banker named Tim Townhill from New York (or maybe Philadelphia) who says he works for "East Tennessee Materials, LLC" but lists his address in Cleveland, TN (which is actually a lawyer's office). Turns out Townhill is a British investment hedge fund manager and Executive Vice President for a company called "VantaCore Partners, LP."  VantaCore is a subsidiary of Kayne Anderson Energy Development Company (got that?)

Looks like VantaCore is essentially a hedge fund that is more interested in turning profits than protecting McMinn County.  It appears VantaCore's parent company also does oil and gas drilling; refineries; and coal mining and processing (an environmental tri-fecta, if you will).

VantaCore has virtually no experience in rock quarries.  They bought a sand plant in Louisiana 2 years ago, and kept all 15 of the existing employees; and bought a rock quarry in Clarksville 2 years ago and kept those employees as well.

What does all this tell us?  It tells us this company is brand new to the quarry business.  Either they are going to flip it and sell it to the highest bidder, or they are going to try to operate this quarry themselves.  Their application said they will employ 10 full time people.  How many will come from McMinn County?

The rumor is brothers Thomas and Steve Williams will operate at least part of the asphalt plant and the cement plant, but we don't know for sure.

Quarry Truck Kills 3

Aug, 26 2010

Calif. — A runaway truck hauling tons of gravel flew off an embankment Tuesday and crushed a home, killing a man, a woman and a child inside, authorities said.

The truck's brakes might have failed as it careened along State Highway 154 and through two intersections, then hit two parked cars before plunging down a driveway onto the house.

"Completely flattened it," Santa Barbara County fire Capt. David Sadecki said.

To Read More, Click Here