Over 150 people showed up at the Calhoun Elementary School on Thursday night, November 18 to show their opposition to the proposed rock quarry.
15 speakers presented the case to TDEC that Avenrock/East Tennessee Materials/Calhoun Materials (pick any of the above names for this group; we're not sure they know their true name) has consistently shown a lack of attention to detail in their preparation to open a quarry off Bowater Road.
-Nathan Melton accurately pointed to the fact that the developers used an outdated Army Corps of Engineers manual (1987 manual) to perform a wetlands study of the quarry site. There is a supplement to this manual put in place in July 2010 specifically for the Piedmont and Eastern Mountain Region which includes Tennessee. I'm sure the developers are not aware of this supplemental manual. Nathan rightly requested that TDEC cease the permitting process until another study can be performed using up to date information.
In addition, this group performed this wetlands study in September of 2008 during one of the worst droughts in 100 years. These drought conditions began in 2006, but were not referenced in the study. Finally, Nathan pointed to the fact that the study was contracted by an unknown parent company of the quarry developers and according to EPA regulations, material submitted by an applicant should have complete transparency - listing an unknown parent company does not exactly meet a standard of transparency.
-Sharon Melton pointed to numerous inaccuracies and an overall lack of attention to detail in the developers TDEC Application. Do we really want a group running a quarry in Calhoun when they can't complete basic functions of the application process?
-Brenda Gossett asked TDEC if TVA at one point owned this property and still maintains certain deed restrictions on the site, does this fact trigger a NEPA study? Along the same lines, if Bowater also maintains deed restrictions, are they willing to deny this quarry use on the site?
-Lena Beth Carmichael, who is with the UT Extension office in Athens, brought to light the fact that her office has been working on cleaning up the Oostanaula Creek for the last few years and to now have a quarry pollute that creek would wipe out all the progress they have made.
