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
"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)
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.
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
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.
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)