The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality recently held a public hearing regarding a potential mining operation in Alamance County.
Residents of the town of Snow Camp are concerned about the environmental and health hazards the proposed crushed stone quarry will bring. Forty residents spoke asking the state to deny the permit application for the quarry.A quarry is an open-pit mine where rock, stone and sand is dug up from the ground.
The proposed stone quarry in Snow Camp would have a depth of 325 feet. According to the permit application, up to 500,000 gallons of water will be pumped per day to get to the stone.
At the public hearing, resident Pam Allen Causey said she knows what it's like to live near a quarry. She grew up when the Holmes Mill Soap Stone mine was in operation.
“I remember the constant smell of diesel exhaust, the dust, and so forth,” she said. “I played on the playground here at Sylvan [Elementary] School with the soapstone quarry just a few miles away. I remember the blasting. I remember the fear as a child. I’m a two-time cancer survivor. Is there any connection?”
Alamance Aggregates LLC is the company that submitted the permit application to the state. A company representative was at the meeting but declined to speak. The Alamance County Planning Commission has already approved an intent-to-construct permit.
A number of residents said they were upset that there was no opportunity for input before the county approved the permit.
John Campbell is a farmer. He said he’s worried about how the potential stone quarry will affect his livelihood.
“We sell lettuce, tomatoes collards and cucumbers,” he said. “I have a well. If the well were to go dry it would make it so it [water] would be polluted. It would make it so I couldn’t water the vegetables. I couldn’t make my living; I couldn’t do what I do. I’m a farmer. I don’t have another job.”
The hearing brought out public figures in the community as well, like State Representative for House District 64 Dennis Riddell. He wants to make sure the quarry also has to get a waste and storm water discharge permit. The permit would put limits on discharges to protect water quality and people's health.
“None of those sensible requirements are currently in place,” he said. “Do we want to wait until the operation is in full force to get an answer?”
The quarry’s location would be close to a Colonial Gas pipeline and a Duke Energy transmission line. Both companies say they haven't taken a position on the situation but will continue to monitor it.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality will either approve, deny or request more information for the permit application on January 12.
