November 14, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Residents trying to stop Jones Brothers Contractors LLC from starting up a rock quarry in the Liberty/ Alexandria area are being afforded a public hearing to speak out against the state’s issuance of a water quality permit for the proposed operation and the potential impact on human health and the environment.
(Click link below to access mor information on this proposed project)
https://www.tn.gov/environment/ppo-public-participation/ppo-public-participation/ppo-dmgr.html
In a public notice issued Wednesday, November 13 the Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources announced that it will hold a public hearing regarding the proposed issuance of a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. The public hearing will be held Tuesday, December 17 at 6 p.m. at the DeKalb County Complex. An information session will be held at 5 p.m.
This comes on the heels of the county commission last month, by a two thirds majority, having adopted the county powers act and regulations prohibiting rock quarries, rock crushers, gravel pits, cryptocurrency mining, landfills, adult entertainment and methadone clinics from locating within 5,000 feet of a residence, school, licensed daycare facility, park, recreation center, church, retail, commercial, professional, or industrial establishment. This regulation would apply to all such facilities that were not in existence and in operation by October 28, 2024. No word yet from the county on when the provisions of the county powers act will be enforced.
During a posted public comment period through September 27, residents in the Liberty/Alexandria area through fax, emails, and phone calls requested a hearing on the proposed permit application for a new limestone quarry to be named Jones Alexandria Quarry at 2159 Old Highway 53, Liberty in DeKalb County. The receiving stream for the proposed discharge of treated mine and wastewater and industrial waste is Helton Creek. The public hearing will be presented via video-teleconference and may be attended online, by phone, or in-person.
The purpose of the hearing is to gather information from the public relevant to a final decision on the permit application. Comments not related to water quality or to the information contained in the permit application will not be considered in the decision-making process. Issues such as air quality, zoning, blasting, noise, dust, and traffic are not related to water quality and are not regulated by the Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources or the NPDES program therefore, consideration of these issues would not contribute relevant information for the proposed permit.
While an application for a water discharge permit for Jones Brothers is pending approval, the state’s Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources website shows no such application on file for a quarry operation by Smyrna Ready Mix Concrete Company off Highway 70 at Snow Hill on North Driver Road.
Daniel Lawrence, Program Manager Division of the Mineral & Geologic Resources Mining Section in the Knoxville Environmental Field Office spoke with WJLE by phone in August to explain the reasons for a water discharge permit.
“Ultimately this is a water quality permit so this regulates any water that would be discharged from the facility,” said Lawrence. “The idea being we put limits on that water in order to protect the stream to make sure any water leaving the facility is not going to pollute the stream and cause any problems. That is the main authority the state has over mining facilities. We get a lot of questions and concerns about other aspects of mining and things like blasting, truck trafficking noise, and dust but we don’t have any authority over that and its outside of the scope of this draft permit,” Lawrence explained.
He also described the meaning of the term “wastewater” in the Jones Brothers permit application.
“When you hear that word wastewater a lot of people assume sewage, domestic wastewater and that sort of thing. That is technically the correct term but its really rain that has come into contact with processing rock so if there is any rain that falls on a rock crusher the water that runs off of that is considered to be wastewater by the legal technicalities. It doesn’t mean sewage or domestic wastewater discharge in this case,” said Lawrence.