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Quarry Notice in Cave Rich Area

PostPosted: Jan 30, 2013 4:37 pm
by caver.adam
A sign has recently been posted announcing that a Quarry will soon be built in Bonneville, Ky. There are caves of reasonable size within less than 1/2 mile of the cave as the crow flies. and within a mile there are several hundred acres of karst landscape including numerous unconnected caves.

A local land owner asked the grotto to do anything it could to help stand up to the quarry. It was reported by the local land-owner that on January 29th a state inspector came down to the quarry and informed them that they cannot begin site preparations until they have filed for a permit. No permit application has been filed. The only notice of the quarry is that there is a sign along the road and work to prepare the area appears to have been done.

I wanted to put this out to the greater caving community so that any experts or persons with experience could have notice that this is occurring and that people are watching it to see how things progress.

Re: Quarry Notice in Cave Rich Area

PostPosted: Jan 30, 2013 6:21 pm
by tncaver
Will the intended quarry actually impact any known caves? If so, find any kind of endangered species in the general vicinity and you can probably stop the quarry.

Re: Quarry Notice in Cave Rich Area

PostPosted: Jan 30, 2013 6:24 pm
by graveleye
so they were just going to start quarrying before they even got a permit? They didn't even file for one?? Good grief.
I'm not sure how those sorts of business license issues work in Ky (or anywhere for that matter), but I'm glad they stopped them. There might be time to do some sort of environmental assessment now.

Re: Quarry Notice in Cave Rich Area

PostPosted: Jan 31, 2013 11:00 am
by caver.adam
No knowledge that they were going to start work before getting a permit. Only that they are working on roads and above ground preparation.

Re: Quarry Notice in Cave Rich Area

PostPosted: Jan 31, 2013 1:46 pm
by graveleye
Ahh ok that makes sense.

Re: Quarry Notice in Cave Rich Area

PostPosted: Feb 4, 2013 1:35 am
by Teresa
Find out the legal description (or a close GPS) of the property, and go to the local county newspaper (where people post "notices of record" and ask if any public notices to quarry have been posted. Obviously the state mine inspection people already know of this if they sent an inspector. Find your county level administrator for your and the quarry area and talk to him/her about what has already been done, and your concerns. Go to the county courthouse and look for a permit to mine or a permit to blast. (Most of these operations require city, county and state level pemits depending where the quarry is located.) Assume you already have the name of the operator. Ask also for any local environmental or water quality studies, if nearby wells or streams are affected. If streams tributary to a navigable river would be affected, contact the Army Corps of Engineers and alert them.

In short; find out who where, when, how,how much and how big about the operation, then go to your county administrator, and ask if all their paperwork has been filled out, and what paperwork needs to be done before blasting. Get all the local landowners interested in the matter: blasting during what hours, near schools, how heavy trucks will affect local roads etc. Don't start out with your concern about caves; start out with other infrastructure and community questions. You may not be able to stop the operation, but locals can most certainly affect the manner in which it is done.

Re: Quarry Notice in Cave Rich Area

PostPosted: Feb 5, 2013 10:46 am
by caver.adam
Thanks for the reply. We had not considered talking to the Army Corps of Engineers yet. I don't know how far upstream they care about. I'm trying to make sure the group follows your advice about caring about tangible facts. Will have them review your message.

Re: Quarry Notice in Cave Rich Area

PostPosted: Feb 5, 2013 7:51 pm
by Crockett
Contact the Kentucky Resources Council.

http://www.kyrc.org/index.shtml