PORT LUDLOW — The owner of a proposed Iron Mountain Quarry project near Port Ludlow said his only option is to file suit against Jefferson County after the county Department of Community Development determined that the proposed basalt rock mining operation would affect the environment.
Jim Burnett, Iron Mountain Quarry Inc. owner, said he had spent more than $500,000 on independent environmental studies that determined there would be no significant environmental effects from the 142-acre basalt mining operation.
The county’s position will require an environmental impact statement.
“We obviously disagree with the county assessment,” Burnett said Wednesday of the project the company now calls New Shine Quarry, which would be south of Port Ludlow, adjacent to the existing Shine Quarry.
“We have gone above and beyond the normal scope of a project of this type.
“To put it mildly, we’re pretty disappointed in the county and feel the only remedy is in court.”
Brent Carson, attorney for Iron Mountain, said a lawsuit would be filed in Jefferson County Superior County in the next few days.
The company seeks a stormwater permit through the State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA.
Stacie Hoskins, county Department of Community Development planning manager and the official responsible for the State Environmental Policy Act review, said that while the company has done considerable work on special studies to identify project impacts, the county found that further review was needed.
The county community development department has identified ridgeline and soils, dust, surface water — including streams and wetlands — groundwater, plants, animals, traffic, flying rock during blasting, noise, vibration, land use and aesthetics as needing more discussion in an environmental impact study, or EIS.
“In review of all those [aspects], we did determine that they may cause significant impact” on the environment, Hoskins said, adding that an environmental impact study was in order after the department conducted “a thorough review of the studies they made.”
Next, she said the county will work with New Shine Quarry “to get a contract to pay for the EIS.”
A public comment hearing will not be necessary, Hoskins said, given that there’s been “a lot of public meetings already and they addressed the topics” in Port Ludlow.
Residents concerned
Indeed, many residents of Port Ludlow voiced concern over key issues they had peppered Pope staff about in the past, including potential noise, dust, increased traffic and possible contamination of the local aquifer.
Burnett, during a public forum, told residents they had nothing to worry about.
Iron Mountain and the county have already gone to court twice over the proposed mine: when Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser issued his April ruling, and in November 2008, when the judge ruled that the county hearing examiner was correct in giving the quarry permission to mine the land.
In April 2009, when Verser ruled that Iron Mountain would not need a conditional use permit to begin mining, he also said that the mine would need stormwater permits, a State Environmental Policy Act review, conditional use permits must be issued for noise and dust, sand and gravel surveys by the state Department of Ecology and clearance for mining use by the state Department of Natural Resources.
Company disputes
Burnett said concerns about dust were not under county jurisdiction but those of the state’s Olympic Region Clean Air Agency, which enforced, federal, state and county air quality laws.
The company was meeting state regulations regarding the protection of streams and wetland, and did not fall under an EIS requirement, he added.
He said the company’s contracted independent studies found that there was no impact on groundwater, animals or plants.
Traffic was not a safety issue because the company’s trucks would all use state Highway 104 to ship rock, he said.
Flying rock during blasting was not an issue either, he said, although the county cited it as needing review, Burnett said.
“Today, we use computerized models to simply remove the rock, not blow it to kingdom come,” Burnett said.
“The (existing Shine Quarry) has been drilling and blasting right next door for 20 years and nobody knew they even existed hardly until our proposal came forward.”
The project would create more than 30 family-wage jobs, which Jefferson County needs, Burnett contends.
Burnett voiced concerns that the project would be delayed beyond the original date of opening next spring.
“Sometime in late 2011 or early 2012 we might be able to mine some rock, in a best-case scenario,” he said.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
