PORT ANGELES – The owners planning a rock quarry off of Olympic Hot Springs Road do not need a permit unless the quarry expands to more than three acres.
About a dozen people who live on or near Olympic Hot Springs Road, west of Port Angeles, plan to gather at daybreak this morning to block a road to the budding site.
Mike Shaw and George Lane of Puget Sound Surfacers, based in Forks, have made a road to the top of a hill off of Olympic Hot Springs Road.
There, on land the company owns – a little more than 40 acres – a rock quarry is planned.
Shaw has said in the past that work being done now is exploratory, to test whether having a full-blown mine would be financial feasible.
As such, the work falls under the Forest Practices Act.
Under the act, up to three acres of land can be mined – without any permits – for exploratory reasons, such as deciding whether or not the rock is high grade enough to make mining feasible.
The protesting group, calling themselves the Upper Elwha Conservation Committee, have erected signs along Olympic Hot Springs Road saying, “Stop the Quarry.”
The group says that Puget Sound Surfacers plans to begin blasting today.
Neither Shaw nor Lane has confirmed that blasting will begin today.
Shaw did not return calls Thursday.
Josephine Pedersen, who lives at 550 Olympic Hot Springs Road, across from the quarry site, said Wednesday, “We’ll try and block his entrance to the quarry,” today.
The Olympic Hot Springs Road is located off of U.S. Highway 101 and follows the Elwha River to the entrance of the Olympic National Park.
If the company goes ahead with a mine, it hopes to provide rock to county projects as well as to contractors hired by the National Park Service for roads for a 2009 removal of two dams on the Elwha River.
The latter use Shaw has mentioned in correspondence with the Department of Natural Resources.
Contractors for the dam removal project have not been selected.
Shaw declined to comment on plans for the business except to say that mining practices are supported by the county.
He points to the back of his property tax statement, which says forestry, mining and agricultural operations are considered “favored use . . . .if such operations are consistent with commonly accepted best management practices and comply with local, state and federal laws.”
Lane has not been available for comment.
