FW_ _External_ Deny Wake Stone Corporation’s Quarry Expansion

Johnson, Robert E
From: Sams, Dan
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2020 9:41 PM
To: NCMiningProgram
Subject: FW: [External] Deny Wake Stone Corporation's Quarry Expansion
From: Michael Nordin [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2020 7:26 PM
To: Sams, Dan <[e-mail]>; NCMiningProgram <[e-mail]>
Subject: [External] Deny Wake Stone Corporation's Quarry Expansion
I am writing to expand upon my verbal comments during the public hearings with greater detail over
the two minute time allotments afforded during those hearings. I vehemently oppose Wake Stone
Corporation's expansion of quarry operations into the Odd Fellows tract bordering Umstead State
Park. Whereas the Dunn family lives within 200 feet of the proposed quarry site, my home is nearly a
mile from the proposed quarry expansion site. And yet I am negatively affected by the operations of
the existing quarry, let alone the proposed quarry expansion.
During the recent public hearings the DEQ heard from a significant number of learned professionals, concerned
citizens, and impacted homeowners where proximity to the operations of the quarry have a negative impact on their
quality of life, their homes, and perhaps their health. Several of those who gave their testimony are physicians,
environmental scientists, chemists, geologists, or engineers with experience directly in related disciplines that would
be relevant to the impact of the proposed quarry. They quoted journals, scientific studies, published works, and the
law as evidence that the proposed quarry poses significant risks to our environment, to the well being of our citizens,
to the protection of wild life and green space, and to the cleanliness of waterways that are already impacted by
pollution and industrial waste. I can offer no such scientific expertise that demonstrates the negative impacts of the
quarry. But I can offer my personal experience of being a neighbor to Wake Stone's existing quarry
operation.
The blasts have an undeniable impact on my home which is located in the Weston Parkway area of
Cary. Each blast is not only audible, but physically felt as vibrations that reverberate through my
house. So much so that I've had customers who I've been on a conference call with while working
from home, ask, "What was that?" In fact during the second public hearing, roughly 15 to 20 minutes
after I gave my own testimony, Wake Stone detonated a blast within the quarry; I wish that it had
occurred during my own comments as I am certain it could have been audible over the webex.
It's no surprise that we are constantly making drywall repairs in our house, because the drywall is
quite literally being shaken loose by each quarry blast. To be clear, I am roughly a mile away from the
quarry. Given my own, very real experience living as far from the quarry as I do, I t would be
unreasonable to assert that the Dunns, other closer neighbors than myself, and in particular Umstead
State Park would not be adversely affected by the operations of the new quarry.

At the public hearing of June 23rd, Mr. Braxton of Wake Stone Corporation asserted that written
testimony had been submitted to the DEQ from a citizen who lived adjacent to the Knightdale Quarry,
stating, in essence, that `Wake Stone was an excellent neighbor". While it has since been reported
that no such testimony was actually filed with the DEQ as he asserted, I firmly suggest that none of
his claims with regard to the Knightdale quarry apply here. Quarry operations in Knightdale may or
may not have a negative impact on neighboring homesites or an existing State Park, but here they
most definitely do. The question at hand has absolutely nothing to do with whether Wake Stone gives
back to the communities where they have operations or are perceived to be good neighbors. Rather,
the issue here is that it is impossible for the expansion of the quarry currently operating in Cary to
comply with the law as clearly stated in G.S.74-51.
I am a cyclist that uses the local Greenways and Umstead Park trails as a safe means for commuting
to work and for enjoyment of the outdoors. These greenways built by surrounding communities in
order to establish a multimodal trail system that connects each community with green -space would be
irreversibly severed if the quarry at Odd Fellows tract were to be allowed. This same action would in
fact sever a key pathway for wildlife migration as well. In fact, I see little evidence that the proposed
expansion of the quarry doesn't violate virtually all of the subsections of G.S.74-51. But if I were to be
limited in my request for denial of Wake Stone's application to expand its operations in Cary, I firmly assert that
the DEQ should deny the application on the basis of sub -sections D4 and D5 of G.S.74-51 as you
explicitly did in August of 1980. Nothing has changed since that time.
Not only would it be irresponsible for the DEQ to approve Wake Stone's application, it is quite
reasonable to assert that it would be utterly negligent given the clarity of the law and previous denials.
With sincere concern,
Michael Nordin