20220215_Wake_Stone

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\..,�j Wake Stone Corporation
www.wakestonecorp.com
Quarry Phone Numbers:
Locations:
Business Office Address:
919/266-9266 - Knightdale
6811 Knightdale Blvd., Knightdale, N.C.
P.O. Box 190
919/677-0050 - Triangle
222 Star Lane, Cary, N.C.
6821 Knightdale Blvd.
919/775-7349 - Moncure
9725 Stone Quarry Rd., Moncure, N.C.
Knightdale, N.C. 27545
252/985-4411 - Nash County
7379 North Halifax Rd., Battleboro, N.C.
919/266-1100
843/756-3400 - N. Myrtle Beach
3990 Hwy 9 Business East, Loris, S.C.
Fax: [phone]
February 15, 2022
Hand Delivered RECEIVED
Mr. Brian Wrenn, Director
Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources 5
Department of Environmental Quality FEB 1 T�22
Raleigh, NC LAND QUALITY
MINING PROGRA"
Dear Mr. Wrenn:
As our request for a Mining Permit Modification for Triangle Quarry (92-10) continues in its 22nd month,
we believe a summary of the history of this mining permit and what has transpired since our April 8,
2020, submission is appropriate.
As you know, the Triangle Quarry has a long history. Wake Stone's Permit Application ("the Permit")
was denied by the State in 1980. The concern was its potential impact on Umstead State Park ("the
Park") adjacent to it, and rightly so. Why would the State want to permit anything which could later
prove to pose a significantly adverse effect on a state park? Although as applicant we had submitted
everything requested by the Division of Land Resources to their satisfaction, it was a close call as to
whether there would be a significantly adverse effect on the Park. So, the permit application was denied.
The NC Mining Commission (NCMC) in hearing an appeal of the decision brought by Wake Stone
considered all the relevant questions of noise, dust, traffic, water, and air pollution as potential adverse
impacts. The NCMC reviewed all the submitted material, held hearings, and interviewed State
employees. Ultimately, the NCMC overruled the State and instructed that the Permit be issued, which it
was in April 1981.
Forty years have passed. Surely that is time enough to conclude whether the Triangle Quarry, opened and
continuously operated since the Permit was issued, has had a significantly adverse effect on Umstead
State Park. Based on the record of those forty years, it inarguably has not. The Park has prospered with
annual attendance more than tripling in that time. The Permit had to be renewed every ten years since
1981. Surely if there was a significantly adverse effect, the state would have denied any one of the
requested renewals, but the State did not, renewing the Permit in 1991, 2001, and 2011. Obviously, the
State had no evidence and saw no significant adverse effect. Nor was there any record of any significant
volume of complaints by users of the Park. That is not to say that the NC Division of Parks and
Recreation was happy to have a quarry as a neighbor any more than they were happy to have Raleigh -
Durham International Airport as a neighbor. For a park, no neighbors would be the best neighbors, but
that is an impracticability given Umstead State Park's location within the rapidly growing Triangle
region. And yet somehow, the Park has prospered, and few complaints were lodged. In fact,
Chairwoman Jean Spooner of The Umstead Coalition (dedicated to the protection of the Park) wrote a

letter in 1999 (attached) for review by Chatham County Commissioners as to what a good neighbor to
Umstead Park Wake Stone had been. Case closed.
That is until the Raleigh -Durham Airport Authority ("RDUAA") made its future plans available to the
public in 2017. In its Vision 2040 plan RDUAA disclosed the intention to use its 105-acre Odd Fellows
Tract as an industrial or quarry site. That land could only be a quarry site if operated in conjunction with
Wake Stone's adjacent Triangle Quarry. RDUAA and Wake Stone had completed sufficient due
diligence to know it was possible. It was only then that the Triangle Quarry and its potential future
suddenly became a concern for the Umstead Coalition and for Triangle Off -Road cyclists which both
want the property for their own purposes. Accordingly, both groups started an organized campaign of
opposition emailing all elected state and local officials in the Raleigh Durham area over and over again
about how bad this would be for the community. Their constant emails and social media comments in
conjunction with litigation to try and stop the quarry continues to this day.
The litigation has been unsuccessful. The attempt to stop the quarry by trying to prove that RDUAA did
not have the right to lease the land to Wake Stone for a quarry was rejected in Wake County Superior
Court and upheld by the NC Court of Appeals and the NC Supreme Court. The attempt to block the
building of a bridge crossing Crabtree Creek (necessary for the quarry to operate since no public road
would be able to handle the quarry traffic) has also been rejected by the Department of Environmental
Quality's Division of Water Resources ("DWR") and the buffer authorization certificate issued.
The email barrage, although impressive in its persistence and lack of factual accuracy, has failed to
convince or inspire any group of elected officials to make any significant effort to stop the quarry.
As to the Mining Permit Modification of 92-10 submitted April 8, 2020, the Division of Energy, Mineral,
and Land Resources ("DEMLR") has clearly made and documented its exhaustive efforts to prove to
itself and the public that the expansion of Triangle Quarry by opening a second pit on the 105-acre Odd
Fellows tract will not have a significantly adverse impact on the Park or the natural resources of our state.
• The application itself consists of hundreds of pages of written answers to the required
submission, including engineering plans and independent expert studies.
• The conducting of a public hearing with over two hundred speakers in June/July 2020.
• The unusual and unrequired decision to keep the public comment period open indefinitely (still
to this date).
• The seven requests for additional information, explanation of submitted materials, or for
answers to claims made by those in the public who have submitted their opposition to the
quarry with their view of "facts" without submitting any independent scientific evidence to
support their claims.
• During the application review period, the Department of Environmental Quality ("DEQ")
investigated numerous unfounded claims of permit violations (buffer violations, stormwater
runoff, off -site sedimentation, dust, and blasting) filed against the Triangle Quarry, none of
which indicated any violations of any operating permits. These complaint calls continue, even
as recently as last week, in an apparent effort by the opposition group to build a case against
Wake Stone and its permit application.
DEMLR, DWR, Division of Air Quality ("DAQ"), United States Fish & Wildlife Service ("USFWS"),
and third -party consultants have examined and eliminated each of the following concerns:
• Concern of air quality impacts:
DAQ Inspection (resulting from 2019 complaint investigation)
"No fugitive dust was observed on the property. There is no history of complaints concerning
fugitive dust emissions associated with this facility. "
"The facility has no history of violations with the DAQ. "

• Concern of noise impacts:
Conclusion of WSP USA, Inc. acoustical study:
"... it can be concluded that the expansion of Wake Stone's operation into Pit 2 will not pose a
significantly adverse [noise] effect on the purposes of a publicly owned park, forest or recreation
area [in Umstead State Park]. "
• Concern of groundwater/hydrology of Crabtree Creek:
Groundwater Management Associates, Inc. study reported:
"... the quarry pit did not indicate local wetting or other indications of significant preferential flow
of groundwater into the pit. "
"The cone of depression associated with active mining is very small; "
"The anticipated cone of depression associated with mining of the new tract is also expected to be
small... "
• Concern of Stormwater/Wastewater impacts:
DEMLR Inspection (resulting from 2019 complaint investigation)
" 1 found no violations either of the mining permit or NPDES SW permit on the day of my visit. I
further observed that the visual quality in the stream flowing from the North Pond was virtually
indistinguishable from visual quality of the water flowing in Crabtree Creek... "
• Concern of impacts to threatened/endangered species:
Alderman Environmental Services, Inc. concluded:
"For project planning purposes, the Biological Conclusion is `No Effect on the Atlantic Pigtoe.
Three Oaks Engineering concluded:
"...the Neuse River Waterdog is unlikely to be present within the stream in the vicinity of the
Quarry and adjacent to William B. Umstead State Park "
USFWS concluded:
"If there was a Federal nexus for this project, the Service would concur with a `may affect, not
likely to adversely affect' determination regarding the proposed expansion and Neuse River
Waterdog... "
• Concern of buffer impacts:
The only proposed impacts to Neuse River Basin Riparian Buffers are for the construction of a
bridge over Crabtree Creek.
NC DWR states:
"You have our approval for the impacts listed below for the purpose described in your application
dated October 13, 2021... "
Wake Stone's mining permit modification must be the most thoroughly examined, studied, and
documented one in the state's history.
In addition to all the work listed above, Wake Stone agreed to pay $3.6 million in lease payments over a
ten-year period for a sanctioned bike park on 151 acres of RDU property. Wake Stone and RDUAA also
agreed upon a post -mining reclamation plan to provide recreational access for the future. The opposition
as well as the Division of State Parks and Department of Natural and Cultural Resources should embrace
the proposed reclamation plan for recreational use of both the Triangle quarry and Odd Fellows property.
The quarry expansion will last approximately 25-35 years, but post -mining use of the trails and
connectivity for the Reedy Creek entrance of Umstead Park to the Town of Cary Greenway and Lake
Crabtree Park will exist for centuries to come. The fact that Wake Stone and RDUAA have agreed to the
concept of such a plan for their properties proves our commitment to recreational benefits for the citizens
of our region. Win -win scenarios such as this are hard to find in today's divisive world.

The leadership and staff of the Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources of the Department of
Environmental Quality have all the information they need along with the training and expertise to now
decide as to whether this Mining Permit Modification meets the guidelines of the State Mining Act of
1971. We believe it clearly does and it is extremely well -documented and supported. We appreciate the
thoroughness of the approach of you and your staff and its dedication to your division's mission. The
Mining Act says if the criteria are met, the State shall grant a permit. The criteria have been met, and we
look forward to receiving the Permit Modification.
Thank You Xon
amuel T. B
CEO and President

The Umstead Coalition
P.O. Box 10654
Raleigh, NC 27605-0654
B. W. Wells Association North Carolina Herpetological Society
Capital Group Sierra Club North Carolina Wildlife Federation
Conservation Council of North Carolina North Carolina Wild Flower Preservation Society
Eno River Association Orange -Chatham Group Sierra Club
Friends of State Parks Raleigh Ski and Outing Club, Inc.
Headwaters Group Sierra Club Rockingham Naturalist's Club
New Hope Audubon Society Society for the Preservation of Jockey's Ridge
Neuse River Foundation, Inc. Wake Audubon Society
August 6, 1999
MEMORANDUM
To: Whom it may concern
Re: Wake Stone Corporation — Triangle Site
From: Jean Spooner, Chair, The Umstead Coalition
This memo is a statement regarding good cooperative relationship between the Triangle Site of Wake
Stone Corporation and The Umstead Coalition. This quarry site is adjacent to Crabtree Creek and
Umstead State Park. In the 10 years that I have been a member of The Umstead Coalition, I have never
heard a complaint about Wake Stone's operation next to Umstead. The Umstead Coalition is optomistic
that discussions will continue regarding compatible development uses of the quary site (e.g., converstion
to park or recreational facilities) in the long-term.
The Umstead Coalition is an advocacy group composed of membership by 16 partner environmental
organization and individuals. Our mission is to protect Umstead State Park. We have a large
environmental education program. In addition we are concerned about potential external sources of
degradation to the Park caused by traffic, noise, and water pollution.
Our exerience with Wake Stone Corporation has been positive. They are accessible and willing to
participate in activities to protect Umstead State Park. For example, Wake Stone Corporation — Triangle
recognizes they are located in an environmentally sensitive area due to their proximity to Crabtree Creek
(a major tributary to the Neuse River) and adjacent to a State Park. They have shown willingness and
have followed through with protecting of the riparian area along Crabtree Creek, minimizing runoff into
Crabtree Creek, and protecting a rhododendron shrub area along Crabtree Creek. Wake Stone
Corportation contributes as a community citizen. They have donated material to help Umstead State
Park. For example, they donated a base stone used to display an original grinding mill stone for the
historic Company (Page) Mill. The mill stone is displayed in the Park near the original mill site along
Crabtree Creek. They have a member on the Umstead State Park Advisory, Ted Bratton. Ted is
appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Natural Resources to serve as a
represenative from the business community.
v The Umstead Coalition v
Dedicated to preserving the natural integrity of W.B. Umstead State Park and the Richland Creek Corridor