FW_ _External_ Mining Permit 92-10 - Please reinstate Sunset Clause for Wake Stone Quarry2

Johnson, Robert E
From:
Sent:
Sams, Dan
Thursday, July 16, 2020 9:41 PM
To: NCMiningProgram
Subject: FW: [External] Mining Permit 92-10 - Please reinstate Sunset Clause for Wake Stone
Quarry
From: Teresa Moore [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2020 9:28 PM
To: contactgov <[e-mail]>; [e-mail]; [e-mail];
[e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; Sams,
Dan <[e-mail]>; [e-mail]
Cc: Hwa Huang <[e-mail]>; The Umstead Coalition <[e-mail]>
Subject: [External] Mining Permit 92-10 - Please reinstate Sunset Clause for Wake Stone Quarry
Dear Governor Cooper, other elected officials, Dan Sams:
I'm writing with a strong concern about the proposed new rock quarry on public land adjacent to Umstead State
Park, as well as a concern about the existing Wake Stone quarry, which has operated for 40 years.
I listened during the public hearing on June 23, for hours, as person after person spoke up AGAINST this
quarry, citing many reasons it should be denied... everything from the adverse effects on potable groundwater,
wildlife, air quality, hazard to neighboring houses, and adverse effect on the purpose of a publicly -owned park.
Just one of these should be a reason for the permit to be denied, and I heard numerous quantifiable examples.
I spoke up as well. The only pro -quarry comment was from Sam Bratton from Wake Stone. He shared, in part:
Written testimony has been submitted from a lady who lived for over 20 years adjacent to the Knightdale Quarry,
only 400ft from the active pit. Her residence was buffered by a berm similar to the one we propose to construct
to buffer the 2 residences
She states "Wake Stone was an excellent neighbor and friend to her and her grandparents when they lived in the
home."
Our blasting and equipment were well shielded from the residence and we had no adverse impact on her
property, house or well. And that is 400' from the active pit.
The person that Mr Bratton says wrote this letter, Marda Debnam, was quoted in an N&O article in 2014
complaining about the quarry: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/eastern-wake-
news/article10125839.html
From the article:

Marda Debnam lives on Forestville Road and said she hears machines working through the night at the quarry
and once a day in the mid -morning, she feels a blast coming from the property. She said it shakes her home and
is worried what it might be doing to her property.
"I don't know what that's doing to my house," she said.
Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/eastern-wake-
news/article10125839.html#storylink=cpv
So what changed between 2014 and now? What could have influenced Ms Debnam to now speak favorably of
Wake Stone operations when she was previously critical of it? In 2019, the tax value of Ms Debnam's house
was $102,000. In July 2019, Wake Stone purchased this property for $450,000, more than four times the tax
value. They then demolished the house and appealed the tax value down to $662. Granted, if I lived adjacent
to a quarry, I imagine I too would accept a very generous offer for my home, so that I could move far away
from the disruption a quarry brings. But this history, and conflicting information reported by the News &
Observer, puts this letter of reference in its proper perspective.
A new quarry would negatively impact air and water quality in a heavily used area. Clear -cutting in this corridor
would also adversely impact citizens' quality of life because an important noise buffer would be destroyed,
along with an important wildlife and recreational corridor.
In addition, recreation areas should have a 250-ft *undisturbed* buffer to maintain the greenway experience.
The plans I've seen do NOT allow for this.
Furthermore, I have learned that the mining permit for the existing WakeStone quarry had a 50-year sunset
clause that was recently deleted from the permit. I imagine the quarry was originally approved contingent on
this clause being added. Wake Stone was somehow able to change the wording. Additionally, why should a
private company be granted a special lease of public land for its own private profit, without public input?
From former Wake County Commissioner Ery Portman:
...Despite the objections of the Department and the public [the quarry] was permitted. There was one
condition... a 50 year sunset provision that required the mine to close by 2032 and the land added to the park.
For 30 years both the department and the mine accepted that agreement. Then in 2011, the mine operator
claimed he just "discovered a clerical error". Seems he found a old copy of the mining commissioners report
that said later vs sooner and asked that the one word be changed. The director of natural resources knew
better; James Simons had firsthand knowledge of the permit and rejected this clever clerical argument, he
renewed the permit in 2011 with sooner, as it had always been with the sunset clause.
After he was gone, in 2018 a new acting director undid 37 years of the permit and bought the argument,
wiping away the sunset clause as just a clerical mistake. He also approved a change that gutted the buffers
protecting the creek at the same time. The change was completed in just weeks with no notice to the public,
or state parks! No notice to anyone but the mine operator.
Now the operator wants to destroy 106 acres of forest on the other side of the creek, provide smaller buffers
and mine some more.
I'm asking that the DEQ reinstate the 50-year sunset clause of the permit for the existing Wake Stone quarry,
and also that the DEQ deny any new permits for mining operations on any lands adjacent to Umstead State
Park.
Please protect our public lands. I appreciate those who have spoken up in opposition to this quarry: Town of
Morrisville, City of Raleigh, Senator Wiley Nickel, former Wake County Commissioner Ery Portman, Wake
County Commissioners and Wake County Open Space and Parks Advisory Committee, as well as NC State
Parks, and others that I've missed.

I hope others will speak up as well, before it's too late.
Sincerely,
Teresa Moore
211 S West St.
Cary, NC