20061539 Ver 2_Public Comments_20120724 (48)

06 - I S39
7uly 17, 2012
North Carolina Division of Water Quality
1650 Mad Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699 1650
Attention Ms Cyndi Karoly
RE Corps Action ID # SAW -2011 01762
Unimin Corporation
In response to your PUBLIC NOTICE dated ]une 26, 2012, concerning the application
from Unimin Corporation, my name is Wilma Heaton I am 89 years old and have lived
near the mining operation that is now Ummm Corp over 65 years
Over the years this mining operation has been Harris Clay, Harris Mining, etc and
now Unimin Corp My husband, Sam L Heaton Jr retired from Harris Mining as Plant
Superintendent with over 40 years service They had very strict guidelines Prior to it
becoming Unimin Corp we never had any problems Now we have nothing but
problems Every day we either have a thick cloud of dust or a wet mess of their silt
running down the Brushy Creek state road, into our ditches, then on to our streams
We have seen the creeks totally white with their silt I cannot take my car out Brushy
Creek Road without going thru Unimin s run off which makes a mess all over it and
this is my only exit to the highway (19E)
Even worse, I am surprised my house is still standing When Unimin blasts in their
mines, there are times my whole house shakes and I think the windows are going to
break out I am sure my foundation has been compromised My husband called them
numerous times when he was living, and the only thing he got was that they would
send someone out to let us know when they were going to blast That never changed
what it was doing to our home
We never had any dust, no run off and never heard or felt anything from blasting
prior to Unimin ownership We never even knew if or when they blasted
I think this PUBLIC NOTICE should have been sent to all property owners in this area,
not dust the ones with property joining Unimin Corp They are affected as well and
can verify that everything I am writing is true
I own a rental house that is affected also
A few years ago, Unimin Corp had a paint company out of Tennessee spraying the
exterior of the high part of their building with a high temperature epoxy paint Our
vehicles as well as vehicles 3/4 miles away got covered with white paint This
happened twice They offered to have them cleaned with clay bar, but that can
damage a vehicle if you don t know exactly what you are doing
It is very obvious to me that I am wasting my time going up against a big corporation
like Unimin Even writing this letter is a waste of time Unimin Corp gets what they
want and the people living close to them have to suffer If we had even dreamed we
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would have these problems, we would never have made this our home For what it s
worth, I am against Urnmm Corp expanding any mines for obvious reasons
Sincerely,
(�!J I
Wilma G Heaton
P O Box 315
Spruce Pine, NC 28777