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Changes move mining ahead
5/12/2008 12:00:00 AM
A modified land use application submitted to the county this week could allow Fred Hill Materials (FHM) to go ahead with mining at the Wahl Extraction Area of the Shine Pit mine overlooking Hood Canal.
Director of Community Development Al Scalf had recommended the issuance of a Determination of Significance to the 165-acre area May 12, meaning it would have required an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Project managers with FHM said that process would have put the operation at risk and might have forced employee layoffs.
The company responded with adjustments to address the chief environmental concern associated with the site: that removing material from the Wahl area would cause groundwater to move too quickly, resulting in minuscule stream flows during times of the year critical for fish and other wildlife.
Scalf said that by avoiding tributaries and reducing the amount of material extracted, the company eliminated the need for an EIS. Scalf said that after the public comment period closes July 6, the company will likely be issued a stormwater permit that allows mining to begin on 37.9 acres. It has been using an average of seven acres a year, he said.
Mining had been planned within 200 feet of an unnamed tributary to Thorndyke Creek, said Shine Pit project manager Dan Baskins. The company has now changed the start location to steer clear of the tributary.
Additionally, it is to drill two monitoring wells in the Wahl Extraction Area, which sits more than a mile inland from the company's current extraction site. Baskins said a hydrogeologist working with the county will visit the site on a quarterly basis.
Those changes came after a visit to the site June 1 with county planners, the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe and representatives from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Scalf said that meeting reinforced his concerns that there was potential for "adverse impact" to groundwater flows under the company's previous plan.
While Baskins was pleased it looked as though the company would be able to continue work, he said county officials had fallen "prey to having politics run their decision-making process" and should have approved the first application. The company first applied for a permit to mine sand and gravel from the site in 2003.
"We're doing this under protest, but we have to do it to continue operations," Baskins said. "We've been subject to some long detours. It's bad for everybody."
Baskins said both the company and the community would be better served by moving on from the Wahl area controversy and to considering the proposed pit-to-pier project.
Scalf said the county has only followed state environmental law.
John Fabian, a spokesman for the Hood Canal Coalition, an organization concerned with Hood Canal environmental qualities, seemed equally dissatisfied.
"It appears there is some pressure to hurry the solution rather than finding the optimum solution," Fabian said.
He said that ideally the application would have clearly delineated areas in which mining is off limits. Fabian also said he sees an obvious connection between mining at the Wahl area and the pit-to-pier proposal.
"Without a source of gravel, you can't have a pier," he said. "All of these things are interrelated."
Conveyer to truck Material from the site would be moved on a conveyor to the Shine Hub, where the gravel would be processed and loaded onto trucks for shipment. According to the application, about 500,000 tons of material are trucked out of Shine Hub each year on State Route 104. Within 15 years, it states, that amount will increase to 750,000 tons a year.
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