Will Western Thurston County Become the Next Region to fall to Industrial Sprawl?

THE ISSUE

Quality Rock Products (QRP) was granted a Special Use Permit to: expand a 26-acre sand and gravel mining operation to 151-acres, replace a defunct concrete batch plant, and install an asphalt mixing plant adjacent to the Black River National Wildlife Refuge on 88th St., SW, Tumwater.

This proposed industrial expansion threatens the Black River corridor, a mosaic of forestlands, wetlands, bogs and the slow- moving Black River, which is one of the largest undisturbed freshwater wetland systems in Puget Sound and one of the largest natural areas remaining in Thurston County.

DONATE TO BHAS HABITAT CONSERVATION FUND TODAY!

Help protect the health and safety of the surrounding neighborhoods and the Black River National Wildlife Refuge. BHAS continues to incur significant legal and expert witness fees. Please donate today!

THE PUBLIC PROCESS

Thurston Co. Hearings Examiner (HE) granted the Special Use Permit for the proposed project in April 2002.

Black Hills Audubon Society has appealed this decision, with support by Nisqually Delta Association, Trout Unlimited, South Sound Fly Fishers, Chehalis River Council, neighbors and donors.

A majority of the Thurston County Commissioners agreed to remand the matter to address water quality, traffic safety, mineral resource land designation, and the validity and compliance with existing permits.
Send all comments to:

Thurston County Development Services
Attn: Jim Driscoll, Hearing Examiner
2000 Lakeridge Dr., SW, Bldg 1
Olympia, WA 98502.

TAKE ACTION:

1— DONATE TO BHAS HABITAT CONSERVATION FUND to protect the health and safety of the surrounding neighborhoods and the Black River National Wildlife Refuge. BHAS continues to incur significant legal and expert witness fees. Please donate today!
 
2—VOLUNTEER WITH BHAS, CIRCULATE THIS ALERT (Please do not leave in mailboxes.), or
 
3— Submit comments and Attend the public hearings on Wednesday, November 13th, 2002 at 10:00 – Thurston County Courthouse Bldg. 1, Rm 152. 

Donate, volunteer or obtain more information from Sue Danver, Conservation Chair at 360.705.9247 or on the web at www.blackhillsaudubon.com. Thank you for helping to ensure the conservation of wetland habitat and wildlife in Thurston County.

THE HEALTH & SAFETY THREATS to W. THURSTON Co:

• Up to 392 heavy truck-trips/24hours. How safe will Littlerock Road Traffic be?

• Air pollution will increase-the good air-quality we now enjoy will be no longer.

• Property Values are likely to decline when noise, pollution & traffic increase.

• Quality Rock Products has multiple compliance violations with Departments of Natural Resources and Ecology over the past two years and no fines have been incurred. Will this compliance record continue? Will Thurston County residents be protected by our regulatory agencies?

SYNOPSIS OF RELEVANT LEGAL ARGUMENTS

According to the 4/19/02 BHAS appeal, a special-use permit is required for the entire gravel pit, not just the expansion.

The Examiner failed to recognize that there is no legal existing mining operation on the 26 acres. This is not an “expansion.” It is a whole, new operation in the eyes of the law.

THE EXAMINER ERRED WHEN HE FAILED TO ESTABLISH A CAP ON OPERATIONS.
There is no commitment by the Applicant to be limited to “expected” operation levels. Nor is there any condition by the Examiner precluding operations above “expected” levels.

THE EXAMINER FAILED TO DESCRIBE STORMWATER & WATER QUANTITY ISSUES
The project's direct and indirect impacts of Ashley Creek, flowing across property and the Black River Wildlife refuge, are a major concern for Audubon. There are healthy runs of Sea-run Cutthroat Trout and Coho Salmon on site. The State Endangered Oregon Spotted Frog is in the nearby Black River Wetlands. Inadequately managed storm water could negatively impact these wildlife populations. Impacts to neighboring well levels is also a concern.

THE EXAMINER ERRED IN FAILING TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE APPLICANT’S RECORD OF NUMEROUS PAST VIOLATIONS AT THIS SITE
Given this Applicants poor track record, reliance on understaffed, under-funded agencies to “enforce the standards” if necessary “is not adequate.”

COMMISSIONERS SHOULD ORDER REOPENING OF THE SEPA PROCESS
After the SEPA (environmental) appeal period had run out, significant new information was presented to the County indicating that the project had probable significant impacts (thus triggering the need for an EIS).  The Responsible Official deferred the question to the Hearing Examiner. The Hearing Examiner, in turn, deferred the question to the Responsible Official. Caught in the “Catch-22,” Audubon asks the County Commissioners to intervene and order the reopening of the SEPA process.

THREATS TO WILDLIFE, WETLANDS and WATER
Neither QRP nor the County assessed impacts of the asphalt plant and the sand and gravel expansion, on the Black River, its wildlife, or its associated wetlands, despite our requests to do so.

In December spawning Coho salmon were “discovered” in Ashley Creek. Washington Fish and Wildlife has since filed a letter stating it was an historic cutthroat trout and Coho stream.
Water tables are quite high in this area of Thurston County. For that reason, the effectiveness of bioswales (the way QRP has chosen to leach out toxics from waste water) might not be adequate at the QRP site. The slow moving Black River would be seriously impacted with any further pollution.

Studies of the Exxon Valdez oil spill reveal that PAH levels of 1 part per billion significantly reduce the normal return of a salmon run.
BHAS’s request for light shields and sound berms to reduce light and sound pollution on the Refuge were ignored by the County.

RECREATIONISTS OVERLOOKED
In QRP’s SEPA application, the company stated that the only recreation opportunity in the immediate vicinity was a trail on the railroad right-of-way through the property. Birdwatchers, boaters and fishers on or near the Black River or wetlands were overlooked.