August 30, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Could another quarry operation be coming to DeKalb County?
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With plans underway for a quarry by Smyrna Ready Mix Concrete Company at the foot of Snow Hill off Highway 70 on North Driver Road, another company is reportedly preparing for a quarry operation of its own between Liberty and Alexandria.
According to the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation, Jones Brothers Construction, LLC has applied for a water quality permit for its Jones Alexandria Quarry to be located in DeKalb County at 2159 Old Highway 53 at Liberty on a 110-acre site. The new permit application is for the discharge of treated mine wastewater and industrial storm water into Helton Creek.
“Ultimately this is a water quality permit that has been proposed so this regulates any water that would be discharged from the facility,” said Daniel Lawrence, Program Manager Division of the Mineral & Geologic Resources Mining Section in the Knoxville Environmental Field Office who spoke with WJLE by phone Friday.“The idea being we put limits on that water in order to protect the stream to make sure any water leaving the facility is not going to pollute the stream and cause any problems. That is the main authority the state has over mining facilities. We get a lot of questions and concerns about other aspects of mining and things like blasting, truck trafficking noise, and dust but we don’t have any authority over that and its outside of the scope of this draft permit,” Lawrence explained.
He also described the meaning of the term “wastewater” in the permit application.
“When you hear that word wastewater a lot of people assume sewage, domestic wastewater and that sort of thing. That is technically the correct term but its really rain that has come into contact with processing rock so if there is any rain that falls on a rock crusher the water that runs off of that is considered to be wastewater by the legal technicalities. It doesn’t mean sewage or domestic wastewater discharge in this case,” said Lawrence
The Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation’s Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources Mining Section has issued a public notice on the proposed permit action to solicit comments and information necessary to evaluate the potential impact of the proposed activities on human health and the environment.
The comment period is from August 26 to September 27, 2024.
Persons wishing to comment on the proposed permit action may submit comments in writing to the Mining Section at the Knoxville Environmental Field Office, Attention: Public Notice Coordinator; by fax to 865-594-6105; or by e-mail to Dennis.Conger@tn.gov. Comments must be received before the close of the comments period September 27, 2024.
For more information visit http://tn.gov/environment/topic/ppo-water. To comment on this proposal: water.permits@tn.gov.