Residents concerned about Legacy Mining Company’s operations at Southern Ozark Stone in Elk Ranch near Beaver, and quarry exploration drilling being conducted at a separate site of more than 600 acres off Rockhouse Road, are alleging that the company’s public notices about its quarrying activities had critical errors and omissions.
The company did not comply with public notice requirements integral to the company’s Notification of Intent to Quarry, retired Greenpeace senior scientist Pat Costner said.
In an email to Jerry Neill, director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Mining Division, Costner requested that ADEQ “deem the public notices published by Legacy Mining related to its proposed three quarries in Carroll County to be invalid and direct Legacy Mining to comply fully with Act 1166, the Arkansas Quarry Operation, Reclamation, and Safe Closure Act, in any future public notices and Notifications of Intent to Quarry.”
She said the notices were deficient in the following ways:
- Legacy Mining has failed to comply with the requirement of Act 1166 that publication of public notices is simultaneous with and integral to the Notifications of Intent to Quarry to be submitted to the ADEQ.
- The public notices, which were published on June 14, state that “as of July 15th, 2019, a Notification of Intent to Quarry has been filed with ADEQ. Legacy Mining had not filed Notifications of Intent to Quarry with ADEQ as of June 14, and does not plan to do so until July 15. With this, Legacy Mining has failed to meet the requirement of Act 1166 … that the “notification will be part of an operator’s intent and will be published in the newspaper at the same time the intent is filed with the department.”
- In its untimely public notices, Legacy Mining has described the location of the three proposed quarries in a manner that is factually questionable and confusing. On June 14, Legacy Mining published notices in the Carroll County News stating that it has filed a “Notification of Intent to Quarry” with the ADEQ for three quarries to be located at “300 Co Rd 3027, Eureka Springs, AR 72632 near the City of Beaver …”: Keels Creek Property Quarry, Cedar Grove Property Quarry, and Trigger Gap Property Quarry. If “300 Co Rd 3027, Eureka Springs, AR 72632” is an existing address, it is some 14 miles distant from “the city of Beaver,” the site of an existing quarry owned by Legacy Mining. The address is only 7 miles from Eureka Springs. Further, while there is a Carroll County, Arkansas, there is no “Carroll, Arkansas.”
- In each of its notices, Legacy Mining says, “Property owners within one half mile of the proposed quarry may send a request to ADEQ for a public meeting with Legacy Mining Company, LLC within ten days after the publication of this notice.” This is an accurate reflection of the language of the Arkansas Quarry Operation, Reclamation, and Safe Closure Act. However, the Act fails to take into account the vulnerability of water resources in karst terrain where activities carried out at one site have been known to degrade water quality and reduce water availability miles from that site. Moreover, the one-half mile limit deprives owners of properties along the roads that will carry quarry-related traffic of their rightful role in the regulatory decision-making processes for these quarries.
Additional errors alleged in the public notice including the misspelling of Neill’s name as Neil, that the address of the Rockhouse Road quarry operation is 301 CR 3027, and one of the phone numbers listed for people to call is for former ADEQ Mining Chief James Stevens, who is deceased. Stevens’ voice mail was still taking messages as of Monday, but it was unclear if those messages were being answered by anyone at ADEQ. Legacy Mining also failed to include its address, phone number, or other contact information.
Matt Mills, who is the owner of Legacy Mining Co. and a principal with the investment firm Sixth West, was asked about the public notices in an email from the Eureka Springs Independent Monday, June 24. He referred the newspaper to Scott Moore, the mining consultant with Legacy Mining.
“I’m going to defer to Scott on the ‘erroneous’ notice,” Mills wrote.
Moore said in an email that they are working with ADEQ on the filings and will confer with them to make sure that all notices and filings are to their satisfaction and meet their requirements.
An article written by Mike Ellis published by the Independent June 19 reported that the Carroll County Quorum Court wants Legacy Mining to hold a public meeting with concerned citizens.
“During a half hour of public comments, Justices of the Peace heard a litany of complaints, both immediate and anticipated,” the article said. “Noise from the operation has already disturbed neighbors. Preliminary explorations on a property owned by Legacy Mining Company LLC put sediment into streams leading to the Kings River. Most of the speakers worried about potential problems with groundwater, either because of pollution or the possibility of a well going dry.
“Others questioned how narrow, winding Rockhouse Road could handle heavy truck traffic. …JP Marty Johnson said he planned to hold a public meeting on the issue. He said he would have registered letters sent to company officials. “We’ll get them there and hold their feet to the fire,” he said.
Asked if he would respond to the request for a public meeting by the Quorum Court, Mills responded, “We will do whatever is required by ADEQ.”
After a number of complaints about sediment-laden runoff from road building activities at the site off Rockhouse Road, the ADEQ cited Legacy Mining for violating the Federal Clean Water Act. The company is required to remedy the situation by adding storm water controls along the road.
As reported recently by KUAF Public Radio reporter Jacqueline Froelich, an adjoining landowner Chuck Braswell said contractors for Legacy Mining bulldozed trees alongside his private driveway and knocked down a fence between the two properties while building a road to the quarry exploration site in August 2018. Braswell said he met with Moore, Legacy’s Mining consultant, about the damage and that Moore promised to make repairs. However, as of this week, nothing has been done to repair the damage or compensate Braswell.
“They drove the bulldozer up our private driveway, which is not right,” Braswell said Monday. “A geologist who was with Moore when he met with me asked about the depth of our well and neighboring wells. The geologist was interested in what lies below the surface. One of the major concerns we have here is about what happens to our wells. I’ve had good water for 25 years out here where we don’t have access to city water. Do they say, ‘Oops, sorry,’ if this ends up disrupting the water table? You don’t get a chance to unring the bell. Once it is done, it is done. There are just so many unknowns here that have a lot of serious effects. There are many valid concerns that have not been addressed in any way.”
Braswell said Moore told him that the company was considering putting the land into a conservancy..
Adjoining landowners also include The Nature Conservancy, which has the 6,000-acre Kings River Preserve and which works to promote land use practices that preserve the water quality and aquatic life of the Kings River.