There has been a renewed effort for the DeKalb County Commission to look at approving the County Powers Act after local residents complained about a new quarry and blasting in the Snow Hill area, and another quarry planned for the Alexandria area.
At the County Commission’s last regular monthly meeting, on Monday, August 26, several local residents were in attendance to voice their frustration with the quarry owned by Smyrna Ready Mix.
The company only recently started blasting at their site on North Driver Road off Highway 70, taking many neighbors by surprise.
The Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office has an open investigation into the company and blasting at the site, after neighbors were jolted by a pressure wave from the quarry, and also rocks allegedly falling onto the highway. State investigators have halted SRM’s operations after finding that the company had not yet applied for a required waste and discharge permit to ensure that the facility does not pollute water.
“If the county government wished, it could step in and stop this quarry by adopting zoning or other regulatory measures before SRM submits its application,” Michael Antoniak told the county commission during the public comment period at the meeting.
Antoniak said he and other neighbors were unaware of the quarry, and question why there are no county regulations to protect adjacent property owners.
The issue of zoning came before the commission in June 2023 after some residents in the Midway community asked for help with a stinky situation. Residents on Nikki Lane, off Highway 70 east, told the commission that they had to put up with the stinky, unsightly and unsanitary condition of a neighbor’s unkempt property who piled up over 100 bags of garbage outside of their home. The neighbors reported that the filth was causing rats, mice, and insects to migrate to their property, as well as the stench created from the garbage.
The issue was also raised after a company in the Liberty area was burning pallets daily, causing smoke irritation and air quality issues to its neighbors. The DeKalb Fire Department had to be called to the site after one fire got out of control.
With DeKalb County not having zoning regulations in place, the county had no authority to implement health violations or to enforce a cleanup on the property. The “County Powers Act” would give the county, without establishing zoning, the authority to set and enforce Health and Safety Regulations for county property owners with respect to nuisances and other practices deemed detrimental to their neighbors.
The act would not implement zoning in the county, but would empower the county to be able to pass specific zoning regulations on specific issues.
Last year, the resolutions were being made by the Government Services Committee of the County Commission, which voted to send both on to the full commission for consideration. It would take a two-thirds vote of the 14-member commission to pass either or both resolutions.
If approved, a five-member board with staggered terms would be established as well as an enforcement officer position, all appointed by the county mayor with the concurrence of the full commission. DeKalb County’s Safety Officer, which is a paid position and already established, would most likely be assigned to take on this new Enforcement Officer responsibility along with his regular duties.
“My wife Liz and I have been residents of Snow Hill for 47 years,” said Antoniak. “We chose DeKalb County as our home for its beauty, its serenity, and unspoiled nature of a life in the country. Now we find ourselves in a fight for our lifestyle. The dynamite blast which jolted our area and shook homes for miles around earlier this month woke us to two things. Plans for a large rock quarry and DeKalb County has nothing to know of, let alone regulate how outsiders exploit our county’s land and resources.”
“Two months ago, this commission approved the largest tax increase in county history. What are you doing to preserve the land values of landowners you expect to pay that tax? Over the last year this commission wrangled over measures to adequately serve criminals and courts. How about the needs of these law-abiding citizens who have invested our lifetimes in our homes and community? Those who don’t know the work already underway at the quarry was halted by Tennessee state investigators two weeks ago. Why? Smyrna Ready Mix had not yet even applied for the waste and discharge permit Tennessee requires to ensure such facilities do not pollute our water. Is this the kind of responsible corporate citizen we want to invite into our community,” Antoniak asked.
“If the county government wished it could step in and stop this quarry by adopting zoning or other regulatory measures before SRM submits its application. Once submitted the quarry will only be subject to oversights in place on that date. Most would agree property owners should be free to use and enjoy their property as they wish up to the point where what they do impinges on the rights and the ability of neighboring landowners to enjoy theirs. Our water, air, serenity and quality of life are all threatened by Smyrna Ready Mix’s planned quarry. If county government doesn’t yet have the will to embrace zoning, I urge you to reconsider the County Powers Act as a means of establishing and enforcing standards to protect residents in this county and against exploitation and nuisances in the future. In my discussions with officials from Tennessee and the Sierra Club all stressed the critical importance of counties taking the proactive stance and implementing protections today against what could happen tomorrow or as is the case now we are left vulnerable and forced to react without local powers to defend our homes, way of living, and county. Again, I believe adopting the County Powers Act would be a good and necessary first step and I urge you on behalf of all my neighbors to revisit this,” said Antoniak.
Lucas Antoniak also addressed the commission saying, “I felt the blast and it was extremely violent and came out of nowhere. We had no warning, and we saw rocks in the road from the blast,” said Lucas. “Quarries are very destructive to the environment and very detrimental to the quality of life for the people who live in the vicinity of the quarry. Water, land, and air pollution are a threat to the people who live nearby and no one in the Snow Hill community knew about this quarry going in and I wonder why? This carpet bagging company is only here to exploit our community and enrich themselves and their business partners and their interests. In my research I discovered that SRM has a history of inaccurate reporting and noncompliance with government inspectors and regulations. Is this who we want in our community? Why were we citizens not informed and given a chance to speak out? This county owes it to us to protect the interest and environment of this county and its citizens who have dedicated their lives and families to this area.”
VE Garner of South Driver Road, Dowelltown, said, “I have a goat farm directly across the highway from the SRM quarry that announced itself with an explosion. My animals ran and the ground shook and I heard a huge rockslide in the distance. We found out from our neighbors that our new neighbors (SRM) were a quarry on a 110-acre farm right across from us.”
“We are being forced into closure because we can no longer raise our animals on the farm directly across from a quarry with the carcinogenic dust and threat to our water supply. We don’t have any other source of water other than our springs and those are directly across from this mine. SRM will or already has drilled a new well for its mining operation. We are seeking protection from our local government rather than having to do this as citizens to find out how to protect ourselves from a billion-dollar mining industry,” said Garner.
Nora Harvey of Dry Creek Road, Dowelltown added “I’m a nurse at Vanderbilt for 24 years and silica is a big deal. It is very dangerous. It will definitely cause cancer. My daughter is an advanced nurse practitioner, and she works in lung transplants. It’s no joke,” she said.
County Commissioner Tony Luna later made a motion to have the Health, Education and Public Welfare Committee revisit the County Powers Act for discussion. Commissioner Myron Rhody offered a second to the motion. Although the vote was 13-0 a few commissioners raised concerns.
Later in the week, it was discovered that the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation has received a request from Jones Brothers Construction, LLC 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. “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 it’s 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
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 for that permit 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.
