People with a vested interest in the Elihu Cabin Hollow Road area of Pulaski were invited to make comments Monday evening at a hearing undertaken by the Kentucky Department for Natural Resources on the subject of a proposed limestone quarry in that area.
A permit to create a rock quarry at 2335 Elihu Cabin Hollow Road was submitted by landowner Phillip Harris. The total area for the proposed mine would be 34.41 acres, with 18.53 of that designated for the surface mine area itself and the rest of that designated for areas such as processing and spoil storage.
The hearing was for surrounding property owners to give their views on whether such a quarry would have an impact on them, and if so, what that impact might be.
The hearing was conducted at two locations: the Frankfort offices for the Department of Natural Resources and the community rooms of the Pulaski County Public Library, for those who were unable to make the trip to Frankfort. The two rooms were connected via video conference.
Those who showed up at the Pulaski location made it clear that they were opposed to having a quarry so close to their homes and farms.
Elihu Cabin-area resident and insurance agent Chad Smallwood addressed how he expected the business to affect local homeowners.
“A rock quarry, as we all know, brings blasting,” Smallwood said. ”… Just recently, there was a claim here locally of rocks landing on the roof of a nearby home coming directly from a blast site. While that type of risk would be covered under a typical homeowners policy, any kind of ground movement, causing cracking or leaking of a foundation would not.”
He said that to recover those costs, a homeowner would have to sue the owner of the business where the blasting originated.
Another area resident, Tyler Hibbard, also raised his concerns as to the “irreversible damage” quarry operations would cause.
“Blasting dust and heavy truck traffic will invade our daily lives,” he said. “The noise alone will shatter the peaceful environment that we value so much. Our homes, many of which have basements, are at risk from shifting ground and increased groundwater disruption.”
Roger Lovins said he lived around a half of a mile from the site of the proposed quarry, and said he was concerned about the health impact that rock dust would cause.
“Crystalline silica is a known health hazard linked to lung disease. Limestone quarries create dust particles containing this, which is linked to silicosis,” Lovins said.
Resident Carrie Corder brought up her concerns that another planned project – the construction of a 30-inch natural gas pipeline in the same corridor – could be damaged due to blasting from the quarry.
The pipeline is a proposed project that would feed natural gas into the Cooper Power Plant, which is undergoing a multi-million dollar project to add a generator that would run on gas, as well as convert an existing coal-based generator into a co-fired, gas and coal unit.
Another safety concern for some residents, including Brian Denney, are the truck that will be used to haul the quarry’s product.
Denny, who made his statements at the Frankfort location, said those trucks are already operating in that area, hauling loads of dirt. He said the oversized truck are causing problems for other drivers along the road, which he described as narrow.
“The road has four very sharp turns, including one at the bridge,” Denney said. “If you meet one of his trucks, they don’t or they cannot slow down, and many people, including myself and my daughter have been forced into the ditch to avoid being hit head on.”
Harris, who is seeking the permit, declined to comment to the Commonwealth Journal about the hearing or why he applied for the permit, other than to say that the application was for a small rock quarry operation.
No questions were allowed to be answered by officials during the hearing, and no decisions on the permit were allowed to be made.
It is unknown when a decision on the permit will be made.
The department issues monthly reports on which permit applications were issued or denied on its website, https://eec.ky.gov/Natural-Resources/Pages/default.aspx.