SEELEY LAKE - I couldn’t agree more with Libby Langston and Douglas Waldron about the proposed Elbow Gravel Pit. It defies common sense to locate a gravel pit – with all the inherent noise and disruption – smack in the middle of a wildlife corridor.
The scoping notice states the activity would occur “primarily” over three to six months but does not state the proposed hours of the activity. According to the Montana DEQ website, LHC holds six open cut permits: 2379, 1388, 1432, 2635, 2411, 650. Of the three that I scanned, one (2411) allows operations from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, including loading, hauling, maintenance, mining, crushing, etc. – in other words, a very noisy, disruptive operation all day six days a week.
For two others, after the initial permit was approved, LHC filed amendments requesting an extension of the hours of operation, from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. originally to a full 24 hours/ day for a period of six weeks (permit 1432) and to 24 hours/day Monday-Saturday and 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday (permit 650).
If a permit is granted, the disruption to wildlife, local residents and visitors is likely to be nonstop. It is also conceivable that an extension to the length of the operation beyond three to six months would be requested.
If that is not bad enough, my understanding is that a new road will need to be created to reach the new pit. Will taxpayers bear any of the cost? Will the road be reclaimed when the operations cease? I do not know the answers but these are additional considerations.
According to the Montana DEQ website there are 31 permitted open cuts in Missoula County alone. One of these – permit 650 mentioned above – includes an asphalt plant, a potential source, if no closer ones exist, for the re-paving project north of Seeley Lake. I’m not an expert on the type of fill needed to produce asphalt but it seems likely that some of the other existing open cuts were made to provide the type of material needed for asphalting.
This proposed gravel pit seems both unwise and unnecessary.
I’ve expressed these concerns to the DNRC and will do so with Montana DEQ if/when an application is formally filed.
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