Proposed amendment to mining regs has gravel industry grumbling

August 24, 2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Gravel miners are looking to dip into the Mat-Su Valley's drinking water.

Gravel industry representatives met with the Mat-Su Borough Assembly Tuesday to voice their opposition to a Borough ordinance that restricts gravel mining to within 4 feet of the seasonal high water table. The assembly passed its Interim Materials District ordinance in September 2005 with the caveat that further research be conducted on the effects on groundwater quality and quantity from excavating gravel into the seasonal high water table.

Borough administration found that &#8220groundwater quality and quantity protection shall be ensured by requiring that a 4-foot vertical separation between all excavation and the seasonal high water table be maintained,” a Mat-Su Borough memorandum says. Seasonal high water table is &#8220the highest level to which the groundwater rises on an annual basis.”

Borough Planner Eileen Probasco said administration would now like to ammend the ordinance to limit excavation to within 4 feet of the seasonal high water table if a gravel company can meet as yet unknown permit requirements.

Wes VanderMartin of Anchorage Sand and Gravel said the gravel industry partnered with the Borough for months working on the original ordinance; however, he opposes the amendment.

&#8220We feel the way this ordinance is written now is very restrictive,” VanderMartin said, adding that underwater gravel mining takes place successfully all around the state. &#8220Fairbanks mining is mostly underwater. If they can do it reasonably up there we can do it reasonably down here.”

Assembly Member Lynne Woods said Fairbanks gravel miners face a different hydrology than Mat-Su Valley miners. In Fairbanks, the water table is only a few feet down and miners are not working in the public's drinking water.

While the gravel industry is vocally opposing the Borough tightening its reins, some landowners say that on occasion events happen that can affect the lives and lands of people living near gravel mining operations.

John Leiner owns a farm with his family behind the Central Paving Products and Quality Asphalt Paving pit south of the Glenn Highway at Mile 37. Leiner has filed many complaints that gravel mining near his home has changed the water table and has flooded his back yard more than once since the summer of 2004.

Central Paving Products President Don March tells Leiner in a letter dated May 11, 2005, that the company would build a weir system in the pit. &#8220If there is a relationship between our groundwater and your surface/groundwater, we believe that this will Š ultimately return the water table level to the levels prior to our mining activities.”

During the time the water table went up, Leiner's irrigation water well went turbid. Central Paving Products offered to replace Leiner's well.

Leiner said he has also noticed fluctuations in the water level of nearby Canoe Lake. Leiner believes this rise and fall of the water table is reflective of activity at the adjacent gravel mines, he said. A recent spike in water levels at the lake killed a large Spruce near his cabin on Canoe Lake. Liener said he is also concerned that if something went wrong, there may be little help for surrounding land owners. The Department of Natural Resources &#8220obfuscates the issues,” Leiner said, and offers no remediation.

Dale Morman, president of Anchorage Sand and Gravel, said the assembly should use the working knowledge of the gravel industry to allay fears members may have.

&#8220We probably know more about the water table in the surrounding areas than any of the residents,” Morman said.

Anchorage Sand and Gravel already mines down to a foot or a foot and a half of the water table, Morman said. A worst-case scenario would be a fuel spill or hydraulic line break, which has already happened.

&#8220We have had fuel spills,” Morman said, adding his company plans to reclaim and develop its gravel pit once it has been mined out. Allowing the gravel company to dig into the water table will create a valuable lake for this future development.

Central Paving Projects has plans to develop its gravel mine as well, said Trevor Edmondson, CPP's general manager. Edmondson said the lake Central Paving is creating will add value to the development. Central Paving has excavated at or below the water table for the last five years.

Edmondson is also opposed to the &#8220restrictive nature of the ordinance.” He also offered to work with the Borough to refine the amendment &#8220to make it both good for the Borough and good for the industry.”

Contact Russell Stigall at 352-2267 or russell.stigall@frontiersman.com.