Opponents of Fruitland quarries flood DNR with letters

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has received more than 2,600 letters in opposition to the Heartland Materials quarry development near Saxony Lutheran High School in Fruitland, Mo.

This is the most public input the department has ever received for a mining permit application, DNR spokeswoman Renee Bungart said. Public comments are now being accepted for a second quarry permit request near the same site, this one filed by Strack Excavating.

"Our big push now is that everyone sends in the same amount and quality of letters for Strack," said Abby Petzoldt, spokeswoman for Fruitland's Community Protection Society.

The public comment period for Strack's 76-acre quarry proposal will end Jan. 2.

After reviewing the public comments submitted, the Missouri Land Reclamation Commission requested Heartland Materials hold a public meeting where concerned citizens and the developer could have a discussion in an attempt to resolve their issues.

In a letter to the commission, Danny Dumey Jr., of Heartland Materials, declined to hold a public meeting.

"We feel that opening ourselves to the mass public would not produce any desirable outcome," Dumey said in the letter. "Heartland Materials understands the sensitivity and concerns being generated by our request for a permit. We have and will continue to expend considerable time and energy meeting individually to alleviate concerns in a more productive setting."

Dumey said he has spent time reviewing the public comment letters posted on DNR's fruitland quarry website, www.dnr.mo.gov/env./fruitland.htm.

The Land Reclamation Program staff have to make a recommendation to the Land Reclamation Commission concerning the approval or denial of both the Heartland Materials and Strack Excavating quarry permit applications.

Bungart said she does not know when DNR staff will finish their review of the application and public comments submitted. When they do, their recommendation will be posted on the DNR's Fruitland quarry website. The next meeting of the Land Reclamation Commission, made up of members appointed by the governor, is Jan. 27 in Jefferson City, Mo.

"We are asking as many people as possible from the Fruitland community to attend that meeting," Petzoldt said.

Fruitland's Community Protection Society and Saxony Lutheran High School have hired environmental lawyer David Shore of Jefferson City to represent them in their effort to stop the proposed quarries.

Shore said it is "exceptionally unusual" to have two quarries proposed at the same site near a school.

He's drafted two letters on behalf of those opposed to the quarry developments citing health risks from "fugitive dust" to Saxony's 187 students and its faculty.

Strack has been cited for not adhering to dust control standards in the past, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

mmiller@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

County Road 601, Jackson, MO