State issues a permit for the RDU quarry, while also fighting to have the permit denied
READ MORE
Inside the battle over RDU quarry
Wake Stone has been blasting and crushing rock for 42 years near Umstead State Park. The company would like to expand and build a second quarry on leased Raleigh-Durham International Airport property. The News & Observer reports on the ongoing legal dispute between Wake Stone and the Umstead Coalition, with critics objecting to 105 acres of forested land leading to another massive hole.
Expand All
The state Department of Environmental Quality has issued a permit to allow Wake Stone Corp. to mine stone from land owned by Raleigh-Durham International Airport, but also asked a court to block the permit from being carried out.
It’s the latest twist in the years-long battle over the proposed RDU quarry next to William B. Umstead State Park.
DEQ initially denied Wake Stone’s request to mine stone from the RDU land, saying it would do serious harm to the neighboring state park. The company appealed to an administrative law judge, who last month overturned DEQ’s decision and ordered the agency to issue the permit.
Judge Donald van der Vaart said the DEQ division that regulates mining waited too long to make a decision about the permit and that the agency’s director, Brian Wrenn, was not authorized to make it. Van der Vaart also said the agency overlooked evidence that the proposed open pit mine would not impact the park and called the denial “arbitrary and capricious.”
Van der Vaart, who was Secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality for two years under Gov. Pat McCrory, gave the agency 30 days to issue the permit.
Which the DEQ did on Friday two days after it appealed van der Vaart’s decision in Wake County Superior Court. DEQ also filed a separate request that the court stay or suspend enforcement of van der Vaart’s ruling, including the mining permit, while the agency’s appeal is heard in court.
If Wake Stone is allowed to begin acting on its permit, DEQ wrote to the court, it “would irreparably damage the natural landscape” of the wooded airport property known as the Odd Fellows Tract.
In its appeal, DEQ argues that the administrative law judge lacks the authority to order the agency to issue a mining permit under state law. It also says van der Vaart was wrong when he concluded the state acted arbitrarily or capriciously in denying the permit.
At issue is whether Wake Stone should be able to continue to mine stone next to Umstead State Park. The company asked to modify an existing mining permit that has allowed it to operate the Triangle Quarry on property between Umstead and Interstate 40 since the 1980s.
The company wants to build a new quarry across Crabtree Creek on 105 acres it has leased from RDU. Stone from the 400-foot-deep open pit mine would be trucked across the creek to the company’s existing quarry off North Harrison Avenue, where it would be crushed and washed and trucked out to customers.
The company says it expects the mining permit will hold up in court.
“Wake Stone Corporation has been an excellent neighbor to Umstead State Park, and we will continue to be a good neighbor as we begin the process of mining the property,” Sam Bratton, president and CEO, said in a written statement. “While there will likely be more litigation regarding the permit action, we are confident we will prevail in the court system and begin expansion and mining activities in the near future.”
There are two other lawsuits that could determine the fate of the planned quarry.
One involves the bridge that Wake Stone wants to build across Crabtree Creek to connect the new quarry to the existing one. Twice, DEQ issued permits allowing the company to build a 60-foot-wide bridge with walls and abutments within the riparian stream buffer of the creek. Twice administrative law judges struck them down, most recently van der Vaart in May. Wake Stone has appealed the most recent decision to Wake County Superior Court.
Another lawsuit, brought by the Umstead Coalition, argues that the original permit for Wake Stone’s quarry next to Umstead was supposed to limit mining for 50 years, at which point the state would take over the property. But the so-called “sunset clause” was essentially eliminated from the permit when it was renewed in 2018, with the change of a single word. The Umstead Coalition filed suit last year asking that the clause be restored, which would bring an end to mining at the site in 2031.
This story was originally published September 11, 2023 at 1:06 PM with the headline "State issues a permit for the RDU quarry, while also fighting to have the permit denied."
