Have you ever been labeled "Radical"?

[mtblujeans]

Have you ever gotten involved in a community cause and then have your neighbors call you "radical" because you weren't as apathetic as they are?

We have farmers in our area who own large acreage parcels that want to turn them into producing gravel pits.....we're talking 320 and 240 acre holes in the ground!

Our part of the valley has always been rural residential and agricultural in nature and the dust, gravel trucks, asphalt smell, and crusher sounds will really drastically change the flavor of the area.....for miles and miles.

PLUS, they let just about anyone drive a gravel truck. I have already posted previously about a gravel truck turning over on a teen driving a car and killing her because the roads are not wide enough for industrial use. Just this week, a side dump truck full of gravel rolled over on the roadway up toward Glacier Park!

I am not against development or growth.....just greed!

ETA: The neighbors who are labeling our family are just selling their places and moving away. That is easier for them than fighting for the neighborhood.

 

[mtblujeans]

The gravel pit owners we are fighting in our neighborhood bought my DSs 4H steer at the Fair Market Auction yesterday! DS is leaving for college this week so that means that DH or myself will have to go to the company to ask for DS's check!

Our 'neighborhood case' against them is at the State Supreme Court level and will probably be there for the next 2 years while we wait for a decision as to whether or not they can legally work a gravel pit in our part of the valley with the zoning not permiting industrial activity.

What's next? They will buy my other DS's animal the next 2 years just to make us come to their office and deal with them? These guys just keep making things worse and worse!

 

[janette]

I'm surprised you don't have more neighbors helping out. Sometimes it seems like there are environmentalists that take it too far but in this case hopefully they can be stopped.

 

[liamsaunt]

Wow...what a bad situation. I was going to tell you a funny story about the guy who told me I must be a "radical lesbian feminist" when I refused his offer of a date, but I guess that wasn't what you were looking for here. Good luck to you in your efforts to preserve your neighborhood.

 

[Uncle Remus]

I like the theory to send the radicals in first, makes the opposition want to deal with the moderates.

OP, you should be on the a$$ of your county commissioner, good luck.

 

[mtblujeans]

Ok, this gets complicated to describe (of course). The owner of the farm land who is allowing the gravel pit is a Republican. I have heard two rumors: One, that he has given over a million $$ to the Republican Party over the years and he has gone in and thrown that in the face of the Republican County Commissioner (there are 3 Commissioners, total) and told him that if he wants to be re-elected, he better support this venture (which he has). And, two, that the land owner is being supported by the gravel industry and the contractor's association (statewide) and that they have collectively gone in the threatened to sue the county if they are not allowed this gravel pit.

My personal choice is to believe the first rumor. He does not seem to be too frightened or intimidated by these guys - everyone is a good 'ol boy here!

There are over 3,000 people living in this part of the Flathead Valley. When the news circulated that this gravel pit was going to come about, alot of people around here got together and discussed the options available to the citizens on how to stop this. But, as the landowner fought back and gained big money support from throughout the state, alot of people just went back home and gave up or sold their place and left.

There is a very small group of us who have been at this for over a year now. The reason we are at the Supreme Court level is because the landowner is appealing the decision by the County to refuse him an asphalt batch plant along with the gravel pit. The County said that refusing him the batch plant in a residential area was reasonable restriction and he should just be happy with the gravel pit (320 acres total; 40 acres at a time). So, he is appealing to get his asphalt batch plant and we are appealing (as friends of the court) to get the whole thing thrown out.

I found out yesterday that he has requested of the judges that our small group put up a 1.6 million $$ bond if they decide to give us the injunction. They know we don't have that kind of money.

I do appreciate your good wishes for us. It is a real uphill battle. Not the way I expected my life to go when we bought our place. We had hoped this property would be a good chunk of our future retirement and we'll be lucky to get what we paid for it when we decide to move on.

 

[mtblujeans]

This is what it looked like the first 3 weeks of the pit breaking ground from my house:

I had a constant sore throat between the dust from the gravel pit and the regional fires that were polluting the air. I ended up with a sinus and ear infection that I am still on anitbiotics for.

The air has cleared a little, since these pictures, but we now have full view of an open pit mine. They are supposed to build berms between us and the pit and they have yet to do it. The County is not enforcing the restrictions they have placed on them, ie. berms to block mining views and cut down on dust traveling from the site.

 

[agnes!]

Is there any way to get the Sierra Club or Nature Conservancy to help out with the legal stuff? Some big group with big pockets? Or maybe some celebrity who is well-known for getting involved in environmental causes?

Good luck,
agnes!
PS - If the mining is interfering with ground water, a watershed or impacting local/rare wildlife, I think the Army Corps of Engineers or the EPA could be contacted.

 

[jonestavern]

The gravel pit guy must be using Wal-Mart's lawyers!

Around here, the small, widely read newspapers (3 out of 4 of them) are owned & published by persons who also sell real estate. You can imagine what at least 50% of us are considered!

All the residential owners have been offered whopping sums for their homes & lands--more $$$ than they would see in a lifetime. Most folks are selling, & our colonial buildings are left unprotected to be turned into parking lots & fast food franchises.

Wal-Mart has been given the go-ahead to fulfill it's part toward traffic abatement, by a $2 million dollar road widening which engineers on all sides(Wal-Mart, town & state) admit will be pretty useless when all the other box stores come in(2 in the wings & numerous fast food venues). Since wm will have fulfilled the road improvement obligation as requested by our state's bizarre DOT, it will be off the hook for an estimated $6-9 million dollar road improvement project estimated to be needed within 1 to 3 yrs of the wm opening.

Yes, Wal-Mart off the hook, taxpayers of NH picking up the tab for Wal-Mart & others to conduct business in this area!

And this is supposed to bring how much money into the town???
And citizens' groups & individuals are ridiculed, derided & purposely misquoted by this select little group of newspaper/real estate holders to what purpose??

Best of luck to you!

Until all the seperate little groups band together, sharing information, attorneys & funds, it is rule by the capitalist oligarchy & most folks would rather watch TV or go out than to get involved~

I know--I hope for a glimmer of light, but get down when I see how very apathetic or hopeless most folks are.

Really, you are fighting the 'good' fight & it is all up hill.

God bless you!

Jean

 

[mtblujeans]

Our small collective group has tried so many things to slow stuff down but we hit a wall at each turn. We have nesting bald eagles out here and I sent information to the Audoban Society, both locally and nationally, and they have not gotten involved.

We have what is called "The Lost Creek Fan" of a water table that is just north of us. It is already in trouble as someone has polluted it with farming chemicals and guess who is suspected of the pollution but the DEQ won't do anything about it. If this project were to pollute the next deeper water table, this whole part of the County could be deemed unusable. This land owner states that the problem with the Lost Creek Fan is actually caused by people moving into the area and putting in septic tanks when they build houses. And guess who is also selling off his farm land to people who can build houses in the area with wells and septic tanks.

As a matter of fact, the gravel industry has made public statements that an open gravel pit actually filters ground water so it is good for the environment....we all rolled our eyes and groaned at that one.

What actually happens is they mine down to a level that can open the underground rock formations above the water table. Then, they use water abatement to try to keep the dust down and it can seep into the ground water source through the deep mine opening. If he were to be allowed to have an asphalt batch plant, there would then be trucks coming and going with hot or cooled asphalt and they would rinse the trucks down on-site, washing both asphalt and diesel fuel into the open mine area. Again, they say that water would be filtered by rock as it poured into the ground. Even though these are known facts, the County approved his permit to mine and the DEQ gave him a permit to use the water and mine. Mining activity over a water table should be considered very carefully here as everything drains into the Flathead Lake south of us. However, over on the east side of our county, there is a gravel mining company that has actually mined down into the water table and, when asked to expand, were allowed to by the County.

Our State Constitution gives its citizens the right to live with clean air and water and this is the thin thread we are now hanging our hopes on. Gravel mining is actually a new area of law for this state. Things are vague and the industry fights hard against anyone restricting operations. The industry is growing as a rich venture for all the very same reasons Jonestavern site: Growth is everywhere and the construction industry does not want to be slowed down!! This part of Montana, and maybe most of the state, has alot of rock as there was at one time alot of surface movement - which also has given us our beautiful mountains.

DH and I are not the kind of people to tell our neighbors what to do with their property but, as DH puts it, when what you do on your property leaves your borders and affects my property, then things need to change.

We have never considered ourselves environmentalists, either, but even an idiot can see it is wrong to pollute your air and water! At some point, self-preservation should kick in!!

The zoning in this area states that no industrial or commercial business is allowed and gravel extraction can only be allowed for farming practices and the landowner's own personal use. Where the powers-that-be see a 320 acre gravel pit, opened by 40 acres at a time, is for a farmer's own personal use is beyond the rest of us residents.

Well, thanks to all for letting me vent. This is just taking up so much of our lives and it is of such a negative tone it is alot of the time hard to hold in!

ETA: The Supreme Court turned down our request for an injunction on August 24th.