Serving Kerr County with a Conscience
Quarry Neighbor's Bill of Rights
Dust from Martin Marietta's Bedrock Mine, 8-25-2011, 7:48 a.m.
08/25/2011 11:30
Dear Eastern Kerr County Residents:
Attached are two photos of the dust streaming from Martin Marietta's Bedrock Mine gravel crusher, taken at 7:48 a.m. on Thursday, August 25, 2011.
There are several homes and ranches within the immediate area where elderly residents live, with respiratory problems--is it any wonder? They are limited in income and have no power in our political system--in other words, they are expendable. This is a travesty.
Kerr County Conscience is dedicated to stopping the horrifying environmental consequences of the numerous gravel mines still allowed to operate in eastern Kerr County. We are also working to stop, at federal, state, and local levels, ANY PERMITS FOR NEW MINES and any renewal permits for existing mines.
Please help us in this effort. Renew your membership by sending $5.00 to: Kerr County Conscience, P.O. Box 127, Center Point, Texas, 78010--and volunteer to work on the mining project. Only by working together can we make a difference.
Very truly yours,
Kerr County Conscience
Attached are two photos of the dust streaming from Martin Marietta's Bedrock Mine gravel crusher, taken at 7:48 a.m. on Thursday, August 25, 2011.
There are several homes and ranches within the immediate area where elderly residents live, with respiratory problems--is it any wonder? They are limited in income and have no power in our political system--in other words, they are expendable. This is a travesty.
Kerr County Conscience is dedicated to stopping the horrifying environmental consequences of the numerous gravel mines still allowed to operate in eastern Kerr County. We are also working to stop, at federal, state, and local levels, ANY PERMITS FOR NEW MINES and any renewal permits for existing mines.
Please help us in this effort. Renew your membership by sending $5.00 to: Kerr County Conscience, P.O. Box 127, Center Point, Texas, 78010--and volunteer to work on the mining project. Only by working together can we make a difference.
Very truly yours,
Kerr County Conscience
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Motheral Conflict of Interest
05/13/2011 12:35
KERRVILLE CITY COUNCILMAN BRUCE MOTHERAL: ENGINEERING CONSULTANT TO THE GRAVEL QUARRIES
- Does Kerrville City Councilman Bruce Motheral have conflicting interests by supporting river preservation and tourism downtown, and facilitating river destruction when his engineering fees secure him money?
Since the City of Kerrville doesn’t pay its Council a salary, in order to be a City Councilman candidates have to be independently wealthy—or find the time to practice their professions on the side.
This hasn’t been a problem in the past, since many of the elected City Councilmen are self-employed entrepreneurs and developers. In fact, being a City Councilman—acquiring an intimate knowledge of the way the City works and rubbing elbows with the local power brokers—could be very convenient, if the Councilman is an Engineer and his clients are the local gravel quarries.
Could anyone, living in the Kerrville area, travelling on Highway 27 to Center Point, or driving down “scenic” Sutherland and River Roads, not be aware of the curse of gravel quarries in this area, disfiguring the landscape and polluting the Guadalupe River? The land of the closest quarry, Rountree, is owned in part by developer Richard Colvin: it is located right in the city’s backyard, in the ETJ (the City’s Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction). Ever wonder where all that dust comes from, as you approach the airport travelling east? This quarry is a major air polluter, although you can’t see the actual facility from Highway 27. Travelling east, the next quarry encountered is just south of the airport, on the south side of the highway. A new quarry, it’s only been open a few years, on land owned by wealthy developer Max Duncan. It’s leased by mega conglomerate Martin Marietta Materials Southwest, Ltd. Immediately adjacent to the east is another quarry, owned by Joe Drymala, who also mines for gravel in the Comfort area—in fact, right in his own front yard. East of Drymala is the Bedrock Sand and Gravel Plant, owned and operated by Martin Marietta. Next time you are on Google Earth, check out the huge blotch on the landscape caused by this facility. Then we all know about the controversy several years ago over the expansion of Wheatcraft east of Center Point. Surely eastern Kerr County and the City of Kerrville’s Hwy. 27 “Gateway” could be given another name—“Skid Rock Row.”
Much of the gravel located immediately south of Highway 27, east of the airport, comes from a major tributary to the north, “Nowlin’s Hollow” (more on why this is called Nowlin’s Hollow later.) Nowlin’s Hollow actually travels at a slant on its insistent run to the Guadalupe River, running from the NE to the SW. So much water cascades down the hills east of the airport that the resulting gravel has made the mine owners millionaires several times over. There are several locations where the water flow is so heavy that TXDOT has expansive culverts underlying Highway 27; in the 1978 flood the highway in this area was completely covered with water, and impassable.
A few weeks ago, people living in the area east of the airport noticed some heavy duty bulldozing and construction going on, right next to the highway, in the area of one of these culverts—on property owned by Joe Drymala. Since the area under construction is located in the 100-year flood plain, before any work was done, Drymala needed a Floodplain Permit from Kerr County Floodplain Administrator John Hewitt (technically, since the construction area is in the ETJ, the City of Kerrville should be conducting the floodplain permitting, but since the City and the County are fighting over development jurisdiction in the ETJ, this area has been given to Kerr County for floodplain review.) No permit application had been made to Hewitt, and his office had no idea what Drymala was proposing. However, we were informed that Drymala would be preparing the proper study and technical information and it would come from his Engineering Consultant—Kerrville City Councilman Bruce Motheral.
Since the proposed development is within the City’s ETJ, other reviews and permits could also be required. It’s very possible that the Kerrville City Council, or one of the City’s Boards, like Planning and Zoning, will be reviewing this construction. Do you think that, under these circumstances, it is a conflict of interest for Councilman Bruce Motheral to serve as Drymala’s Engineering Consultant?
This is not the first time that Motheral has been involved in engineering studies and floodplain permitting—both as a privately-practicing engineer, and as a City of Kerrville official. In 2006, when Martin Marietta Materials Southwest, Ltd. (MM) made application to expand their mining activities to a new site immediately adjacent to the H.M. Naylor Ranch Historic District, and just SE of the Kerr County Airport, Bruce Motheral wrote the engineering study that said it was okay for MM to “demolish” Nowlin’s Hollow tributary and build a road right across the floodplain. At that time, Motheral wasn’t on the City Council—but he was the Chair of the City of Kerrville’s Planning and Zoning Commission. In 2006, the City had the zoning ability to stop Martin Marietta’s expansion. Do you think that under these circumstances, it was a conflict of interest for the Chair of the City of Kerrville’s Planning and Zoning Commission to also serve as Martin Marietta’s Engineering Consultant?
Just one more fact about Councilman Motheral. After knowing this area so well, Motheral, during his tenure as a Kerrville City Councilman, also was a strong proponent of Richard Colvin’s disastrous plan to develop a 280-unit RV Park on the flood plain SW of the present quarries. Old timers talk about this plain, during the big floods—1932, 1978—and most of the plain was covered with water from Nowlin’s Hollow, except for one prominent knoll. Atop this knoll is an ancient live oak tree, the site of the Wellborn family cemetery, where five members of the Wellborn family, in the 1860s, were buried. Colvin planned to completely destroy this family cemetery in his RV development. At the Planning and Zoning Board’s hearing, Motheral could be seen huddling with Colvin, shaking hands, offering his support.
This development would have happened—and may still happen—but appears to be on hold, perhaps the only good thing to come out of the recession.
No doubt, when and if it comes up again, Bruce Motheral will be pushing for it—if he wins re-election to the City Council on Saturday.
Please click here for the PDF file for documentation accompanying this article.
A QUARRY NEIGHBOR'S QUANDARY
05/28/2010 12:19
A Sunday morning drive along Center Point’s River Road ain’t what it used to be.
The drive from east to west still begins beneath the stunningly beautiful canopy of old pecans, oaks, elm and cypress. The undergrowth opens up in a few places to give the driver a few peeks at the Guadalupe River—just teasers leaving you wishing for more. Trouble is, the bigger view opening up on the other side of the road is a quarry neighbor’s nightmare. Thistles, thistles, thistles. Everywhere, musk thistles.
And what have our neighbors, the gravel quarries, done to stop the explosive proliferation of these awful weeds?
Martin Marietta Aggregates has made no attempt to control thistle growth on their property that adjoins River Road and Sutherland Lane. White seeds are drifting in the wind to all parts of the county. And beyond.
Drymala Quarry seems to be mounting a late poisoning of their thistle forest on Sutherland Road. Probably a high-powered chemical since Roundup® won’t kill thistles that are that tall. This quarry neighbor guesses they have a license to purchase those potent, federally regulated chemicals in large quantities, since Drymala obviously used a lot of whatever noxious chemical it is.
Do the quarries’ neighbors have a right to know what chemical compound Drymala has sprayed?
The runoff from whatever they are, those herbicides or herbicide, seeps directly into the river and is undoubtedly detrimental to the downstream neighbors as well as to fish and to river plants.
Could there have been some drift onto neighbor’s property or onto the roadway as they sprayed…?
Let us return to our tour.
Take a turn back onto River Road and you see the backside of Drymala’s quarry.
Oh, no!
While county crews have mowed their side of the fence, the right-of-way, the quarry’s neglect presents a stark contrast.
Musk thistles run amuck on this part of Drymala land.
A monumental travesty will undoubtedly unfold next spring. These thistle seeds are already drifting across River Road. They drift, spreading hundreds of thousands of seeds, each one eager to bloom into a tall stalk of sharp thorns. Thorns that injure livestock and wildlife, while ruining the land, be it recreational, agricultural, or residential.
I see the wedge of ground that has been scrapped and gouged into an ATV-motocross facility. All the vegetation has been removed from the surface, leaving bare dirt. Prime river bottom dirt.
Can a thistle seed ask for more?
I know there is relief ahead. I am almost to TEXAS MONTHLY Magazine’s #3 swimming hole in Texas, the Brinks-Reese-Guadalupe crossing. But there’s no relief for me. This popular recreational spot, a haven for man since the days of the Native Americans, has not been spared. Musk-thistle seeds have made their way to the riverbank.
Thankfully, those weeds have not germinated in huge numbers. Not yet. Were they seeded from the unattended quarry berms a few feet above the river?
A return to Highway 27 is encouraging. Martin Marietta has removed thistles along this heavily traveled roadway. Well, maybe not so encouraging. Neighbors wonder why this international corporation controls the musk thistle at their high profile front fence that runs alongside the highway, but ignores the infestation beyond the view of Highway 27 motorists.
Then there is Wheatcraft, situated on the river bank.
Neighbors suspected the berms along Highway 27 were strategically located to hide the dismal reality inside the pits. These berms have now become a seedbed for the musk thistle. Wheatcraft Materials Incorporated has also made a sloppy attempt at control with herbicides.
Do neighbors have a right to expect more appropriate thistle control, given the high risk of chemicals soaking into the soil, the river’s alluvial system and the main river stream?
Quarry neighbors also suffer from unattended quarry thistles, and nearby farmers and ranchers lose the productivity of their land, since these weeds aren’t suitable as agricultural feed and they are sharp and tall, poising injury to livestock and wildlife.
Removal is impossible with the annual seeding from the quarries as well as the seed bank lying dormant from previous years. Any method of control is labor intensive, time consuming, expensive and frustrating. Neighbors can attempt to pop a few out of the ground but this is impossible when faced with a blooming bumper crop. Do we spray and kill everything in site? Do we mow and destroy the wildflower seed bank forever? Unfortunately, the musk thistle blooms and seeds in sync with our native wildflowers.
The quarries are not operating on this Sunday but thistle seeds are still blowing in the wind, soon to land and germinate.
Wouldn’t it all be better, if gravel quarry owners would simply make concerted efforts to control thistles on their property, before they morph from seeds to weeds?
~Frances Lovett
The drive from east to west still begins beneath the stunningly beautiful canopy of old pecans, oaks, elm and cypress. The undergrowth opens up in a few places to give the driver a few peeks at the Guadalupe River—just teasers leaving you wishing for more. Trouble is, the bigger view opening up on the other side of the road is a quarry neighbor’s nightmare. Thistles, thistles, thistles. Everywhere, musk thistles.
And what have our neighbors, the gravel quarries, done to stop the explosive proliferation of these awful weeds?
Martin Marietta Aggregates has made no attempt to control thistle growth on their property that adjoins River Road and Sutherland Lane. White seeds are drifting in the wind to all parts of the county. And beyond.
Drymala Quarry seems to be mounting a late poisoning of their thistle forest on Sutherland Road. Probably a high-powered chemical since Roundup® won’t kill thistles that are that tall. This quarry neighbor guesses they have a license to purchase those potent, federally regulated chemicals in large quantities, since Drymala obviously used a lot of whatever noxious chemical it is.
Do the quarries’ neighbors have a right to know what chemical compound Drymala has sprayed?
The runoff from whatever they are, those herbicides or herbicide, seeps directly into the river and is undoubtedly detrimental to the downstream neighbors as well as to fish and to river plants.
Could there have been some drift onto neighbor’s property or onto the roadway as they sprayed…?
Let us return to our tour.
Take a turn back onto River Road and you see the backside of Drymala’s quarry.
Oh, no!
While county crews have mowed their side of the fence, the right-of-way, the quarry’s neglect presents a stark contrast.
Musk thistles run amuck on this part of Drymala land.
A monumental travesty will undoubtedly unfold next spring. These thistle seeds are already drifting across River Road. They drift, spreading hundreds of thousands of seeds, each one eager to bloom into a tall stalk of sharp thorns. Thorns that injure livestock and wildlife, while ruining the land, be it recreational, agricultural, or residential.
I see the wedge of ground that has been scrapped and gouged into an ATV-motocross facility. All the vegetation has been removed from the surface, leaving bare dirt. Prime river bottom dirt.
Can a thistle seed ask for more?
I know there is relief ahead. I am almost to TEXAS MONTHLY Magazine’s #3 swimming hole in Texas, the Brinks-Reese-Guadalupe crossing. But there’s no relief for me. This popular recreational spot, a haven for man since the days of the Native Americans, has not been spared. Musk-thistle seeds have made their way to the riverbank.
Thankfully, those weeds have not germinated in huge numbers. Not yet. Were they seeded from the unattended quarry berms a few feet above the river?
A return to Highway 27 is encouraging. Martin Marietta has removed thistles along this heavily traveled roadway. Well, maybe not so encouraging. Neighbors wonder why this international corporation controls the musk thistle at their high profile front fence that runs alongside the highway, but ignores the infestation beyond the view of Highway 27 motorists.
Then there is Wheatcraft, situated on the river bank.
Neighbors suspected the berms along Highway 27 were strategically located to hide the dismal reality inside the pits. These berms have now become a seedbed for the musk thistle. Wheatcraft Materials Incorporated has also made a sloppy attempt at control with herbicides.
Do neighbors have a right to expect more appropriate thistle control, given the high risk of chemicals soaking into the soil, the river’s alluvial system and the main river stream?
Quarry neighbors also suffer from unattended quarry thistles, and nearby farmers and ranchers lose the productivity of their land, since these weeds aren’t suitable as agricultural feed and they are sharp and tall, poising injury to livestock and wildlife.
Removal is impossible with the annual seeding from the quarries as well as the seed bank lying dormant from previous years. Any method of control is labor intensive, time consuming, expensive and frustrating. Neighbors can attempt to pop a few out of the ground but this is impossible when faced with a blooming bumper crop. Do we spray and kill everything in site? Do we mow and destroy the wildflower seed bank forever? Unfortunately, the musk thistle blooms and seeds in sync with our native wildflowers.
The quarries are not operating on this Sunday but thistle seeds are still blowing in the wind, soon to land and germinate.
Wouldn’t it all be better, if gravel quarry owners would simply make concerted efforts to control thistles on their property, before they morph from seeds to weeds?
~Frances Lovett
Do quarry neighbors have rights?
05/20/2010 21:11
Our recent rains have been great, but KCC folks have been in the county a goodly many years, and we know that with summer upon us, the dust and noise from our neighboring quarries will soon pick up again.
There’s nothing we can do about it.
As our county officials support the industrialization of the Highway 27 corridor, and while all that dust and noise billows up from the quarry properties, mine owners are allowed to do whatever they choose. They are big business. I’m just a private landowner.
Over here on my property, I breathe nasty air, and I can’t even enjoy a peaceful evening, relaxing in my own home, much less by the river, not with the quarries pounding away, day and night, night and day.
At a town hall meeting in New Braunfels, over in Comal County, I heard a Martin Marietta lobbyist boldly state that their company adheres to all state laws. Yet some Comal County residents had unanswered complaints about broken windows, cracked foundations and caved-in wells from blasting at the neighboring Martin Marietta mine.
In actuality, there are no Texas state laws regulating quarry operations.
Also, that lobbyist failed to inform the audience that he and other powerful quarry lobbyists had successfully defeated a modest regulatory bill previously introduced by Texas State Senator Troy Fraser. The only piece of the bill to survive was a clause stating that all gravel loads on a public road must be covered.
Texas does have laws specific to air quality which govern emissions from any industrial operation. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) applies these laws to quarry operations in an effort to control emissions of particulates and dust into the air. A drive down Highway 27 from Kerrville to Comfort will verify the absence of enforcement as the ground dries out and summer operations crank up.
Dust billows from the pits and on-site roads. White dirt builds up on the highway at the pit entrances. Quarry neighbors ought to be able to expect a few neighborly courtesies from the pit owners.
All this particular landowner is asking for is a sensible, decent, and neighborly approach to their business model. This would include...
Our elected officials should report to water authorities, such as the TCEQ and HGCD, the amount of river- and well water that is being used to facilitate mining, gravel-washing processes and dust control.
We also need an objective assessment by those officials on the short term tax gain vs. the long term loss of land productivity, river tourism and road repairs caused by heavy truck traffic. They should regularly monitor the particulate matter that is emitted into the air from the cluster of five quarries within our small area.
Finally, we need law enforcement and protection from the speeding trucks and flying gravel.
I think we need a Quarry Neighbor’s Bill of Rights. That might get someone interested in our plight. But the rain today is so nice. I could just sit here and look at the dust on my shelves, at the pictures of my loved ones and at my precious knickknacks. Why not look outside and enjoy the beautiful Hill Country? Because just across the fence, I can see what the miners are doing to these beautiful hills…and it’s the pits!
Frances Lovett
There’s nothing we can do about it.
As our county officials support the industrialization of the Highway 27 corridor, and while all that dust and noise billows up from the quarry properties, mine owners are allowed to do whatever they choose. They are big business. I’m just a private landowner.
Over here on my property, I breathe nasty air, and I can’t even enjoy a peaceful evening, relaxing in my own home, much less by the river, not with the quarries pounding away, day and night, night and day.
At a town hall meeting in New Braunfels, over in Comal County, I heard a Martin Marietta lobbyist boldly state that their company adheres to all state laws. Yet some Comal County residents had unanswered complaints about broken windows, cracked foundations and caved-in wells from blasting at the neighboring Martin Marietta mine.
In actuality, there are no Texas state laws regulating quarry operations.
Also, that lobbyist failed to inform the audience that he and other powerful quarry lobbyists had successfully defeated a modest regulatory bill previously introduced by Texas State Senator Troy Fraser. The only piece of the bill to survive was a clause stating that all gravel loads on a public road must be covered.
Texas does have laws specific to air quality which govern emissions from any industrial operation. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) applies these laws to quarry operations in an effort to control emissions of particulates and dust into the air. A drive down Highway 27 from Kerrville to Comfort will verify the absence of enforcement as the ground dries out and summer operations crank up.
Dust billows from the pits and on-site roads. White dirt builds up on the highway at the pit entrances. Quarry neighbors ought to be able to expect a few neighborly courtesies from the pit owners.
All this particular landowner is asking for is a sensible, decent, and neighborly approach to their business model. This would include...
- reasonable hours of operation,
- noise control,
- dust control from the mining operations and on-site roads,
- reasonable protection of the river, river bottom and floodplain; and,
- remediation when the mines are depleted.
Our elected officials should report to water authorities, such as the TCEQ and HGCD, the amount of river- and well water that is being used to facilitate mining, gravel-washing processes and dust control.
We also need an objective assessment by those officials on the short term tax gain vs. the long term loss of land productivity, river tourism and road repairs caused by heavy truck traffic. They should regularly monitor the particulate matter that is emitted into the air from the cluster of five quarries within our small area.
Finally, we need law enforcement and protection from the speeding trucks and flying gravel.
I think we need a Quarry Neighbor’s Bill of Rights. That might get someone interested in our plight. But the rain today is so nice. I could just sit here and look at the dust on my shelves, at the pictures of my loved ones and at my precious knickknacks. Why not look outside and enjoy the beautiful Hill Country? Because just across the fence, I can see what the miners are doing to these beautiful hills…and it’s the pits!
Frances Lovett