The following was received from Faulks Bros. in reference to a meeting with a representative of Stop Iola Mine. — Editor
Recently, Lora Osborn who represents a website and social media site in opposition to a sand & gravel pit on Iola Car Show grounds, approached us with a request to answer questions she had.She stated that her intent was to get the facts out so that everyone is fully informed regarding the aspects of the project, and to clear up some of the rumors that are going around. A conference call was held on 11-29-22 with Lora asking questions, and responses given by Mark Weinreis (Production Manager at Faulks Bros) and Jon Faulks (President).
We had the opportunity to have a conversation with Faulks Bros., who is the operator for the proposed mine on the Iola Car Show Grounds. Following is an overview of our conversation and some of the key questions they were able to answer in our conversation.
What is the proposed project?
The proposed project is for a sand/gravel pit/mine located on the Iola Car Show Grounds. This is not an industrial sand mine.
How did this project come about?
We were approached with the idea, and then we collaborated to determine how it would look and the feasibility.
What will the size of the proposed mine be?
The application indicates that it will be just over 29 acres. The plan is that we will only open up little sections at a time, as necessary to produce. At the end of the entire process, the proposed size will be fully open.
There was a well that was not included in the application. Why was this?
We pulled the data from the DNR website for all the wells within a one-quarter mile of the pit. We can only go off the information available at the time of applying for the permit. So why that well isn’t registered with the DNR we don’t know.
What will be the impact to the water table?
We will not be operating in the water table at all, we are going to be above the water table.
In the application, it notes that blasting and crushing may occur. What does this mean?
Blasting is a process that will be done with the oversized boulders that we cannot move with equipment – think bigger than a van. How many could we run into over 10 years? It could be 1 or it could be none. Blasting is done by a licensed third-party where they drill holes into the rock and then use an explosive to break it apart. Again, it should be very minimal or zero. In our company’s 78-year history we have not had to do any blasting in a Waupaca County Sand & Gravel pit. The only blasting we have done is at our limestone quarry near Readfield.
We don’t anticipate that we will need to blast in this project, but we added it in there in case we come across any of those boulders so we don’t have to go through a one-off approval for that process.
What about the air quality?
There is virtually hardly any dust created from our processes. Think of a farm field that doesn’t have vegetation, it might blow dust across it. There is dust everywhere. Think of driving down a gravel road and how you create dust. You drive a loader across a pit you may have some dust. It’s very limited and controlled.
How much noise will there be?
There will be berms. It depends on how sensitive people may be to noise; and the direction of the wind can impact it too. In our large limestone quarry, where it is the loudest of our operations, it’s not at all what people think it would be. The designed angle of the berms are done to have the noise go up into the atmosphere, not out.
How will the berms be installed?
We will put a berm along the tree line on J next to the closest home. The main perimeter berm will be built right away, and we will progress with other berms throughout the site as we strip it. We will follow the required setbacks and slopes. The slope angles are designed for safety and erosion control.
What will the impact be on our roads?
There hasn’t been any discussion with the county on the roads. It is something that the county, township, and village will have to discuss. When repairs are needed you have to take into consideration the road condition prior to starting the project, what activity is there currently, and the current state.
What will be the increase in noise with the trucks?
Truck traffic will be increased. By how much will be determined by the market and the economy. If you go out to any of the highways we’ll be driving on, there’s already traffic.
What happens if there is a spill?
We do have a spill procedure, this is put in place by the DNR. We have spill kits. We haven’t had any significant spills in the past where we had to report anything to the DNR.
How will this impact the wildlife?
We have trail cameras on our pits. We go through our pits daily. The amount of wildlife that goes through a pit when you open it up is just like when you open up a farmer’s field, the amount of tracks is unbelievable. We actually see an increase in movement.
There are quite a few trees on the back part of the lot, what will happen to those?
Those trees are scheduled to be cut down. Any buffer area that will remain more than likely the trees will remain. There is a possibility that the trees could remain there. We don’t know what that looks like. The trees could remain there for years yet.
In one of the initial zoning meetings in Iola, it was noted that this mine could be open longer than the proposed 10-15 years. Can you talk more about that?
Our agreement is to take a certain amount of material from the pit.
From a timing perspective, we just don’t know what demand will look like; we are going to have ups and downs no matter what. Based on the current demand, you could accelerate the time frame. We also have other products such as golf course and ballfield materials within the business that we could pivot this pit to support.