Mine working overtime for Boeing 777X wing plant

GRANITE FALLS — Green Mountain Mine has gained county approval for extended nighttime trucking hours in order to keep up with a large-scale Boeing project in Everett.

Aggregates West, the company that operates Green Mountain Mine, requested additional hours for loading and hauling material in order to keep up with the Boeing 777X project. The mine is providing aggregate — rock, gravel and sand — for contractors working on a 1.3-million-square-foot facility in Everett where Boeing plans to build wings.

County Hearing Examiner Peter Camp approved the company’s request for additional hours on a limited timeline and with conditions that, if unmet, could revoke the permission, according to a Sept. 11 decision.

The mine normally is permitted to run from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Until Jan. 1, Green Mountain can load and haul material at night, initially between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. with the possibility of further extensions.

In order to keep its nighttime hours, the mine is required to make up about $60,000 in unpaid fees to the city of Granite Falls and file overdue reports on truck departures and water monitoring. The mine paid $22,500 this week and made arrangements with the city to pay off the remaining balance, Granite Falls Public Works Director Brent Kirk said.

The company was nearly four years behind on payments to Granite Falls and at least three years behind on required annual reports. However, Camp determined that the size and economic importance of the Boeing 777X project justifies a temporary extension of hours.

“This project is unusual,” according to the decision. “It is exceptionally large by dollar value, exceptionally large by building volume, and exceptionally large in terms of the value of the equipment to be installed. It is exceptional in terms of anchoring aircraft manufacturing here for another generation.”

The county anticipates that the facility could employ up to 1,000 workers at first and about 3,000 in the coming years.

Green Mountain Mine is allowed to load and haul during the temporary nighttime hours, but workers cannot mine, crush or wash aggregate. The only materials that can be hauled between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. are those destined for the Boeing project. Other work must wait for daylight.

The mine, located about six miles from downtown Granite Falls along the Mountain Loop Highway, has been permitted by the county since 1999. The current permit requires the company to pay Granite Falls 5 cents per ton of sand and gravel hauled out. The city collects these street use mitigation fees from four local companies. None of the other businesses are behind on their payments, and the fees totaled $68,500 last year, Kirk said.

Most of the money goes toward the city’s $6 million share of the Granite Falls Alternate Route, which aims to keep trucks off downtown streets by steering them around the town and out to connecting highways. The rest goes into the city’s street fund for general road maintenance.

When Aggregates West approached the county to ask for additional hours, the company had not paid the city since 2010, the same year the route opened. The mine also failed to provide required annual documentation of daily truck departures and surface water monitoring. Company representatives have agreed to file reports for 2011, 2012 and 2013 as a condition for the extended hours, according to the hearing examiner’s decision.

The mine was permitted to start nighttime operations Sept. 11.

At a public hearing earlier this month, people worried that the extended hours could create problems in the community. Specific concerns include nighttime noise, increased traffic and the decision’s effect on future regulations for a proposed motocross track along the Mountain Loop Highway. Some people from Granite Falls fear the extended hours will be used to justify lax noise and hour restrictions for the motocross track or other quarries in the area, according to the decision.

Those who have submitted testimony to the county regarding the Green Mountain Mine have until Sept. 25 to file an appeal with the Snohomish County Council.

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.