GRANITE FALLS — A local conservation group is appealing a county hearing examiner’s decision to allow nighttime operating hours for Green Mountain Mine, citing flawed evidence and a “sketchy” application and decision process.
The Mountain Loop Conservancy filed an appeal with Snohomish County in late September. The County Council plans to hear it in November.
The conservancy is asking the council to reverse a Sept. 11 decision by Hearing Examiner Peter Camp.
Camp approved temporary night trucking hours requested by Aggregates West, the company that runs Green Mountain Mine. The mine is outside Granite Falls on the Mountain Loop Highway and normally operates between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Until Jan. 1, workers are allowed to load and haul materials between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. — specifically for the Boeing 777X project at Paine Field in Everett.
The mine is providing rock, gravel and sand for crews working on a 1.3-million-square-foot wing fabrication building. Camp determined that the extra hours are permissible under “unusual and justifying circumstances” and that the Boeing project qualifies because of its value to the county and state. The project is large in size and cost, and it serves as an anchor for one of the region’s key employers.
The Mountain Loop Conservancy, represented by attorney David Bricklin, argues that Camp made his decision based on personal knowledge and feelings rather than evidence submitted by Aggregates West or Granite Falls residents.
The decision includes a description of the Boeing 777X project’s dollar value, facility size and potential employee numbers. It also cites the participation of the city of Everett and Snohomish County in landing and promoting the 777X project. The description included details that were not part of the mine’s application or raised in the public hearing.
“The examiner’s introduction of new evidence into the record after the close of the hearing and his reliance on that evidence in making his decision is unprecedented,” according to the appeal. “And blatantly illegal.”
The mine’s failure to pay required fees to the city of Granite Falls or to file annual trucking and water-quality reports also should have precluded extended hours, the conservancy argues.
The company was $60,000 and at least four years behind on payments to the city for the Granite Falls Alternate Route, built in 2010 to keep trucks from clogging and tearing up downtown streets. The city has similar agreements with four businesses, and none of the others are behind on payments.
Green Mountain Mine has started making payments on the overdue fees, but the conservancy states that the money won’t make up for noise, traffic and the environmental impacts of nighttime trucking.
“Residents expressed their dismay that trucks would be traveling area roads at nighttime which would ‘ruin the quietude and certainly affect the sleep of the residents,’” according to the appeal.
The conservancy also worries about debris on roads and possible negative effects on groundwater and wildlife.
A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 5 at 1:30 p.m. on the eighth floor of the Robert J. Drewel Building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., in Everett. The council can uphold or reverse the examiner’s decision, or it can send the issue back to the examiner for further consideration.
Kari Bray: kbray@heraldnet.com, 425-339-3439.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
