Black snot, headaches: Students suffer next door to Everett mining yard

EVERETT — Because of the dust that accumulates throughout the day at Fairmount Elementary School, teacher Melissa Ross wears an N95 mask in her classroom.

That classroom happens to sit 15 to 20 yards from the Everett Aggregate Yard, where a revolving door of dump trucks load and unload mounds of gravel, rock and sand.

Since last April, staff have been changing the school’s HVAC system filters more often — sometimes on a monthly basis — even though filters can generally last three months.

For nine months now, students’ learning has been negatively affected by the operation — and possibly their health, too.

Teachers and students have experienced more bloody noses, headaches and coughing fits, according to letters submitted to the Snohomish County Council.

Mountain Loop Mine does not have the correct permit to conduct its business at 2615 Center Road, but according to the school, the county has continued to extend the company’s deadline to do so, despite concerns from school staff.

In recent months, the mine has been better monitoring the dust and proactively watering the yard, said Mark Lytle, pit manager at Mountain Loop Mine.

“I think at this point they’re just upset. We’re not trying to be horrible neighbors,” Lytle said Thursday. “It’s our property. It’s our right.”

‘It rattles things’

When masked, Ross said her sinuses feel better.

She and co-teacher Melissa Reed work in one of Fairmount Elementary’s portable classrooms — a cluster of four separate buildings where teachers can provide small group instruction to students. These classrooms are the closest to the aggregate yard operated by the mining company. Ross and Reed’s classroom is for multilingual learners.

“They’re refugees coming from war-torn countries, and they’re hearing the sounds back there,” Reed said. “It scares them.”

And the students feel it, too, Ross said.

“It comes up through the desks,” she said. “It rattles things.”

Snohomish County Planning and Development Services became aware of Mountain Loop Mine’s violation May 31, county spokesperson Jacob Lambert said.

Mountain Loop Mine had a land-disturbing activity permit, allowing them to clear trees and brush from the land for a development project.

“The owner occupied the property prior to obtaining the required permits, believing the existing land disturbing activity permit on the property would cover their business activity,” Lambert wrote in an email to The Daily Herald. “They were informed it does not, and that a new LDA permit would be required.”

Mukilteo School District staff were under the impression Mountain Loop Mine had 90 days to obtain the correct permit.

“We didn’t go to the property owner … about the issues because we we were following the process,” said Karen Mooseker, executive director of support services for the school district.

But as the weather warmed, the noise, dust and commotion only got worse.

‘Frankly shocking’

With no air conditioning in the building, teachers tend to open their windows when it gets warmer. Last year, they had to keep their classroom windows shut to limit the dust coming inside. Even so, dust still got inside, Fairmount Principal Bente Klatt said.

“You could find it not just by the windows,” she said. “It would kind of get throughout the classroom on students’ desks.”

The south wing of the elementary school has been most affected by the dust, Klatt said. On particularly bad days, several students and teachers from that part of campus requested masks.

In September, district staff learned the company still hadn’t applied for the permit, and the county had extended the deadline another 90 days, Mooseker said.

In December, the school district found out Mountain Loop Mine’s deadline was extended again. Frustrated, Tory Kartchner, president of the Mukilteo Education Association, pleaded with the County Council on Dec. 6.

“The inaction up until this point is frankly shocking,” Kartchner said, according to a copy of his speech he provided to The Herald. “The rights of a private company to blatantly break the law seems to be taking priority over the rights of more than a thousand public school students to learn.”

In a letter submitted to the County Council, first grade substitute teacher Danielle Lowe-Angelo said students have regular bloody noses, black snot and headaches.

“Student with asthma was out for over a week with breathing issues in November,” Lowe-Angelo also mentioned in the letter’s bulleted list of concerns.

Lytle, the pit manager, said he was aware of some of the complaints, like the noise and the dust, but not that it was affecting the health of the children.

‘This is … louder’

Mountain Loop Mine now has until Feb. 15 to submit a permit application and required documentation to the county, Lambert said. County code enforcement staff have also required the company to create an action plan.

“If they follow their action plan, then the compliance date many be extended for time for (Planning and Development Services) to complete the permit review,” Lambert wrote.

The mine also has a pending sand and gravel permit from the state Department of Ecology, agency spokesperson Scarlet Tang said.

The property is “business park zoned,” Lambert said, allowing Mountain Loop Mine to conduct operations in the area next to the school.

County Planning and Development Services staff have the authority to enforce code violations, not the council, County Council member Megan Dunn explained.

“Whenever possible, it is the intent of (Planning and Development Services) to work collaboratively with residents and businesses to bring them into alignment with code,” Dunn said in an email.

Fairmount Elementary is less than a quarter-mile southeast of Paine Field — already the most noise-polluted place in the county, according to a map from the federal Department of Transportation.

“This is … louder,” Klatt said about Mountain Loop Mine’s operation, compared to the frequent sound of planes flying over the school. “It’s jarring.”

The County Council advised the school to make daily noise complaints about the yard to the county. Klatt said that’s what staff will do.

But the noise is not their primary concern. Ultimately, the school district wants help from the county — or anyone — so teachers can do their jobs, Klatt said.

“We are here to provide learning,” she said. “We have to have a safe environment first.”

Ta’Leah Van Sistine: 425-339-3460; taleah.vansistine@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @TaLeahRoseV.