EVERETT — The Snohomish County Council is expected to decide by the end of the month whether a Granite Falls quarry can operate overnight, at least until the end of the year, in order to support the Boeing 777X project.
Green Mountain Mine, located outside of Granite Falls on the Mountain Loop Highway and operated by Aggregates West, requested permission for nighttime loading and trucking hours to keep up with the Boeing project. County Hearing Examiner Peter Camp granted the request in a Sept. 11 decision.
On Sept. 25, the Mountain Loop Conservancy filed an appeal of the examiner’s decision. The environmental advocacy group claimed evidence was flawed and questioned the application and decision process.
The county council heard the appeal Wednesday afternoon and decided to continue deliberations Monday. A written decision is expected later this month. The council cannot rely on any new information to reach their conclusion.
The conservancy, represented by attorney David Bricklin, argued that county code requires Aggregates West to file an application in order to revise the mine’s original permit from 1999. Instead, the company sent a request directly to the hearing examiner. The examiner then based his decision in part on evidence he gathered on his own outside of the formal hearings and documents, which is “totally improper,” Bricklin said.
The conservancy also asserted that environmental impacts should have been studied, and that the hearing examiner’s ruling failed to demonstrate “unusual and justifying circumstances” for extended trucking hours.
“I don’t think the facts are really in dispute,” Bricklin said. “We’ve raised primarily procedural questions.”
Aggregates West filed a request rather than an application because they did not seek to substantially alter the mining permit, general manager Chris Hatch said. The extended hours are a temporary allowance for a specific project.
“We felt as if the appropriate thing to do was to seek permission from the jurisdiction rather than just deciding to go ahead,” he said.
Environmental studies were completed for the 1999 permit and shouldn’t be needed again, Hatch said.
Three people addressed the council in opposition of the nighttime trucking hours. They worried about noise, traffic, water monitoring and the mining company’s failure to file annual reports required by its original permit.
“How is it that a request can even be accepted and we get this far asking for a revision of a conditional use permit that you’re actually in violation of?” said Ginger Amundson, who lives near the mine.
The hearing examiner’s decision allows for nighttime trucking until 3 a.m. on Jan. 1. During council deliberations over the challenge, however, Green Mountain Mine is not allowed to load and haul during the extended hours.
County code requires the council to issue a written decision by Nov. 24.
Kari Bray: kbray@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3439.
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