How you can help

At the public meeting on May 4th King County Department of Permitting and Environmental Review (DPER) encouraged the public to respond to DPER with any “questions” you may have about the Quarry expansion proposal. You can ask questions anytime until a determination is made, but DPER encouraged everyone to ask their questions before May 27th. That is because the DPER staff will start working on their review of the Quarry proposal by the end of May.

Providing a strong public response will improve our ability to influence the permit process and hopefully prevent the quarry expansion. Thank you to those who have already provided a response! You can help in several ways:

1. If you want to express your concerns/complaints in general about the quarry operation, the process, or specific issues related to the regulations the quarry must follow, you should send you comments directly to our King County Council Representative, Kathy Lambert, at Kathy.lambert@kingcounty.gov.
2. If you want to ask questions related to specific permit or environmental concerns you send your questions to the DPER quarry project manager, Amanda Reeck areeck@kingcounty.gov
3. If you want to complain about traffic issues created by the quarry, send your questions to Harold.taniguchi@kingcounty.gov (Dept. of Transportation), to our King County Council Representative, Kathy Lambert, at Kathy.lambert@kingcounty.gov and to Joe Barto Joe.Barto@kingcounty.gov (DEPR) since all groups are involved in addressing traffic issues related to the quarry.

What follows are a few examples of issues that you can address with each of these groups. Our suggestion is to personalize your questions and comments:

Kathy Lambert

King County Council is the government group that creates the policies and regulations that the Quarry must follow. These regulations include what conditions a quarry must meet while operating in our community such as the strength of blasting, dust and many others related to the environment. They are also the group that makes zoning decisions including what properties can be a quarry.

• Why do the regulations allow a quarry to open after more than 20 years of inactivity in a community that now has more than 50 residences within a ¼ mile?
• Why do the regulations allow a quarry blast that is strong enough to shake my house and potentially cause damage?

Fred White

DPER is responsible for making a determination if the quarry's plan is sufficient to expand their mine. They review all the pertinent regulations, the quarry's plans, issues that would result from an operating quarry and public concerns. This group will also focus on the impact the quarry has on the environment:

• What is the impact the quarry will have on the spawning salmon in the Raging River (blasting, dust, loss of tree cover, etc.)?
• What mitigation will be required to insure blasting will not cause a slide on steep slopes of nearby properties?

Fred White and Harold Taniguchi

Both of these groups address the impact of traffic issues due to the quarry.

• What is the impact of 100-120 fully loaded truck-trailers exiting or entering the quarry per day on public safety?

Please send your questions soon and please send a copy to our group at . The more questions and comments you make the more attention and review this proposal will receive by governmental groups.