Commissioners hear concerns over mine plans

A planned 317-acre bentonite mine close to Pine Haven has caused raised eyebrows among town residents, two of whom visited the Crook County Commissioners last week to share their concerns.

The Keyhole State Project is under the auspices of Black Hills Bentonite LLC and will be situated on land leased from the state. According to the company's permit application to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), 17 homes are located within a mile of the active site, the nearest of which will be within 400 feet.

Several local landowners made comments on the matter after the proposed mine first entered the permitting process. Most recently, a public hearing on the potential impacts on ambient air quality took place in Pine Haven on April 10, with numerous locals offering concerns over the impact the mine could have on town residents.

Two of those residents, Todd Pomeroy and William Greathouse III, asked to appear on the commission's monthly agenda to share their thoughts and ask for information about the county's authority in this matter.

The short answer was that the commission can do very little other than to make requests regarding maintenance of county roads.

Concerns and Unknowns

Greathouse and Pomeroy explained to the commission that they feel the project will have unknown impacts on both Pine Haven and Keyhole State Park

"I've seen red flags through the process," said Greathouse.

He posed two rhetorical questions: can the mine be stopped? Do we want it to be stopped?

On that basis, he said, the pair began researching the project to learn more. At this time, the DEQ's Land Quality Division has approved the mine, Air Quality is considering and Water Quality is moving forward.

However, Greathouse said, it's fairly obvious that DEQ is "checking boxes" according to the state's requirements, whereas he and Pomeroy are looking from the point of view of area residents.

"It's not a typical location for a bentonite mine," he said, considering the proximity to homes.

The pair listed numerous concerns over the project, including noise pollution, traffic, the impact on tourism and business and the impact on air and water quality nearby. Damage to roads was also on the list, with Greathouse saying, "I don't think the taxpayer should have to foot the bill."

"Public safety is one of our top concerns," he said, noting that the trucks will be traveling on a two-truck road with heavy tonnage, at one point navigating a 9% grade hill with obscured line of sight and trying to turn left onto the Old Sundance Road with no turning lane.

This road, he said, is used by RVs and boats traveling towards the lake.

Pomeroy described it as, "A possible safety issue with the heavy traffic in that area."

Benefit vs. Risk

Neither Pomeroy nor Greathouse felt that the return that the state will receive from the mine was necessarily worth the impact.

"The economic stimulus seems pretty low," Pomeroy commented.

The company is set to make $19 million, they said, while the state would make $45,500 per year on the lease for the land. Though this lease money benefits the schools, said Greathouse, and that's important, this needs to be balanced against the potential costs of road maintenance and the impact on tourism.

"Is the juice worth the squeeze on this small mine?" Greathouse said.

They told the commissioners that they asked to be on the agenda partly to educate themselves as to whether the county might benefit in other ways.

County Authority

Commissioner Bob Latham spoke to the county's authority in the permitting of a mine, which is mainly centered around asking for financial assistance to keep any county roads serviced that will be used by the company.

Other such deals exist in the county where a company will pay for maintenance per ton of product that uses the road, he said.

However, noted Commissioner Kelly Dennis, "We can't demand it. We can ask them to voluntarily give it."

Dennis also explained that the county's authority is limited to the road usage and does not allow the commission to refuse access to those roads. They are public roads, he said, so the company can use them.

While it would be theoretically possible to impose a weight limit that, in practice, would prevent haulage trucks from using the roads, it doesn't really work in practice, he said. Weight limits would also affect everyone else, by preventing such vehicles as cattle trucks from using the road.

Both the commissioners and Sheriff Jeff Hodge agreed that the road usage could be a safety concern, given the slope, while Dennis also mentioned that bentonite dust has caused fatalities elsewhere in the county after spillages from haulage trucks got wet and slick.

While the county has "little to no say" in the permitting of a mine, Commissioner Fred Devish expressed his hope that the commission will be as successful in securing an agreement on road maintenance as with other companies in the past. Dennis noted that it would be prudent to ask Black Hills Bentonite to come in and talk through the project with the commission in the near future in order to gather information about any potential issues the county might want to plan for.