Residents rail against plan to open Lexington County quarry

Homeowners told state officials Tuesday that a proposed quarry in western Lexington County will destroy their rural area with a lot more dust, traffic and noise while threatening wells that supply drinking water.

The blasting and the truck traffic from a quarry removing rock from the ground is not what neighbors want, they say.

“This proposed activity represents a significant risk to the community,” said Mel Browne, spokesman for the Ridge Protection Coalition spearheading opposition.

The public hearing was the latest skirmish in a three-year effort to stymie the bid of Vulcan Materials Co. to open the $40 million project.

Vulcan wants to open the mine on a 553-acre site midway between Gilbert and Batesburg-Leesville in 2018 if state environmental officials give it the go-ahead.

State officials are reviewing the plan after preliminary reports say the quarry can operate without being a nuisance. A final decision is expected after Jan. 1.

Vulcan officials insist their practices minimize problems, especially with limited blasting to loosen stone.

“We take pride in being a good neighbor,” company general manager Elliott Botzis told the crowd of about 100 gathered at the town’s middle school.

Changes that the quarry would bring aren’t worth it, opponents said. “I see nothing but losses on the backs of our citizens,” Batesburg-Leesville Mayor Rita Crapps said.

The new quarry will replace Vulcan’s 125-year-old mine in the Olympia neighborhood near downtown Columbia. Plans call for it to operate 75 years, eventually going 350 feet deep, with 131 acres mined.

Lexington County officials widened landscape buffers and rerouted trucks to reduce potential problems for nearby residents.

Vulcan will supply water to surrounding homes if an unexpected problem with wells develops – even if the cause is unknown, Botzis said.

But company promises to go beyond state and local requirements in operating the quarry didn’t satisfy nearby homeowners.

“They assured 1,000 people who sailed on the Titanic that it (a disaster) wasn’t going to happen,” Chad Bolles said.