My neighbors and I live near the L Rock Industries mine located at 451 Mandy Road, Toledo.
Fifteen years ago, it was a peaceful Christmas tree farm on zoned agricultural land. As a disabled vet with post-traumatic stress disorder and head injuries, this peace is what I needed to heal.
An old Department of Natural Resources (DNR) permit for a mine was grandfathered in and allowed to start.
Immediately, my neighbors and I tried to find out who was in charge of regulation for hours and noise, since the sound of beeping trucks, rock crushers and drag lines at all hours was ruining our quality of life.
For 14 years, we were bounced back between the DNR and Lewis County with no one taking responsibility. I even facilitated a meeting with the DNR and a Lewis County commissioner, which only led to finger pointing.
The sound is so bad I have to play music in my home or wear headphones. I learned to live for the evenings and weekends where I could finally go outside without headphones and enjoy my yard.
This summer, the mine decided to operate almost every weekend from May through September. I tried once again to get the county to regulate the mine to no avail, even though they regulate other mines in the county. I even presented to them the state law, RCW 78.44.001, which states, “mining is an appropriate land use, subject to reclamation authority exercised by the department of natural resources, and land use and operation regulatory authority by counties, cities and towns.”
Commissioner Gary Stamper helped us over the years with this issue before he was unfortunately taken from us by COVID. In private, he told me how frustrated he was working with county bureaucracy over it. He also said he was disgusted that the county makes bad decisions regarding their lawful duties, which lead to financial payouts from lawsuits that hurt all of us taxpayers.
I believe this is another bad decision that will cost the county after a lawsuit, which seems to be our only course of action to get someone to regulate the mine.
Scott Crossfield
Toledo
