DOE gravel mine permit faces appeal

Published 1:26 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

NORTH BEND – The Cascade Gateway Foundation has launched its first legal challenge against Cadman Inc.’s proposed North Bend gravel mine by appealing to the Pollution Control Hearings Board a decision to grant a state permit to the project.

But the company contends much of the appeal doesn’t relate to the permit, which was issued by the Department of Ecology (DOE).

Cascade Gateway is joined in the appeal by Korchina Inc. of North Bend, which owns the Edgewick Inn at Interstate 90’s Exit 34. The appeal will be heard Nov. 25-26 at the Environmental Hearings Office in Lacey.

The appeal concerns a sand and gravel general permit and administrative order issued by the DOE allowing Cadman to conduct mining operations at the 293-acre Grouse Ridge site.

According to Cadman’s plans, the North Bend Gravel Operation would first mine a 33-acre lower site, then a 260-acre upper site.

Material mined from the upper site would be transported down to the lower site via a 5,300-foot-long conveyor, where it would be loaded onto trucks. According to the project’s final environmental impact statement published in December, at its peak, the North Bend Gravel Operation would generate 998 one-way truck trips a day.

The land is owned by Weyerhaeuser Co., and it would be reclaimed and transferred to public ownership once Grouse Ridge is mined. That is projected to take 25 years.

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