Environmental review on Grey Cloud Island mining company’s relocation plans released

A mining company that operates a rock quarry in Grey Cloud Island Township wants to relocate its operation onto adjacent lands, a move that could extend the life of the mine by up to 25 years.

Holcim MWR Inc., formerly Aggregate Industries, is proposing to expand the Larson Quarry onto an adjacent 148-acre property that the company owns just east of Washington County Road 75; the company has owned the land since 1972.

No change in quarry operations or production levels is proposed. There are only five to seven years of life remaining in the existing permitted quarry area; the expansion could extend the life of the mine by 20 to 25 years, according to an environmental review of the project.

The expansion will involve either relocating County Road 75 around the eastern perimeter of the proposed quarry limits or building a bridge on County Road 75 to access the eastern limestone reserves. Depending upon which option is picked, the expansion will increase the quarry area by approximately 53 to 70 acres, the environmental review document states.

Up to about 75 acres “will be cleared of vegetation and stripped of topsoil and overburden,” the review states. “This will be completed in phases to minimize the disturbed area at any given time throughout the life of the mine.”

Upon conclusion of mining activity, the quarry would become a lake, according to the review.

The environmental review shows that two federally listed endangered species may occur in the active portions of the project area: the rusty patched bumble bee and the northern long-eared bat. The Higgins-eye pearly mussel, a third federally-listed endangered species, may live within the project area, but the “proposed quarry limits and road relocation area are entirely located in uplands; therefore, the project would have no effect” on them, the review states. There is no critical habitat identified within the proposed project area.

Officials from Holcim, which owns about 600 acres in the township, last year filed an annexation petition to have 120 acres annexed into neighboring Cottage Grove and then later withdrew it.

Washington County officials ordered the environmental review, officially called an environmental assessment worksheet, to assess the potential for environmental impacts of the proposed project.

Copies of the EAW are available for review through the Washington County website at WashingtonCountyMN.gov/LarsonQuarryEAW with a hard copy available for review at the Park Grove Library, 7900 Hemingway Ave. S., Cottage Grove, MN 55016.

A public meeting will be held 4-6 p.m. Jan. 9 at Grey Cloud Island Township Hall.

Written comments received by Washington County during the comment period will be considered by the county’s planning advisory commission and the Washington County Board in making a decision as to the need for a more detailed environmental study.

For more information, contact Daniel Elder at Washington County Public Works at PublicWorks@co.washington.mn.us.