Lower Colorado River Authority officials in Burnet recently recorded public comments related to the proposed quarry on more than 700 acres near Hoover Valley Road and Inks Lake.
Officials received 65 comments – 61 in person and four written – from Burnet County residents who attended the gathering that occurred from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. May 13 in the Burnet Community Center, 401 E. Jackson St.
LCRA representatives set up 10 desk stations to receive verbal comments from attendees, as well as one table set aside for attendees who preferred to submit written comments.
“They (LCRA officials) are doing an admirable job,” Texans for Responsible Aggregate Mining (TRAM) representative and quarry opponent Fermin Ortiz told the Bulletin.
Several attendees included members of saveburnet.com, a community group opposed to the proposed quarry, spearheaded by Randy Printz, who owns property near the proposed quarry.
Printz and other opponents fear the quarry could pose various health risks, as well as spoil much of the natural beauty and environment in Burnet County near Camp Longhorn, Inks Lake State Park, Lake LBJ and Longhorn Cavern State Park.
Furthermore, Printz lives near the site of the proposed quarry in Burnet County at 3221 FM 3509, where he is afraid water runoff from rock crushing could contaminate nearby Peters Creek, Spring Creek and harm the Devil’s Backbone fish hatchery, nature trail and recreation areas.
Also, retired Texas Department of Transportation administrative judge and attorney Larry Black attended the meeting in Burnet to support saveburnet.com and other local opponents.
Recently, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality granted their approval of the quarry, Black noted.
“They (other state agencies) need to look more broadly,” Black told the Bulletin.
“If they let one entity (Asphalt Inc.) take over, what else will happen? What will this one (new quarry) facility do to attract others? They have to cluster together to reduce transportation costs. During the next five years, Hoover Valley Road will look just like Spicewood does along (Texas) Highway 71 and that would be really sad.”
LCRA officials have indicated they plan to evaluate whether the proposed quarry complies with the Highland Lakes Watershed Ordinance.
“Comments may be provided on any topic, but by law LCRA is limited to determining whether the application meets the requirements of the HLWO, which focuses on protecting water quality that may be impacted from stormwater runoff from the project site," said LCRA spokeswoman Clara Tuma. "LCRA does not have jurisdiction to address issues such as air quality, traffic impacts, groundwater usage, flooding and noise or structural impacts from possible blasting activities at the site.”
Plans announced last September by Asphalt Inc. to build the quarry have provoked steady streams of protest from State Rep. Ellen Troxclair (HD-19), State Rep. Terry Wilson (HD-20), also from community groups and hundreds of individuals.
During May 12, the Texas Environmental Regulation committee unanimously placed HB 5151 on the current legislative session general calendar. The bill sponsored by Wilson would ban aggregate mining within four miles of two state parks and a children’s camp in Burnet County. Due to a technicality the bill
