Bo Storedahl, of Yacolt Mountain Mine operator JL Storedahl and Sons, right, and Clark County Resident Gary Ogler discuss with county staff during a meeting regarding mine operations March 22.
Concerns over surface mining activity were highlighted late last month with the release of the Clark County’s first survey from residents around the mine, and impacts to the environment ranked highest among concerns.
The county’s Surface Mining Advisory Committee (SMAC) had its third meeting toward the end of May, where results of a countywide survey were discussed. Of the 960 responses to the survey, 314 were from individuals who identified themselves as residents nearby the Yacolt Mountain Mine, an operation that has generated ongoing concerns from its neighbors.
Most of the survey questions were based on the level of concern respondents had on different impacts of surface mine operations. It addressed hours of operation, noise, vibrations from blasting, truck traffic from vehicles hauling material, environmental concerns such as dust and groundwater impacts, as well as the potential for landslides.
In all cases, residents near Yacolt Mountain Mine were less worried about certain issues than the general survey population. Regardless of relative concern levels, respondents did have worries — only on truck traffic’s conflict with bus schedules did a proportion of Yacolt Mountain neighbor respondents go beyond a quarter indicating they were “not concerned” on an issue.
At the meeting, Clark County Neighborhood Coordinator Marilee McCall explained the goals of the survey: to increase the ability for mine neighbors to participate in the SMAC’s intent of addressing mining concerns regardless of their ability to attend meetings, to clarify what kind of concerns those neighbors had over operations, and to arrange concerns by priority to best use county resources.
“Our intent was we have to decide what’s going to come first at the meetings … what do you want to hear about the most,” McCall explained. She said that although only a comparison for Yacolt Mountain neighbors was available as of the meeting, the survey did break down to those living near other operations.
Though impacts from truck traffic were second to environmental concerns across the board, those living near Yacolt Mountain marked it as a higher concern.
At the meeting, Clark County Community Development Director Mitch Nickolds said the intent of the survey was to reach out to residents near surface mining operations, specifically those near the Yacolt Mountain Quarry, as a supplement to the regular meetings of the SMAC. He said representatives of the mining industry had reached out over concerns that they were left out of the survey process, but reiterated the intent of the survey was focused on neighbors, not miners.
The results made it “pretty obvious” to Nickolds what the county would do with regard to the survey results, as environmental impacts were at the top. To meet that end, he said they’ve had good results on reaching out to the Southwest Clean Air Agency, and the state Department of Natural Resources, the latter of which would have their surface mining coordinator making an appearance at the next SMAC meeting.
Nickolds noted that the county received numerous public records requests on interim results of the survey prior to its conclusion. He explained those results weren’t released as it could “corrupt” the final numbers by swaying perception, likening it to voting in government elections where votes aren’t released until past a set deadline.
“This is the best practice in surveys and voting that’s utilized nationwide,” and covered in public disclosure laws Nickolds said, adding he appreciated the interest evidenced by the number of requests.
