RDU Airport Authority has leased land next to Umstead State Park to Wake Stone so they can expand their quarry. Where was the environmental impact assessment and opportunity for public and stakeholder input? How can folks think this is a “done deal”? Why aren’t our Wake County Commissioners and the City of Raleigh not intervening and joining in on the lawsuit against this terrible decision?
Under the lease, this land next to Umstead State Park will be blown up to pieces and hauled away. Quarrying next to Umstead State Park, will create air, water, and soil contamination that will be harmful in perpetuity.
Crabtree Creek crosses I-40 at the lowest elevation below a high hazard dam at Lake Crabtree. The quarry blasts will deepen this valley, leaving the creek and I-40 precariously suspended above the quarry’s cliffs. During inversion events air pollution from the airport, I-40, and the quarry will be trapped, exposing people on the trails within Umstead to high levels of pollution.
Rather than protect and safeguard this highly scenic and recreational forest, elected officials are allowing it to be bulldozed, logged and quarried. Leasing public land for a private quarry, and extending the life of the existing quarry by another 25 years rather than returning it to the State of NC extends the harm and delays the reclamation of the existing quarry.
The environmental impact of adding additional impervious surface, constraining Crabtree Creek and removing access to it’s natural floodplain will increase flooding downstream. Understanding the risks of the quarry operations to motorists on I-40, and to bicyclists, hikers, runners, and horse back riders on the East Coast Greenway segment on Old Reedy Creek Road requires an environmental impact analysis with opportunities for extensive stakeholder involvement.
Better yet, the RDU Airport Authority should reverse course and sell the property to the conservation group, so that it can be protected and preserved in perpetuity as part of Umstead State Park.
