Missouri DNR joins quarry battle

by Nancy Hogland

Although in its 2009 State of the Environment report, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) touts itself as an agency that works to reduce pollution and protect and improve water, it has gone to bat for Magruder Limestone Company which, for more than a year, has been fighting for the right to blast and mine rock on land that houses two lines feeding more than 1 million gallons of raw sewage daily to the Lake Ozark Osage Beach Joint Sewer Treatment Plant, located near the proposed quarry.
In April, Judge Frank Conley handed down a three-part ruling that stated Magruder would have to re-present its case to the DNR’s Land Reclamation Commission, part of the DNR’s Division of Environmental Quality, if it wanted to continue its efforts to run the quarry.
However, less than a month after the ruling was issued, both Magruder and the Land Reclamation Commission, with support of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, filed separate motions to vacate the judge’s order and judgment and grant a rehearing, or to amend or modify the order and judgment so Magruder could continue with its operation.
“We’re wondering why a state agency that is supposed to be an impartial judge is getting involved in a private company’s battle,” said Osage Beach City Administrator Nancy Viselli. “They’ve completely abandoned any neutrality by taking this action. The point of going before the Land Reclamation Commission was to present all the information and then let them decide if this would be in the best interest of the Lake and of the state. Now they’re joining forces with Magruder to fight us on this? Why?”
She said that until this recent action by the Commission, the city was under the assumption the state had been fairly neutral.
“The only thing we can figure out is that if the judge’s order stands, the state could be held responsible for a portion of our legal fees. That could be why they want to help Magruder win this,” Viselli said.
In the meantime, both the Osage Beach and the Lake Ozark boards of aldermen have adopted resolutions authorizing Osage Beach Mayor Penny Lyons and Lake Ozark Mayor Johnny Franzeskos to request Gov. Jay Nixon and Attorney General Chris Koster to “do everything in their power to stop the Magruder litigation and deny the quarry blasting permit in order to keep safe the sewer force mains and safeguard the sewage system and the economy of the Lake area.”
“Before he was elected, Nixon sent a representative out to help us, so we believe he understands the importance of stopping this quarry operation,” Viselli said.
In July 2008, after a lengthy hearing process, the Commission issued Magruder a permit to quarry with stipulations that limited the blast area to 50 acres and forbid the company from blasting closer than 200 feet from the lines. Magruder began blasting just a short time later.
Soon after, Attorney Steven E. Mauer, representing the Joint Sewer Board, and Brian McGovern, representing a group of concerned citizens, many of whom live near the quarry site, filed an appeal. At that time, they requested a stay on blasting until that appeal could be heard.
During the appeal process, Gary Hutchcraft, who manages the sewage treatment plant, testified that after just a few days of blasting, the delicate ultraviolet lights used to disinfect the sewage had been damaged. He also they were concerned because the sewage treatment plant is under pressure, forcing 1.3 to 1.8 million gallons of sewage each day through the pipes, one of which is more than 20 years old. If one or both of the force mains are ruptured by the blasting, nothing would prevent millions of gallons of sewage from running straight downhill and into the Osage River. He also said shutting the lines down would cause that sewage to back up at lift stations and overflow into Lake of the Ozarks.
The stay was granted and then in April, Judge Conley issued his ruling which stated that the Commission made a misapplication of the burden of proof by placing that burden on the petitioners. Judge Conley also said the order given by the hearing officer, who made mention of information he had found on Wikipedia about the sewage pipe material, contained evidence that was not in the record and was unscientific. Finally, he said because the original application was not correctly filed, several interested parties were prevented from speaking against the quarry operation.