LUCK STONE QUARRY PROPOSAL - RECENT HAZE AND DROUGHT A PREVIEW OF EVERY DAY

Recently Hanover County dealt with the hazardous haze from the Canadian wildfires and a severe local drought.  We got a real-time, terrifying preview of what it will be like to live next to the proposed Luck Stone quarry, asphalt and concrete plant on Verdon Road.

The smoke kept our families indoors and put our health at risk. The drought still has us worried about our water supply. But while the weather eventually cleared, the industrialization of Verdon Road will make these conditions permanent.

Imagine waking up in the morning to find your well has run completely dry because a deep-pit quarry is continually pumping millions of gallons of groundwater out of the local aquifer just to keep their site operational. Imagine stepping outside and realizing it isn't safe for your family or grandchildren to breathe the air—not because of a distant wildfire, but because a quarry, concrete, and asphalt plant right here in our A-1 Agricultural district. The quarry will be pumping out the exact same hazardous PM2.5 particulate matter and toxic VOCs that made the Canadian smoke so dangerous. The only difference is that instead of burning timber, they will be filling our lungs with heavy diesel exhaust and incurable, lung-scarring silica dust.

We don't even have to guess what this will look like. Right now, heavy truck traffic from the construction of Beaverdam Elementary is already coating the large yellow signs along Verdon Road in thick black soot and causing destructive runoff. If a temporary construction project is already degrading our immediate environment, the constant, year-round stream of industrial dump trucks for a permanent quarry, asphalt and concrete plant will turn this pollution into a daily, inescapable threat.

Citizens have OUR VOTE AND OUR PROPERTY.  We should not be expected to sacrifice the use, value, safety, or FUTURE of our property so a private developer can maximize their profits.

Once approved, Luck Stone will secure their operation no matter the cost to this community, and the county will be powerless to stop the daily damage to our lives.

For over 70 years, this county has been my home. We cannot allow an industrial project of this magnitude to permanently threaten the basic water security and air quality of the families who HAVE BUILT A LIFE HERE.  I urge you to remember the dangerous conditions we recently experienced, look at the soot already accumulating on Verdon Road, and recognize that this is the chronic nightmare "Project Noel" will bring to our community.  

CONTACT THE SUPERVISORS AND PLAN ON BUTTS IN SEATS FOR THE PUBLIC MEETINGS!  I’LL LET YOU KNOW WHEN THE MEETINGS HAPPEN OR YOU CAN CHECK THE HANOVER COUNTY WEBSITE.