Public Comments Sought on Rock Crushing Operation

The public will have an opportunity next month to comment on a draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Streibick Surface Mining and Crushing Operation in Asotin County, Wash.

The public hearing will be held Aug. 7.

The Streibick facility would be located at a closed gravel pit, west of Clarkston Heights. No one has operated at the site since the late 1980s, although several other gravel pits operate in the general area.

Prior to the public hearing, representatives from the state Department of Ecology, Asotin County and the gravel-processing industry will provide information and discuss related activities in the area. The presentation is not specifically related to the draft EIS process, which is the subject of the public hearing.

The draft EIS evaluates the probable environmental and socioeconomic effects of the proposed surface-mining and crushing operations and analyzes potential ways to make up for those effects.

Ecology received more than 50 responses regarding the draft EIS during a comment period that was held from May 13 through June 11. Most of the responses addressed concerns over the cumulative effects of several gravel-mining operations in the Dry Gulch area.

To conduct surface mining and rock crushing at the Bayman Gravel Pit, the Streibick Company must obtain an air-quality permit and a water-quality permit from Ecology.