Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 20, 1994 TAG: 9409220047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Monday, the state Water Control Board approved a permit for a dredging operation on the Blackwater River arm of the lake downstream from the Brooks Mill Bridge on Virginia 834 in Franklin County.
Ronnie E. Wray, owner of Rocky Mount Ready Mix, asked for the permit to mine sand on a site that was used for the same purpose by another company from 1989 to 1992.
Wray was required to get county approval first. He did that through action taken by the Franklin County Board of Supervisors five years ago. In 1989, when the first request was made, the supervisors tied a special-use permit to the site and not the applicant, so Wray is allowed to use it.
Now, with approval from the Water Control Board, Wray awaits approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Tom Leedom, a biologist with the Corps of Engineers, has reviewed the site and said he is satisfied with the conditions set forth in the permit approved by the state. Leedom said Monday that the corps plans to approve the request as soon as correspondence is received from the Water Control Board.
The permit conditions include a requirement that Wray monitor the level of suspended material in water discharged back into the lake after sand is extracted. Samples will be tested, and if the level exceeds the requirement, the dredging operation will be shut down according to state policies.
Leedom, who has studied several sand mining operations on lakes and rivers in Virginia, said at an August public hearing that there is no evidence that sand mining does any more harm than what is dealt out by Mother Nature.
Others, however, aren't so sure.
Bobby Scruggs, who owns the Ponderosa Campground near the site, led public opposition to the permit request.
At the August hearing, Scruggs said the first mining operation caused discoloration of lake water, migration of game fish to other areas in the lake and buildup of silt downstream from the mining site. Scruggs also said residents who lived near the site had to put up with constant noise.
Scruggs, who could not be reached for comment Monday, made an impassioned plea to Water Control Board members at the hearing to turn down Wray's request. Others, including a member of the Smith Mountain Lake Policy Advisory Board, spoke out against the dredging operation at the hearing.
Wray said he is withholding comment on the mining operation until the Corps of Engineers makes its formal decision.
by CNB