Shake, Rattle and Roll

People living in neighborhoods near quarries complain that during blasting their homes shake. We have already been experiencing this ourselves. I took all my hanging decorations down from my exposed beams because I did not want things to fall and hit us on the head when the house shakes from blasting. I also packed away all of my china so it wouldn't break when the house shakes. When we had company for dinner, I unpacked the china to be able to use it and had to pack it all away agian when done. Imagine having to go through this every time you wanted to use something breakable in your house.

CCA invited town Selectmen from Freetown and Berkley to witness their first test blast. It was a very small blast for a haul road on site. It was not a demonstration of typical production blasting. The first blast was a series of pops with a small amount of ground vibration. A neighbor was in his yard during the blast and felt a small amount of vibration on his deck. Several neighbors, including ourselves, heard the pops.

However, that one demopnstration was the only blast that has been that mild. Since then, the blasts have increased in size, booming noise and ground vibration with each blast. If the quarry continues to increase in acreage and depth, as they would like to do according to their plans, the blasts will continue getting much larger and also much closer to homes.

Since blasting started we feel our house shaking more and more with each blast. The last two blasts were especially noticeable inside the house and all our windows rattled. We keep a glass of water with a float in it on our mantle and windowsills and during a blast we can really see the water and the float shaking around as the house vibrates and rattles. I was in the front yard during one blast and when the ground shook under my feet, it was unnerving -like an earthquake.

So who would want to live like this? Probably no one - if they could help it. The thing is when we purchased our home 8 years ago all was quite. There was no quarry and the setting on and around our property was idealic. We checked with the realitor, the Town Hall and our closing attorney about what kind of land uses were allowed around our home before we signed on the dotted line. We were told by all these sources that the property around our home was zoned as residential and that the only development that could ever be allowed near our home could only be residential. An examination of zoning laws easily confirms this. So how could this happen? Good question. I guess it is what happens when small towns become more interested in tax dollars from a large company then the health, safety and well being of residents.