Want Toxic Soil in Freetown Neighborhood?

The same people who operate the West Roxbury quarry named in this article also own the CCA quarry in Freetown.  Is this how they would "reclaim"the land in Freetown when they are done mining here- by filling in the hole with  contaminated soil that the EPA says in not suitable for neighborhoods?  That's what they want to do in West Roxbury - while they still continue to shake houses with blasting!

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/06/01/west-roxbury-quarry-still-stokes controversy/xOzfPclxEbE8NHHdMpuN2H/story.html

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/06/01/west-roxbury-quarry-still-stokes-controversy/xOzfPclxEbE8NHHdMpuN2H/story.html

Vote Yes for Articles 1& 2 June 16

There is a web page with information about Articles 1 and 2 for the Special Town Meeting in Freetown on June 6th at 7pm at the Freetown Elementary School on Bullock Road.

www.FreetownWater.blogspot.com

Please vote Yes on Articles 1 & 2!

Quarry Permit Renewed

The Freetown Soil Board recently renewed a permit for the CCA quarry operation on Bryant St.  The meeting took place at 4:00 pm when most residents are working and unable to attend.  The new permit allows operation, including blasting, for the next 3 years.

Blasting is now affecting homes on Rt. 79 between Bryant St and Locust. St.

The last blast was very loud and shook my house.  It rattled the walls and windows.

Quarry Suspected for Dry Wells

At least 7 wells in Assonet have gone dry, all at once and all at the same time, in the same neighborhood near the quarry.  The wells went dry after a large blast at the CCA quarry on July 9th. They went very suddenly dry - one day water like normal, then the blast, and then the next day no water at all.   The DEP is investigating if the quarry is the cause.  Several other homes near the quarry site are experiencing heavy sedimentation in their wells.  Still others have had items inside their homes fall over and break during a blast, broken windows, basement and foundation cracks, cracks in an in-ground pool and cracks in internal walls.  The quarry, whose operators claim to want to be "good neighbors" have so far refused to reimburse homeowners for damages suffered so far, have refused to replace broken items or windows and have not offered homeowners suffering damages any assistance with repairs.   Homeowners have had to drill down to almost 500 feet to restore their water supply and have spent upwards of $10,000 each of their own money to repair their wells and restore sanitary living conditions to their families. Quarry blasting can close fissures in the bedrock that feed individual wells.

Hearing Continued to Thursday, April 26 at 7pm

     

      Quarry Blasting Permit

    PUBLIC HEARING CONTINUED

                      

                                           Thursday April 26th

7:00 pm

Council on Aging

227 Chace Road, East Freetown

(Next to Freetown Police Station)

In response to litigation filed by local residents, the Freetown Soil Conservation Board held a further public hearing on Cape Cod Aggregates’ request to renew the permit that allows them to blast, remove and process materials at their quarry. 

At the April 2^nd hearing, Cape Cod Aggregates disclosed that they have been violating 8 of the 24 conditions in their current permit and offered for the first time to begin monitoring water at the quarry in an effort to address potential issues about  water supply and quality.

Not everyone was heard and the Board has continued the hearing, providing everyone with an opportunity to tell the Board their story and voice their concerns about the quarry. 

If you have concerns about:

Noise from the Quarry

CCA’s Permit Violations

Water Supply and Quality

Damage to Your Home, Well or Other Property

CCA’s Policy for Compensating You for Damage

CCA’s Failure to Acknowledge Violations at the October Hearing

CCA’s Failure to Propose a Water Monitoring Program Until Now

Then Come and Be Heard on April 26^th

Ask the Board to Reject CCA’s Application or Condition it in ways that Fully Protect the Neighborhood

Support local residents who are suffering!

Court Orders Freetown to Listen

The Freetown Soil Board had a so-called hearing on the CCA quarry permit renewal in October of 2011. They allowed 2 people to speak for 1 minute each. The Chairman of the Board also tried to stop a citizen from recording the hearing. The right to record public meetings is guarenteed by MA State Law. You can see the entire 6 minute meeting on You Tube. The Board then voted by verbal vote to not only renew the permit, but to renew it for 3 years instead of 1 year.

Residents are getting blasting damage to their homes form the quarry blasting. One resident had a broken window. Amother said her in-ground pool is so full of cracks that she can't use it. She now has a foundation crack in her basement and flodding through the crack. She has lived in her home for 27 years and never had any cracks before now. A second resident also has a cracked foundation with basemnt flooding. Two other residents have cracks in interior walls.

Residents are now sueing CCA. As a result of that suit, the court has ordered the Freetown Soil Board to hold a new public hearing because the October hearing was done so poorly. The new hearing will be held on Monday, April 2 at 7:00 pm at the Council on Ageing at 227 Chace Road in East Freetown.

Please come to the hearing and speak out against blasting damage.

Freetown Election

Will Assonet/Freetown residents fight for their homes? The Freetown election is April 4th. Do you know where the candidates for Selectman stand on the quarry issue? Use your vote to protect your rights as taxpaying homeowners.

Wall Cracking on Lenard Ave.

A neighbor on Lenard Ave writes: "Everytime they blast my house shakes. It feels like a small earthwake, sometimes worse than others. My wife and I are retired. During the summer we have to keep the windows closed because of the noise, which I presume is the rock crusher.

Approximately a year after Freetown granted the quarry the right to blasts, I contacted a private company to make a video of the interior and extrior of our home. It took a year because we did not know until a year later that CCA was granted the right to blast. Since then, in one corner of the living room the sheetrock is seperating."

Greater Taunton community works together to make region a better place on Make a Difference Day - Taunton, MA - The Taunton Gazette

Greater Taunton community works together to make region a better place on Make a Difference Day - Taunton, MA - The Taunton Gazette

Citizen's Statement to Freetown Soil Board

I am here tonight because each and every time CCA blasts, my house shakes. Not every once in a while, or some blasts and not others, but every blast, every time. I have been keeping a log to record each blast and its effects on my home and I encourage everyone else here tonight who feels their home shake to do the same.

I can tell you that truck traffic on Bryant Street has significantly increased since the CCA quarry opened in Freetown. Who is enforcing the truck route? It is my understanding that trucks are suppose to use RT 79 and not Bryant St. What about the quarry customers and their trucks? Are they using Rt. 79 or Bryant St.? I have seen trucks going down Bryant St. carrying earth moving equipment. I have been stopped in my car behind large trucks going down Bryant St. that turned into the quarry site.

An Assonet neighbor was out on Bryant St. looking for her cat and was nearly hit by cars trying to pass trucks lined up on Bryant St. entering the quarry site. She had to literally take a nose dive into the woods to keep from being hit. I was stopped in my car at Bryant and Rt. 79 and had to move off the road into the grass to allow enough room for a truck turning on Bryant St. to keep from hitting my car. I checked my rear-view mirror. The truck turned into the quarry site.

CCA has not been watering their driveway. That driveway is dry and dusty. Today, I noticed clouds of dust coming from the wheels of the quarry trucks. A neighbor across the street told me he drove down Bryant St. past the quarry site and the entire end of Bryant Street was covered in a cloud of dust.

CCA has not secured their quarry site. Kids go on the site all the time to race their off-road vehicles. The neighborhood hears the noise from that. If kids are going on the site, what is to stop someone from falling into the quarry pit and being seriously hurt, if not killed?

My neighbors complain that the blasting frightens their animals - horses, cows, sheep, dogs, cats, etc. It also frightens people. Even if you have been called and warned that the blast is coming, when it happens it causes an involuntary startle effect. This releases extra adrenaline in the body and creates a kind of alert nervousness. When residents complained that the blasts startled animals, CCA said, "It's going to." When we said it startled people, CCA said, "It's going to," without any apology, without any plans to lessen the effects. Why are we expected to simply live with this? The constant startle effect causes Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in blasting victims. A neighbor in Assonet complains that the blast constantly wakes up her baby. It is causing the child emotional stress which can affect the baby's brain development. It is disturbing the baby's sleep patterns and causing the child to develop sleep problems with both nap time and night time sleeping. The child did not experience these problems before the blasting began.

An Assonet neighbor has had her foundation shift since the blasting started. She is now getting water in her basement that is causing mold. In the 30 years she has lived in the house, she has never had water or mold in her basement until the blasting started.

There are people in Assonet and Berkley with pre-existing health conditions. These people are suffering because of this quarry. There is a man with one lung, a woman with CPOD, a woman with Lupus, several children with asthma. The dust issue poses a serious health threat for these residents, whose breathing capacity and immune systems are already compromised. Why should their health be put at risk?

The bulk of the problems at the moment are being caused by blast vibrations shaking homes. What right does a Freetown business have to shake homes in Berkley? Why should Berkely residents suffer for the sake of a Freetown business? What vibration plan has CCA developed? If they haven't developed one, why not? This Soil Board should be more concerned with protecting the property and safety of both Freetown and Berkley homeowners.

I formally request that CCA hire a company such as Vibra-Tech. This type of company can conduct an Iso-Seismic Survey of the geology surrounding the quarry and map out the way the ground wants to vibrate. Then blasts can be configured in such a way that the delays disrupt the ground's natural rhythm, pushing it at all the wrong times to make it vibrate. If the ground can't vibrate very well, then neither will the houses built on it. The result is that the ground vibrates at a lower amplitude, for a shorter duration with less low-frequency energy to shake neighbors. There are solutions to the problem and CCA and this Soil Board should seek them and use them.

There are currently 4 homes on Bryant St. that are for sale specifically because the homeowners want to get away from living next to the quarry site. These homes have been siting on the market without being able to sell. In a buyer's market, why would anyone pay to live in a home where the house shakes, there is constant loud noise from the quarry site as well as the noise from blasting, heavy truck traffic and dust? Buyers can just as easily pay the same price to buy homes that do not have these problems. This leaves families stuck - not being able to move and leave a bad situation because they can't sell their homes.

This not only traps people in a situation they can't live with and can't get away from, but it lowers property values. Homeowners have already suffered property devaluation because of the current market. Add to that the quarry site nuisances that make the property undesirable in the market and the homes loose even more value. This means that all these homes that are loosing additional value because of the quarry site should have their property taxes lowered accordingly. When the property values on one side of town go down, the town still has to raise the same amount of tax money to fund town expenses. That money has to come from somewhere, so it comes from other homeowners. Homeowners who do not live near the quarry will see their property taxes go up. Why should tax payers in East Freetown pay higher taxes because the Town wants a quarry? It isn't fair or just, but it is what happens to taxpayers. So even homeowners on the opposite side of town who never feel their homes shake, will be negatively impacted by this quarry through rising property taxes.

Freetown Aproves CCA Permit after Citizen Opposition

Tonight the Freetown Soil Board approved the CCA permit renewal application to operate a 24 acre quarry in Freetwon near the Berkley town line. The CCA application asked for fees to the Town to be waived.

An Assonet resident who suffers from MS said that her foundation began leaking after the blasting for the quarry project began. She has to mop up the water to prevent mold forming in her house. She claims she has lived in her home for 30 years and never experienced any water in her basement before the blasting began. She said that David Peterson from CCA was at her home to view the situation over a year ago. According th her account, Mr. Peterson said at that time that the quarry would address the matter within 2 weeks. Since that time, over a year ago, CCA has taken no action to correct the problem. As this woman suffers from MS, she says that having to deal with the water and possible mold problem in her house as well as the stress from the blasting has had a negative impact on her health.

Many other neighbors in both Berkley and Assonet stated that their homes shake violently during the quarry blasts and that items fall off the shelves in their homes during blasts. One Assonet resident described it as a "wave" of vibration that moves through one end of the house to the other. Assonet residents complained that their homes were not offered any pre-blast inspections before blasting began.

Another Assonet resident stated that the corner of his home is starting to separate because of the quarry blasts.

One Assonet resident brought her young son to the meeting and said she came to complain about the blasting and her home shaking because the experience was so unsetteling to her children that her children asked her to speak about it.

Bryant Street residents complained of increased truck traffic on Bryant St, of quarry trucks cutting off passenger cars on the road, of being forced off the road by quarry trucks, and of near misses with pedestrians and passenger cars.

Residents sited dust problems with the site and noise from the operation as continual problems that have not been addressed.

A Berkley resident stated that four homes on Bryant St. have gone up for sale by families trying to move away from the quarry site The homes, she says, have been sitting on the market without selling because people do not want to purchase homes that shake from blasting, are near a source of constant loud noise, truck traffic and dust when homes can be purchased that do not have these problems. This, she claimed, is leaving families trapped in a situation they are unable to escape and unable to tolerate living with.

A decline in property values for homes near the quarry was called to the Board's attention with the assertion by residents that this would result in a lowering of property taxes for those homes near the quarry site due to a drop in their property values and an increase in property taxes for homes located in other areas of town in order for those homes to carry the town's tax burden.

The Board was asked to have CCA create a vibration plan and to hire a company that could test the geology of the area in order to time blasts in such a a way as to minimize the ground vibration felt by the surrounding neighborhoods. Berkley resident, Paula Dugan, asked the Board to conduct a monitoring plan for the site with more rigid and frequent safety monitoring to be conducted on an ongoing basis. She also requested that CCA water their driveway to suppress dust, that the truck route be enforced and that the town hire a consultant funded by a fee paid by CCA to conduct an independent environmental study of the potential impact of the project. The Board approved the permit without imposing any restrictions or requiring any studies.

Representatives from the local ball field noted that CCA has contributed to their organization and the Board read a letter for the school principal in support of CCA for help with a driveway and speaking with children about rocks and minerals.

Opponents stated that the company makes such donations in order to divide the town and the voters so that those people who are not affected by the negative aspects of the quarry but who support a particular sport or organization will support the quarry project. Some residents claimed CCA was "buying their way into town."

Greg O'Brien, CCA's Public Relations Representative, stated that the company is a family business and that they make donations to the places where they operate.

Ms Dugan, an opponent to the quarry project stated, "I can not understand how the town can renew a permit for a potentially dangerous operation surrounded by family homes when Jean Fox admitted in a previous meeting that she has not researched the issue and the impact of the site has never been adequately or independently studied. If the Freetown Soil Board is going to renew this permit they should take care of the problems this site is causing neighbors and they have not done that."

Victory! Article 23 Approved!

The Attorney General approved Article 23 which was passed at Town Meeting by the voters of Berkley on June 7th. Article 23 is now a general by-law for the Town of Berkley prohibiting commercial excavation below the annual high water line. Cape Cod Aggregates fought hard to have the Attorney General deny Article 23. They are trying to create a quarry 250 feet deep in a residential neighborhood, mining below the aquifer that supplies the only drinking water available to residents through private wells.

Thank you to everyone who contacted the Attorney General's Office in support of Article 23. Democracy still works!

Flyrock Slide Show

A blast from a quarry sent a rock crashing into this home in Buffalo Township. Why would we want to take the chance of exposing families in Berkley and Assonet to this type of safety hazard and property damage by allowing the Cape Cod Aggregates quarry site in an area surrounded by homes?

hppt://www.thepitsburghchannel.com/slideshow/r/24746196/detail.html

More Assonet Residents Feeling Blasts

More and more residents of Assonet are reporting feeling their homes shake from the quarry blasting. The blasts are starting to affect more homes that are further away from the blast site.

Resident Almost Hit Due to Quarry Trucks

An Assonet resident was walking on Bryant St, looking for her cat. One large truck was exiting the quarry and another large truck was entering the quarry. There wasn't enough room on Bryant St. for two large trucks traveling in opposite directions at the same time. Bryant St. is a narrow road with no curb, shoulder or sidewalk. The trucks were holding up several cars that were trying to get by. Once a car got around the trucks, the person walking had to jump off the road and take a nose dive into the woods to avoid being hit. This is creating a public safety hazard.

Loud Blast and Strong Vibrations

Blast on 8/2/2010 at 11:30 a.m. was very loud. There were two shock waves that shook the house a lot and strongly rattled the windows.

Blast on July 22

There was a blast form the quarry on July 22nd. The sound of the blast was very, very loud followed by a low rumble.

Attorney General Contact

The MA Attorney General's email address is ago@state.ma.us

To call or write, visit the Attorney General's web page.

If you want to get a response to your letter, you need to supply your name, address, email address and phone number.

Contact MA Attorney General

Even though Article 23 passed by a large majority at Berkley Town Meeting this June, there is an attempt by a special interest to lobby the Attorney General not to approve the Article for inclusion into the Town's Bylaws.

Article 23 protects the residents' drinking water. The only source for clean drinking water in Berkley is from private wells, supplied by an aquifer. That aquifer is part of the Taunton River Watershed. It is part of two river systems, the Assonet River and the Taunton River. The Taunton River is a designated Wild and Scenic River, and some if it's most beautiful scenery is on the banks of Berkley. The UN considers clean drinking water to be a basic human right.

Please write, email or call Attorney General Coakley's office and ask her to approve Article 23 for the Town of Berkley. Ask her not to undermine the Democratic process by caving in to to big business.

Thank You Berkley Voters

Below is a link to a Letter to the Editor in the Taunton Gazette. It is a "thank you" to the voters of Berkley for passing Article 23 at Town Meeting on Monday, June 7th.

http://www.tauntongazette.com/opinions/x148966082/LETTER-Voter-grateful-for-new-soil-bylaw