City’s Elected Officials and Payne & Dolan’s Dirty Little Secret

IMPORTANT MEETING TONIGHT

Have the City’s elected officials put politics ahead of public safety or have they been asleep at the wheel when it comes to monitoring the mining operations at Payne & Dolan's Quarry and  the the air quality coming out of that quarry?

A Franklin citizen’s group has asked former Alderman and editor and publisher of THE FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL, Basil Ryan to moderate its meeting this evening (Thursday, September 28, 2011) at 7:00PM to discuss and explain how Franklin’s elected officials and City staff have put Franklin citizens at risk of contracting Silicosis due to years of lax and legally required oversight of the Payne & Dolan Quarry.

Quarry Meeting Flyer

According to OSHAs website, Silicosis is caused by exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust. Crystalline silica is a basic component of soil, sand, granite, and most other types of rock, and it is used as an abrasive blasting agent. Silicosis is a progressive, disabling, and often fatal lung disease. Cigarette smoking adds to the lung damage caused by silica. Silica has been classified as a human lung carcinogen.  Silicosis makes an individual more susceptible to Teburculocis (TB), Scleroderma – a disease affecting skin, blood vessels, joints and skeletal muscles, as well as possible kidney disease.  OSHA also points to the following sources of exposure for Silicosis. 

• Sandblasting for surface preparation
• Crushing and drilling rock and concrete
• Masonry and concrete work (e.g. building and road construction and repair).
• Mining/tunneling; demolitions work.
• Cement and asphalt pavement manufacturing

If it were not for Payne & Dolan’s expansion ("enhancements" as City officials explained) of its quarry operation along South 51st Street, essentially between Rawson and Drexel Avenues, more than a decade old oversight failure by City officials may have never been discovered.

Ffollows are questions submitted to City staff during an August 24, 2011, Neighborhood Meeting pertaining to the Payne & Dolan Berm “enhancement” Project.  Answers are organized by topic, and were provided by the City of Franklin Planning Department.  We received these answers by email on Friday, September 16, 2011.

Questions & Answers to Quarry Questions (9-16-11)

The question now is: Who in City government should be held accountable for this serious failure to protect the citizens of Franklin from this potential cancer-causing agent produced potentially being produced ad released from the quarry operation?  In the private sector it would fall squarely on the shoulders of the Chief Executive Officer.

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