Commentary: Fighting big money will be hard

By BEN OLSON/for The Herald  —  This commentary may sound cynical because I believe that the citizens of Oakridge cannot beat big money and greed. 

You will be hard pressed to find anyone that lives in Oakridge that thinks that a quarry right next to town is a good idea. When this was put before the Lane County Planning Commision 2 years ago, it was rejected due to concerns over wildlife habitat. If anything, the wildfires the last 3 years around Oakridge have made that area even more critical for the elk herd which uses that parcel as a calving area.

What has changed since the Old Hazeldell Quarry application was rejected is that the owners have helped finance the election of new members on the planning commission that are more amenable to the idea of a quarry at that site. 

In preparing the application to open a quarry, the Old Hazeldell Quarry group paid a long list of credentialed “experts” to address every aspect why the quarry will be an asset to our town. If those experts were wrong, intentionally or otherwise, we’ll be suffering the repercussions for the next 50 years. The state of Oregon has numerous quarries that are louder, dirtier, dustier and more unsightly than what their applications claimed they would be. There seems to be no teeth in the law that can make those quarries abide by the terms they put forth in their applications.

We residents of Oakridge fear the worst. We can see our future by driving a mile south of Dexter and looking at the Parvin Butte quarry, also in Lane County, a mere 25 miles away. 

25 acres of the parcel where the quarry will operate was once a landfill used by residents of Oakridge and, for almost 20 years, used by the Pope and Talbot Lumber Company to dump chemicals and debris from their operation. The EPA was involved in cleaning up the industrial park in Oakridge, which was the site of the mill. There has been no investigation as to what is buried in the old landfill. Although the Old Hazeldell Quarry group volunteered to not dig in those 25 acres, that is where they plan on putting their rock crusher. In addition to all the other reasons why a quarry that close to town would be a terrible idea, the potential for contaminating our groundwater is the most egregious.

The people who are trying to open this quarry don’t live here, and never will. The people who have to make this decision to allow a quarry don’t live here either. We citizens who live and work here vehemently oppose a quarry that we, our children and grandchildren, will have to look at for the next 50 years. This quarry may be lucrative for a handful of people who are already successful in a number of other businesses. After looking at the figures on how much money these people, and others in the extraction industries, donated to the campaigns of these county commissioners, I don’t feel good about our chances. The will of the people seems to be secondary to the whims of rich people wanting to get richer.