By Charlie Mahler
An open house to learn more about the environmental impacts of Brian Rock’s proposed limestone quarry in Waterford Township, northeast of Northfield in Dakota County, drew roughly 50 people interested in the project that seeks to operate an open pit mine for the next 50 years at a location east of Highway 3 and just south of County Road 86. The draft environmental impact statement, EIS, for the project was released last month and is in the public comment stage through May 11th. The project has drawn citizen concerns about groundwater impacts, and that blasting, loading, and trucking at the 317-acre site will impact the township’s rural agricultural character. The open house, held at Farmington’s Robert Beckman Middle School, featured poster stations and facilitators for various environmental impact aspects of the project, including well impacts, nitrate discharge, ditch capacity, noise, and traffic. Attendee interest focused on residential well impacts and traffic volume at the site. Peak traffic is estimated at 440 entries and exits from the quarry during the 8 to 10-hour workday, mostly by large hauling trucks. At the open house, Matt Bryan, president of Bryan Rock Products and one of the company owners, explained to KYMN why he chose Waterford Township for the company’s next quarry.
“Yeah, it’s a unique setting because the rock is near the surface, the zoning at time of application allowed the use, and the quality meet the standards that the state has set to be included in a lot of its performance materials in asphalt and concrete, and those are incredibly important for the infrastructure growth of the local communities.”
Brian also highlighted the importance of local sources of rock due to transportation costs for heavy material.
“Yeah, you know, and as we see lately, diesel prices, trucking prices, and transportation is incredibly important. The further you truck it, the more fuel it takes, the more emissions you have. So, the closer you can get to the job site, the more efficient it is for dollars and the better it is for the environment.”
In order to operate, groundwater will need to be pumped from the site due to the high-water table in the area. Quarry dewatering has township residents concerned about the status of their wells as the area’s groundwater level is lowered in the process. Citizen concerns come in the context of regional groundwater quality and sustainability issues prompted by proposed area data centers and the recent Niagara water bottling plant near Elko Newmarket in Scott County. The quarry’s draft EIS projects that only a handful of residential wells will require mitigation for lowered groundwater levels, costs of which Brian Rock says it will cover via well owner’s agreements with residents. Christina and Tom Davis, who live within half a mile of the proposed quarry, aren’t convinced.
“Everything right now is very preliminary. Open-ended, we don’t know; we don’t know. And it’s like, well, we don’t want to agree to something here, and then have you go, well, you didn’t bring that up before. I mean, there’s a lot of open-endedness, like if something happens to your well, there’ll be a well agreement. And I said, well, I want to see the well agreement. Is it going to cover arbitration? Is it going to cover litigation? How do I prove it?”
Despite many “Stop the Quarry” signs posted across Waterford Township, obvious protests at the open house were muted. Two small protect water yard Card signs were posted at the middle school entrance for Davis and her husband Tom, the Waterford town clerk, hopes of stopping the quarry rest beyond the township and its board.
“The township has their hands tied because of the ordinance that’s been written. What we’re hoping for as residents is that there’s a county agency that comes by and looks at the EIS and goes, oh yeah, you can’t do that. You can’t have a mine in this area because of the, you know, the water or the gullies or some environmental issue. And we’re told that it can’t and won’t happen. But that’s really our only hope is that somebody from Dakota County or soil and water or pollution control says you can’t have a mine in that township. Anything other than that, the mine’s going to go through, and the residents of Waterford are going to have to either endure or move.”
If the quarry is ultimately approved, Brian Rock expects to begin operation in the spring of 2027.
