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Nanjemoy-Potomac Environmental Coalition
(N-PEC)
PO BOX 90
Nanjemoy, MD 20662
301-246-4806 / protect@nanjemoy.net
CONGRATULATIONS Nanjemoy Community !!!
PROTECT Douglas Point... YOU TOOK ACTION!Tuesday, AUGUST 1, 7:00 p.m.
Community MEETING at the Nanjemoy Firehouse
PROTECT Douglas Point...TAKE ACTION!
AUGUST 8, 9 and 22 7:00 p.m.
PUBLIC Hearing - Board of Appeals hearings on Douglas Point
Charles County Government Building
200 Baltimore Street (PO BOX 2150) La Plata, Maryland 20646
301-645-0600
For additional information on Douglas Point and Strip Mining, read the Friday, July 7 edition of the Maryland Independent. Letter to the editor on Page A-4 and a article on Page A-10 "Douglas Point mining plan on slow boil" by Nancy Bromley McConaty.How to become an N-PEC MEMBER or make a DONATION.
Mail your name, address, telephone number, email address and check for your membership fee of $5 or donation amount, made payable to the RiverKeeper-Douglas Point Fund to the address below:
address:
contact person: Deanna Wheeler
e-Mail:
phone:Get Involved! Become a MEMBER or please make a DONATION to Protect Douglas Point.
FACTS concerning the proposed SURFACE MINING
at Douglas Point in Nanjemoy
Provided at the May 31, 2000 Nanjemoy Community MeetingProposed surface mining at Nanjemoy's Douglas Point will...
- CLEAR over 600 acres of Forest Land
- DREDGE through Bass Hatchery
- DESTROY habitats for rare Birds and Plants
- STOCKPILE on Critical Area
- RUIN 50 million year old Fossil Site
Charles County, Maryland is a wonderful place to live. The Charles County Economic Development Commission Web Site describes the quality of life in the following words:
Charles County is committed to building a thriving business environment while retaining the beauty and quality of life that makes this county an inviting place to live and grow. Bring your business and your family to a place you'll be delighted to call HOME.
Unfortunately, this beautiful area is at great risk from a proposal to locate a large surface mining operation at Douglas Point. Douglas Point is zoned as "Agricultural Conservation," and the project cannot proceed without a Special Exception. A permit for such an exception has been filed with the Charles County Board of Appeals by Maryland Rock Industries. According to the application, the Special Exception uses are "similar in scope and operational methods" to the Maryland Rock's Goose Bay site.
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The Goose Bay site has been strip mined for approximately twenty years. For the last three years it has been operated by Maryland Rock. The actual mining occurs several thousand feet from the River, with the processed sand and gravel moved by conveyer to a large holding area near the shore. From the holding area the sand and gravel are loaded onto barges. Operations such as the Goose Bay project create noise and a large amount of dust.
There are several significant differences to the Goose Bay operations and the proposed Douglas Point operation. For example, the barge loading operation requires water depths of 14'. At Goose Bay, the loading operation hugs the shore, so the visual and noise impact is somewhat reduced. At Douglas Point, however, the water depth where the loading facilities are proposed is very shallow. It may be possible to dredge a channel from deeper water, but the presence of aquatic vegetation may preclude any dredging in waters with depths of six feet or less. At Douglas Point, the water depth remains less than six feet (at low tide) for almost one-quarter mile off shore! If a pier is constructed to reach from shore to a point where dredging is allowed, it would be more than twenty times longer than the piers already located in the area.
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Additionally, the proposed mining operation also will be much larger and much closer to the shore than it is at Goose Bay. The overall area to be mined at Douglas Point will exceed 500 acres. At Goose Bay the mining operation is on the eastern side of Route 224. A large portion of the operation at Douglas Point will be o the western side of Route 224, and the loading facility will be within the critical area.