{"id":18806,"date":"2014-03-06T06:04:10","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T12:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=18806"},"modified":"2014-03-26T15:59:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T20:59:39","slug":"lawmakers-join-landowners-who-think-getting-a-mining-permit-is-too-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2014\/03\/06\/lawmakers-join-landowners-who-think-getting-a-mining-permit-is-too-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers Join Landowners Who Think Getting a Mining Permit is Too Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Johnston<\/a><\/p>\n

Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Johnston County Landowner Clyde Runyon just outside a limestone mining operation near Mill Creek, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Limestone and sand miners are getting a lot of attention lately. The amount of groundwater they can displace from the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer was recently capped<\/a>, and the state House could authorize<\/a> a new tax on the industry.<\/p>

That\u2019s not all. The Oklahoma Department of Mines has an unusual permitting process some landowners say leaves them feeling helpless when a new mine is proposed, and they want that process changed.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s really screwed up,\u201d Citizens for the Protection of the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer President Amy Ford says.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

First, an application to mine is made. Then it\u2019s time for informal conferences. In an email, Department of Mines Minerals Division Director Bret Sholar says the informal conference opens communication between the mining company and public without the expense of a legal proceeding. But Ford says it\u2019s mostly just for show.<\/p>

\u201cThere\u2019s no admission of evidence, anything,\u201d Ford says. \u201cIt\u2019s just kind of a \u2014 somebody from the Department of Mines, or sometimes a hearing examiner, just kind of sits in there and listens to everybody.\u201d<\/p>

After the informal conferences, the Department of Mines decides to issue a permit.<\/p>

\u201cThose that have participated in the informal conference are notified of this and allowed to file a request for a formal hearing,\u201d Ford says.<\/p>

So the first formal public hearing doesn\u2019t happen until\u00a0after<\/i>\u00a0the decision to issue a permit is made. For most agencies, the opposite is true.<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019re climbing an uphill battle,\u201d Ford says.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

U.S. Silica's sand processing plant north of Mill Creek, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Senate Bill 1184<\/a>, by State Sen. Susan Paddack, D-Ada, would make the informal conferences formal hearings, with evidence and testimony,\u00a0before\u00a0<\/i>a permit application is decided on. The bill\u2019s future is uncertain, but it was passed unanimously by the Energy Committee, and awaits more action by the full Senate.<\/p>

Local rancher Clyde Runyon says he fought most of the mines in this area \u2014 in vain \u2014 and hopes the formal hearings will help slow the permitting process down at least.<\/p>

The signs of mining are clear from the highway, but to get a real sense of the size of these operations, you have to navigate the grid of dusty county roads Runyon knows by heart. There are craters in the earth football stadiums would disappear into; some empty, some filled with clear groundwater. If combined, the mines would take up about the same space as the nearby City of Ada.<\/p>

\u201cGo just a little further south and there\u2019s a hole in the ground probably, oh my gosh, I want to say it\u2019s well over half a mile deep,” Runyon says. “There\u2019s seven of them, just almost in line right through here.”<\/p>

Sholar says it\u2019s extremely rare for the Oklahoma Department of Mines to deny a mining permit application.<\/p>

\u201cAt some point it just might get held up, but flat out denying it, I can\u2019t recall myself when we\u2019ve done it. Not in my time here,\u201d Sholar says.<\/p>

Ford says that\u2019s because of the agency\u2019s unique permitting process.<\/p>

Clarification: Any earlier version of this story indicated that, after the informal hearing process, the Department of Mines issues a permit. In actuality, after the informal hearing process, the Department of Mines only makes a decision to issue a permit. The permit doesn’t go into effect until after the formal hearing process.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Limestone and sand miners are getting a lot of attention from the state legislature lately. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":18804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[509,12,533,508],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18806"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18806"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18826,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18806\/revisions\/18826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}