Moratorium to study zoning of polluting industries enacted

The Alleghany County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a moratorium on polluting industries on Tuesday night. The moratorium, which prevents any opening or expansion of a polluting industry to take place for 90 days, was enacted to give the county time to study zoning issues involved in polluting industries.

The single page moratorium document was made effective Sept. 13. The action came after a public hearing attended by well over 100 people. A total of 10 speakers signed up prior to the meeting to talk. All 10 were uniformly against polluting industries locating in the county. Most were members of Alleghany Citizens for Environmental Safety (ACES), a newly-formed branch of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) that was formed after the announcement of the asphalt plant’s location.

The moratorium document, similar to the one passed on Aug. 4, states that polluting industries include, but are not limited to asphalt plants, chip mills and medical waste facilities. The moratorium listed problems including objectionable levels of noise, odors, vibrations, fumes, light, smoke, air pollution and other physical manifestations that may have an adverse effect on the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the county.

Other examples of concerns were traffic safety, visual impacts and damage to natural resources. The moratorium document presented to the public Tuesday included the statement that the county has unspoiled natural resources which could suffer irreparable harm without appropriate planning and regulation of polluting industries.

The county will hold a public hearing to hear comment on any proposed regulation, control or restriction on polluting industries that is created under the moratorium, the document stated.

Public Hearing

A total of 10 speakers addressed the board during the public hearing; Sid Miller was the first. He noted that he doesn’t see any benefit at all from the plant’s potential location here. He cited potential pollution of water and air as concerns. As a school teacher, Miller noted that he has several students who travel N.C. 113 every day, noting that the additional truck traffic on that road and N.C. 18 would make the situation dangerous. “I don’t see any advantage to it...it’s a threat to the entire county,” he said.

Mickey Hall was the next speaker. Hall said Maymead requested a permit to emit 367,000 pounds of air pollution from its plant. He said the area could hold pollutants and the potential for fog transferring those into the environment was great. “We’re not hurting for asphalt plants,” he said, noting that plants are found in several surrounding counties.

Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back