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Tackling community issues. Celebrating local voices.
In January, three Lane County commissioners made a decision that could haunt the Oakridge community for generations. Despite unanimous opposition from residents and their own planning commission’s recommendation to deny the project, Pat Farr, David Loveall and Ryan Ceniga voted 3-2 to tentatively approve the Old Hazeldell Quarry.
The vote wasn’t surprising – all three commissioners had received campaign contributions from Ed King, the quarry’s owner.
What should concern anyone downstream is what sits perilously close to the proposed operations: an abandoned landfill that operated as an unregulated dump from 1951 to 1968, during chemical-intensive timber operations. While the blasting zone maintains distance from the landfill, rock-crushing operations would run continuously just 25 feet from this toxic time capsule…