Locals seek county input on bentonite mine concerns

Commissioners Kelly Dennis, Bob Latham and Fred Devish last week listened to Pine Haven residents Todd Pomeroy and William Greathouse as the men shared their concerns about the planned mine called the Keyhole State Project, owned by Black Hills Bentonite LLC, a Wyoming-based company that is also mining just north of exit 168, along Wagner Road on Pine Ridge.

Pomeroy asked questions on behalf of residents in the area.

"I work in the oil and gas industry," Pomeroy spoke, "So I don't oppose mining by any means, [but] when I see this project, I've seen red flags through the process, [so] can we stop this mine and do we want to stop this mine?"

The mine is to operate on 317 acres of Wyoming School land, 1.7 miles southeast of Pine Haven amidst many homes within a couple of subdivisions in that area. The application submitted by company anticipated an annual 25,000 tons of material to be moved from the Keyhole State Project to the Thornton facility during the months of September and October of each of the 20 years of operation.

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Land Quality Division issued their permit in September of last year, having received 26 written objections; this permit was appealed in March of 2023 to no avail.

The air quality permit, for which a public hearing was held on April 10, has had permit approval proposed by the division.

The final permit to be obtained by Black Hills Bentonite LLC is from the Water Quality Division; however, there is not, as of this report, a record of a water quality application, according to the research of Pomeroy and Greathouse.

Pomeroy opined, "It's pretty obvious that the land and air quality divisions are looking at 'do they meet all the state requirements?' – check the box and move forward. What we're looking at is the holistic view of how the taxpayers going to be impacted by this and how do we move forward and pay for the road and bridge damage and what are the restrictions on those roads and what does reclamation look like?"

Of the concerns regarding health, tourism and road safety mentioned, though, the county may only address one, as Dennis explained.

"The authority of the county lies basically with the road. We have no authority if they mine off the county road, that's between the state and the company."

About the roadway, he added, "It's a public road and if they're going to use it, they're going to use it."

Pomeroy and Greathouse spoke to the potential danger at the intersection of Old Sundance Road and Pine Ridge Road. With approximately 1000 trips to and from the Thornton facility each year the mine hauls along these roadways, "You're going to have 25–35 ton trucks, loaded tonnage, stopping at that stop sign and making a right hand corner, then accelerating up 1000 times a year for the next 20 years, potentially. We feel that could become a maintenance issue with the expedited degrading of that road and a safety issue with the heavy traffic on that corner."

Their worry over this specific turn at the bottom of a 9% grade was validated by the commissioners as Dennis talked about the effects of bentonite spillage in the past.

"That [bentonite] on the road, we've had fatalities on the far end of the county, on a county road, when it rained and got slick... After that happened, they got way better about not spilling bentonite... There is more recognition among them about that spillage than what used to be."

Crook County Sheriff Jeff Hodge agreed with Dennis, "You're going to have bentonite all over up and down that road which is a huge safety issue."

As the possibility of weight restrictions entered the conversation, Dennis admitted the county had been trying to work with this type of road control for some time.

"We can put a 10,000 pound per axle weight limit that basically shuts them down because they can't afford to haul that, but that also affects every cattle truck or anybody else's private truck that goes through and shuts all of them down...We've talked about doing that on the other end of the county to force their hand a little bit there because of the same problems and we've never really figured out how to make it work...A weight limit just shuts everybody off."

Hodge explained that when his deputies attempt to enforce weight limits and close them down for illegally overloading their trucks, "They stop hauling and as soon as we leave, they just start operations again [and] that being a county road, the highway patrol is not going to be the ones to enforce your weight limits."

Forcing the mine to cover their loads when transporting the material was considered by the whole, a much more viable option and was discussed.

Finally, Chairman Devish summarized the situation, "Long story short, I appreciate the information that you've put together here and the time you've put in on it, but the county basically has little or no say on whether they put a mine there or whether they use county roads. We have been successful on the Wagner Road and they do pay, [but] probably not enough... It is what it is."

Before the session ended, Dennis suggested, "It might be prudent that we have them come in and get them to the table just to talk over the dust and spilled bentonite and other traffic issues that we've delineated here." A suggestion with which his fellow officials agreed.