Madill holds special meeting to address concerns

The City of Madill held a special city council meeting on March 15. The only agenda item was to address questions and concerns about the proposed sand mine operation that would be known as the Oteka Quarry.

The special meeting came about after the city’s monthly council meeting a few days prior where the quarry was brought up by city manager James Fullingim. Fullingim and the council members agreed with Dan Little to have their prospective experts available for a Q&A to address concerns held by local residents and the city itself.

The outcome of the meeting would determine if the City of Madill would join in with the Stop the Mine protest and sign a protest form to be sent in to the Oklahoma Department of Mines.

The Stop the Mine campaign was brought about by residents who live near the proposed mine; Dr. Chris Bradshaw, Jeff Landgraf, Ray Robertson, Kelly Goff and Dustin Combs. They, along with countless other residents, raised concerns over the drop in the water table causing loss of water in private wells and natural springs, the air quality, noise and light pollution from 24 hour operations, the blasting permitted from dawn to dusk and possible contaminants being washed into the local tributaries and creeks.

On the day of the special meeting, Little was not able to have any of his advisors attend the meeting but was eager to address concerns of the council and his fellow neighbors. Little provided hand outs and packets that would provide information and history of the life of the project. Fullingim started the meeting by saying the city’s main concern was the water.

“Our primary source of water is Lake Huani,” Fullingim said. “That is about 90% of our drinking water for Madill. This is downstream from that.”

Fullingim said the other issue for the city would be the water supply.

“We have a lake that is damned up, which could happen any way, or any of the water gets used,” Fulingim noted. “Even the water underground affects surface water, the way I understand it. Our water supply and water safety is our primary concern today.”

The floor was then opened up for discussion where Little began his side of the presentation. He provided a document which addressed the three main concerns about the mine.

“I understand your concerns and I respect the differences of opinion. I really do.” Little began, as he addressed the council. “As I said at the first meeting, if I am wrong I will admit that I am wrong. Based on the scientific evidence I do not think that I am wrong at this point.”

Little then asked everyone to keep an open mind and that he too agreed to keep an open mind as the meeting proceeded. He read the hand out he provided.

The first concern was about damage to the local water wells and causing them to possibly go dry. It was a comparison of the amount of comparison of the amount of water used at the pecan groves owned by the Landgraf family. It stated that in comparison to the amount of water at the groves, the sand mine would actually use less water.

“In comparison, the sand mine will not use even the smallest fraction of well water or surface water as the Landgraf Farms plus the water it uses will be recirculated again and again which greatly reduces the water usage,” Little said.

The next question of concern was the pollution and damage to Lake Hauani to which Little replied.

“This is what James and the city of Madill should rightfully be so concerned with,” Little continued.

Little said that the only chemical that would be used in the process would be flocculent which is the same chemical cities and towns use to treat drinking water. It is used for the purpose of removing suspended substances out of the water.

Little again compared it to the chemicals used at the Landgraf Farms for the pecan groves, which use “legal insecticide chemicals” which go into the air and onto the leaves and then later fall to the ground.

“The insecticide sprays do contain more different types of chemicals which have more recently been found to cause cancers and lung disease and have been banned.”

Little then addressed concerns of flooding and over spill of the recirculation ponds on site, by saying that by State Laws the ponds are required to be large enough to prevent such overflow. The final concern addressed was about the air pollution the mine could possibly produce. Little addressed this concern by saying that the air surrounding mining operations would not be affected due the operations would not be using any chemicals in the mining process. The only chemicals coming from the mine would be from the diesel and gasoline used to run the machines of the operation.

“Compared to the hundreds of trucks and cars traveling on U.S. 70 each day, these diesels and gasoline emissions will be small,” Little said.

Little continued to say that compared to the agricultural air pollution used to control weed and insects the mine would not create any similar health risks.

“Perhaps as best proof, those of you who know me, know I can be a certified health nut,” Little said to calm the fears of his neighbors. “I live directly north of the mine plant. The predominant wind is from the south. I would never put myself, or my kids, or future generation on Oteka D Ranch or any citizens in danger of this.”

“If I am ever shown to be wrong I will take all necessary steps to stop it,” Little continued. “But based upon what I have researched this is not any danger of that.”

Little then addressed the possible economic impact the mine would bring to Marshall County by creating 50 new jobs. He then asked those in attendance if this is something that the city and Marshall County would have supported if it had been presented to the Marshall County Chamber, the response was emphatically no. Little concluded his presentation by apologizing.

“I regret the concerns that have been caused,” Little said. “I acknowledge them, I will keep an open mind and I am asking you all to do the same.”

He then added that he personally believed that this will be a long term benefit to the citizens of Marshall County.

Once Little’s presentation was finished, Bradshaw asked to take the floor to address the council with his concern. Bradshaw is a professor of Occupational Safety and Health at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant. He started by saying his concerns were with the permit that Unisands applied for and the impact the mine will have on the air quality.

“If you look at the way the permit is written there is a lot of questions,” Bradshaw said.

He noted that the issue was not about the owner of the land but the company that would be operating the mine on the land. He sighted the lack of details within the permit application, the non requirement of an environmental assessment, nor are there any details about how deep the mine will go or how many hours a day and how long the mine will operate.

The other concern was if the sand, shale, limestone, clay that will be pulled from the mine will be processed on site for other products such as silica flour for glass. The process for this would be of a concern and issue as the fine particulate matter for the process could become airborne potentially getting into the water system.

“My issue is with the permitting process,” Bradshaw said. “Dan has got a lot of information that is exactly true but there are some issues with the permit that really leave it kind of open-ended in some certain circumstances. That is what we need to focus on.”

After Bradshaw concluded, Jeff Landgraf addressed the council. He started off by saying that he truly felt attacked and that he had found out about the project in 2019 when he was working as a law partner with Little and he found a flier on the printer makerting sand from Little’s property.

“I would like for you to use your common sense and to just trust your gut a little bit,” Landgraf said. “In the watershed for Lake Huauni, is it a good idea to put a 582 acremineatanytime?”Landgraf then began to provide a presentation of the Permit Application submitted by Unisands. There were others in attendance that were concerned over who owned the mine, if it is a foreign entity or an individual. According to the permit the owners of Unisand are not foreign and are Dee Jay Huckie from Mcloud, Okla.

The address provided on the permit for the business is a residential address not a business. The permit also stated that Unisands is involved at Pontotoc Sands. Landgraf then proceeded to go through the permit application which laid out the type of mining that will be done on sight.

According to the permit, the mine will be over a major water source, the Antlers aquifer.

“If this was really going to be good for the City of Madill would they have come to you or would you have read about it in the newspaper in the legal notices,” Landgraf asked the council and the residents, noting that Unisand stated on the permit that they had not notified the city or county of their intent to mine. Landgraf concluded the thorough review of the permit by showing where the tributaries, waterways and creeks would be surrounding the mining operation and that that should be a major concern for the City of the Madill.

Other concerned citizens spoke up about their mutual concerns about the long-term environmental impact the mining operation will have on the county, the water supply and air quality.

The concerns over the blasting and the lack of restrictions within the permit and how this can impact the quality of life of those that live near the mine. There was cause for concern about the amount of traffic that will be coming off of Simpson Road onto Highway 70; the potential for wrecks and how that will affect the city’s police and fire departments.

There were questions about the traffic and how the city just paid to have highway 70 resurfaced. That the amount of trucks coming in and out of the mine will cause damage to the roads at a much faster rate and where the money would come from to repair the roads again.

Many citizens in attendance asked the council to please hear their voices of concern and to please think about how this mine would affect all. Fullingim assured the worried residents that hearing their concerns was the main focus of the special meeting.

“Everyone please understand that today’s mission is to get an answer from the council of what we are going to do as far as we are going to submit a protest,” Fullingim said. “The reason why it is so important to us, all the infrastructure the city of Madill has, is that our water supply is the strongest we have of anything. We have some of the best water in Oklahoma and we do not want to lose that.”

At the conclusion, Little encouraged the city to fill out the protest letter and send it in to address the concerns of the city's residents.

“I have listened to everything that has been said, I disagree with certain details, but we are in the early stages, and there is much more to be learned,” Little said. “I can not in good conscience ask this city council to do anything other than to join in the protest. Learn more and continue the process.”

Fullingim and the city council agreed. The City of Madill submitted a protest letter to the Oklahoma Department of Mines to protest the Oteka Quarry and to request a special hearing in regards to the mine.