La Grange Wants Stricter Rules For Quarry Blasting

LA GRANGE, IL — La Grange officials are asking state lawmakers to enact stricter regulations for quarry blasting, which is bothering some village residents, an official said this week.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, Village President Mark Kuchler said local officials have contacted two area state senators — John Curran, R-Woodridge, and Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood — about legislation to deal with the issue.

"A lot of our residents are concerned about the quarry blasting," Kuchler said. "Sen. Curran has made it a point that he wants a Senate bill introduced that will be working on some type of regulation for the blasting."

Kuchler said the village is looking for a bipartisan group of lawmakers to draft rules on blasting that deal with vibrations, dust and pollutants.

"We think that regulation needs to be increased," he said.

Messages were left Wednesday morning with Sens. Curran and Lightford.

Blasting from the Hanson Aggregates quarry in neighboring McCook has been a longtime concern in La Grange and other towns.

Last year, La Grange's government said it had received a number of complaints about the effects of blasting since the mine shifted from surface mining to underground a couple of years ago.

In November, a spokesman for Lehigh Hanson, the parent company, said the blasting happens between 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

"Because the areas we mine change as we work through the deposits, some residents who were not in areas close to our surface mining may now be close to our underground mining area," spokesman Jeff Sieg told Patch. "As for how our underground mining compares to surface mining, our underground blasting is less intense as compared to surface mining and well below the established threshold to prevent damage to any nearby structures."

Last year, a La Grange resident contacted Lightford's office about the blasting. Her assistant forwarded the resident to a message from the state Department of Natural Resources. That agency said it had the power to regulate surface mining, but not underground operations.

The legislative assistant told the resident, "(I)t looks like this is going to be a local issue, so your communications with the village of LaGrange may be the best route."