Concerned Citizens of Cumberland 

Talking Points in Opposition to the Proposed Gravel Pit & Asphalt Plant

Tribal Chair, City Mayor, Council, Public Works Director, Planning Commission

• Increased traffic
• SEPA Checklist estimates 298 to 668 vehicle trips per day with 90% vehicle trips hauling aggregate and/or asphalt material
• Peak season hauling expected to be 668 vehicle trips per day over 18 hours per day with 93 trips during peak pm hour (3 trucks every 2 minutes)
• Peak hauling months are in the summer when more people are using the roads traveling to recreation areas, bicycling, motorcycling, horse riding, and pedestrians so likely increase in amount and severity of accidents
• Increased damage to roads (many near failing already in Level of Service) from heavy trucks
• 40% of traffic estimated to go south through Cumberland towards Enumclaw and 60% north through Ravensdale towards Maple Valley
• Amount and direction of truck traffic is dependent on market demand and would be influenced by major development, airport construction etc
• Traffic study did not account for population growth in the area
• Intersection inadequacies due to increased volume of traffic with 2 and 4-way stops and many without turn lanes
• Trucks traveling in excess of the posted speed limits trying to get to construction sites quickly before asphalt cools but need to drive quickly because the asphalt plant is located in a rural part of the county without easy access to main highway systems. 
• Black Diamond Spring
• Impact on quantity and quality of water in the Black Diamond Springs for municipal use
• Contamination from mining processes and contaminated fill during reclamation
• To comment about in EIS scoping
• How increased traffic, specifically dump trucks, will impact the city’s traffic (current and future), intersection congestion, road conditions, noise and public safety?
• What details, parameters, scenarios and considerations should be included in the EIS scope and studies to thoroughly evaluate how this mine and asphalt plant will impact the city? 

School Districts

• Increased traffic
• SEPA Checklist estimates 298 to 668 vehicle trips per day with 90% vehicle trips hauling aggregate and/or asphalt material
• Increased travel time for school busses and staff, parents and students driving to school
• Increase in paid driver time and fuel costs
• Increase in potential damage to windshields and buses from gravel on road
• Traffic study did not account for population growth in the area
• Intersection limitations for increased volume of traffic with 2 and 4-way stops and many without turn lanes
• Public safety
• Impacts on bus routes, timing
• Safety of kids waiting for the bus and crossing the street
• Safety of the drivers and buses when stopping, turning, sharing the bridges
• Bus stops on blind corners making it difficult for trucks to see and slow down ahead of time 

Fire Districts

• Ability and availability to respond to 
• Road accidents between a dump truck and another dump truck, delivery truck, passenger vehicle, school bus, motorcycle, bicyclist, pedestrian, horse rider
• Chemical or fuel spill on the mine property or from a truck hauling chemicals/fuel to mine on the road
• Forest fire, asphalt plant fire, office building fire, or other fire related to mine processes
• Response time to emergency given resources, seasonal variation in amount and types of calls
• Since summer is when most truck traffic is expected to occur and is also when most state park use, pedestrians, bicyclist, motorcycles and horse riders are on the road, likely increased amount and severity of accidents will occur
• Additionally, fire risk and drownings are higher in the summer which require rapid response
• Which departments can respond to which situations and how would this impact departments in the region? We could ask both the Enumclaw and the Kanaskat/Palmer Fire Departments to take the lead on this – as they would understand the response triage as well as the need to understand that the surrounding districts are small rural districts with limited staffing already – pulling them out of their communities for these types of events leaves fire and EMS services in those communities inadequate
• Lack of resources for equipment, training, and additional personnel 

Police

• Enough resources for commercial enforcement (including weight and load compliance ), speed monitoring and to respond to accidents? 

Fish nonprofits, agencies, recreation groups 

• Importance of Green River salmon and steelhead fisheries
• Importance of these fisheries on Puget Sound and regional fisheries
• Genetic diversity of regional wild fish
• Importance of fish to ecological function, food web and recreation
• Financial, ecological, and cultural importance of Green River fish
• How will fish be impacted by changes in water quality and quantity in the river?

Water/conservation non-profits

• Importance of Green River and it’s water, fish, plants and wildlife
• Criteria for EIS scoping to thoroughly evaluate impacts on the Green River, water, fish, plants, wildlife

Tribes

• Cultural significance of the site
• Impact on fish and fishing rights, habitat
• Water quality and quantity, river flow
• Potential landslides

Politicians

• Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell, Kim Schrier
• Federal money granted for dam fish passage potentially jeopardize
• Reagan Dunn
• Represent rural constituents? What are his policies on the environment in addition to representation
• King County Council Chair 
• Legacy of clean water healthy habitat, preserving greenspaces at stake

Dept of Ecology

• Water rights
• Historic mine contamination

DNR

• No trade section 16
• Forest fire potential 
• Reclamation 

King County Historic Preservation office

• Indigenous history
• Mine history

WSDOT

• SR169 and SR410 impacts
• Road conditions, bridge condition and safety, accidents and spills, traffic impacts on intersections and people accessing drive way (waiting a long time to make a left turn)

Puget Sound Clean Air

• Mitigation necessary for asphalt plant emissions and dust
• Criteria to include in air modeling to thoroughly evaluate impact on local and regional air quality

State Parks- Kanaskat-Palmer and Nolte

• Impacts of public safety accessing park, air quality, water contamination (potable and river)
• Impact of noise, odors, dust

Rural Forest Commission

BPA

• Impact of mining near power towers
• Endangered Species Act Section 7

Army Corps

• Significance of dam fish passage
• Mine could make investment in fish passage obsolete
• If BPA power towers come down, then no power to dam to control flood gates

Private business along haul route

• How will increased traffic, hours of traffic, intersection design, safety of patrons accessing your business be affected by this project?