Opening a quarry at Bouloc would be detrimental to the village, its surroundings and its people...
The nuisances provoked by a quarry are both manifold and divers.
If some of these nuisances can be considered as simple embarrassments, others could trun out into a real threat for the people living nearby.
Due to its location, which makes impossible the transport by train or water, transport to and from the quarry has to be done using lorries. It is estimated that during the starting period a daily mean of 35 transports both ways will take place. These figures do not include the lorries of customers, which might bring the number of daily transports both ways up to about 70.
Currently, the official openning of the quarry to the public road has not yet been precisely determined. However, the lorries will have to use a secondary road. These roads are not fit to carry the dense traffic of lorries of 38 to 40 ton each. The result being that these roads will rapidly be destroyed, with all consequences one can imagine.
Furthermore these roads are not wide enough to permit the lorries to safely pass each other. Traffic will become more dangerous, especially on the peak hours of the school of Bouloc.
During the Summer, dust will quickly cover all road signs. On the other hand, during the Winter and with rainy weather, lorries coming from the quarry will leave a layer of mud on the road. This will not only be a nuisance for other vehicles using the road, but it will also be extremely dangerous.
Who is going to pay for the necessary repairs ?
The dense traffic of lorries in the vicinity (or even inside) the village will cause enormous nuisances for the people living in the community : noise, danger, dust, stones falling of the lorries, nuisances that will completely change their daily life.
Noise pollution - Explosions - Damage to constructions
Noise :
Noise is permanent present in and around a
quarry : crushers, sieves, dumping-carts, bulldozers and loading bands are important noise sources.
Whenever bulldozers or lorries move backwards, they emit a sound signal ; a "bip" which can be heard from several hundred meters away.
Explosions :
Cost-effectiveness demands that an explosion liberates at least 10.000 ton of material. Therefore, quarriers require between 1 and 1.5 ton of explosives.
At the moment of the explosion, an important sound wave is produced. Such an air propagated wave is able to destroy fragile constructions (windows for instance) at a distance of several hundred meters..
However, the worst remains the shock wave propagated in thevearth which can cause, over distances of several kilometres, severe damage to foundations and walls of houses. It can be felt kilometres away from the quarry.
In the material liberated by the explosion, there are always large blocs that have to be put aside in order to be reduced later on.
These blocs are broken either by means of a hydraulic crusher, which produces a very specific, nerve-wracking sound, or by blasting it to pieces with explosives which produce lots of noise and, again, shock waves.
Dust
Dust is created continuously and at all stages of the process : with the explosions, when loading on trucks, by crushing stones, by the transport, etc. On a mobile installation (such as planned for Bouloc), it is almost impossible to act against the dust.
The production of dust is even more accentuated when the weather is dry and sunny. They talk about watering but water is the quarriers' ennemy as humid dust fills the sieve holes to the detriment of the product quality.
The dust covers nature with a layer which, on the long run, will suffocate plant life.
Dust goes everywhere...
This dust will sneak into houses and it will set down
on fruit, vegetables, garden furniture, laundry drying in the sun, TV sets....
Also, the smallest raindrop will turn this dust into white mud, making the roads slippery and dangerous.
The influence on the underground water level
Water sources depending on and connected to the site of the quarry will be destroyed, rerouted and dried out by means of explosions.
The plate itself, composed of layers of lime and clay, constitutes a water reserve that will destroyed for ever by the exploitation of the quarry.
A hydrological study is being carried out and should be published on this site as soon as possible.
The destruction of the natural habitat
Quarries placed (too) near to each other have a highly devastating effect on the surrounding landscape. This is extremely well visible on aerial photos and all the more dreadful when the exploitation is done on a clumsy manner (a perfect example of this can be found in Villesèque !).
A quarry is a nasty wound in nature and, despite reassuring words one can hear concerning the rearrangement of such sites, its healing will take long compared to the lifetime of a human being, and traces of this human interference will always remain.
Furthermore, as everybody can easily notice, a old quarry is the perfect place to dump rubbish in order to get rid of all kinds of refuse (just look at all the wrecks of cars).
Devaluation of property
It is well known that this type of projects contributes strongly to the dramatic loss of value of real estate and land. (Thank you for informing us about your own experiences concerning the afore mentioned, which we will use to keep our file up to date).
The risks (study of the PREVENCEM)
We are all intuitively aware of the fact that children, being curious and enterprisins, are running risks when being near to a quarry. In the same way, we are convinced that a quarry should not be situated next to a village or a frequently used road. Indeed, a study of the PREVENCEM (an organisation involved in the prevention and security of industries extracting raw materials), mentioned by Mr Rup on the 2nd of October seems to confirm our ideas :
In its information bulletin n° 2007-004-200 mention is given of Article 43 RG-1-R which reads :
«
Quarries and installations must effectively be separated from neighbouring properties by means of walls, fences and ditches, unless derogation is granted by the Prefect.
Although most quarries have walls around their site, these cannot prevent unwanted "visits" on or off working hours.
On some of the sites, intrusions are frequent. Nevertheless, the risks run by these visitors, unaware of the dangers inherent to the extraction and processing of raw materials, are enormous. Ces intrusions peuvent prendre des proportions très importantes sur certains sites.
The risk are numerous : collapsing steps, drowning in basins (extraction basins, water reservoirs, wells...), sinking away or being burried (in decantation basins, ilos, hoppers...), colliding with rolling quarry equipment... These risks can all be lethal. »
