PennCo asphalt plant on collision course with soccer complex, GOPers

Attorney Doyle Estes donated stolen prairie swampland in Pennington County to Rapid City if it would develop a soccer complex. The property is home to buried toxins: residue from Rapid City's early years. Earth hater former South Dakota Attorney General Roger Tellinghuisen and erstwhile director of Dakota Fields, helped raise money for the pitches.

“You’re being asked,” Attorney Roger Tellinghuisen said to the commissioners, “to put one company’s profits ahead of the health, safety and welfare of not only the people who live adjacent to this particular site, but all the kids, and moms and dads, and grandpas and grandmas who are coming to this soccer field.” Doug Noyes, executive director of the Black Hills Rapid Soccer Club, also expressed concerns about the asphalt plant. [Rapid City Journal]

From my inbox:

I want to start by thanking everyone for their concern over the rezoning request to allow an area 1\2 mile west of our soccer Complex to become Heavy Industrial. This issue has long reaching consequences for the neighborhood. We are a half mile away, think about the home and business owners that border the property and what this means for them as well.

I have not sent an email for a while because I was doing research and study of the dangers of Asphalt Fumes and Vapors. I also wanted to determine the impact being west of the Complex vs a different direction.

While the answer to the question of whether exposure to asphalt by road workers working with the substances is clear. It can cause "breathing problems, asthma, bronchitis and skin irritation...and studies have reported lung, stomach, and skin cancers following chronic exposures to asphalt fumes."Source: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/asphaltfumes/index.html. The question of environmental exposure, what we are worried about, causing problems is unresolved.

A paid consultant brought to testify in front of the county commission has tested Asphalt Plant emissions and gave the opinion that they are not significant polluters. I have read one of her papers and as far as the stack emissions (the "oven" that the rock is heated in) I believe she is entirely correct. No one thinks heating rocks is dangerous. It is the rest of the process of making asphalt that releases the dust, dirt and emissions that people are worried about. There is debate in the scientific community about the impact of fugitive emissions.

I am not saying that building this plant will absolutely impact our air quality. The immediate neighbors are a different matter and I feel for them. What I am saying, and no one can guarantee me otherwise, is that it might and that is enough of a reason to oppose its construction.

The even bigger issue, in my opinion, is what opening the area to Heavy Industrial will possibly bring in the future. The City of Rapid City has long range plans for the area now under review to become residential and commercial with some light industrial. This includes the land immediately surrounding the Complex. These uses are compatible with OUR long term plans of a stadium, more fields and parking (YAY!) and an indoor facility. On the other hand here is a partial list of what heavy industrial zoning will allow:

Stockyards, feeding pens, and auction houses for sale of livestock. Tannery or curing or storage of raw hides.
Rock, sand, gravel, or earth excavation, crushing or distribution. Slaughter of animals, including poultry killing or dressing.

Source: Pennington County Zoning Ordinances Section 212-B

BE AWARE! The change will allow such businesses-period-no hearing-no fight-no nothing. This change opens the door to what the law allows and there will be little we can do to stop it.

What we can do now is show up. Lots of us. Hundreds of us. Bring the kids if you can. The last meeting was to start at 10:30, didn't start until after 12:00 and several of the witnesses had to leave. The Chair of the Commission commented on how little opposition was there. They passed the change on the first reading but it is the next reading that matters.

Please come to the Commission meeting. If you want to speak please do, if you don't, at least be there to be counted. While we do not have the money the proponents of this change have we do have numbers. The County Commissioners are politicians and politicians need votes. They need to see as many voters as possible that do not like the direction this is going. There are almost 700 signatures on the survey. If you haven't signed yet please do.

There is only one reason the petitioner wants to move his plant to this location and that is profit. He is following the law in trying to do so. I do not believe his changing of existing zoning for his profit should potentially have a negative impact on the 6 million dollars we have spent on Dakota Fields. Please attend this important meeting to protect the future of our Complex.
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–Doug Noyes

Earth hater Doyle Estes is married to ethics-neutral former Board of Regents member, Kathryn Johnson. This interested party has personal histories with both Estes and Tellinghuisen.

My youngest daughter plays for the Black Hills Rapids Soccer Club. In the first photo below she's in the front row holding up a finger while picking her nose, subject of the second image and the tall one in the center of bottom shot. My oldest daughter and their mother are also in that photo.

Way back in 2014 when the Daugaard administration used to post Future Fund recipients who contributed to the Governor's Club slush fund Denny's reelection campaign Estes and Johnson figure quite prominently.

Sparks will fly.