Are we running out of sand and gravel?  It seems absurd to think so, particularly because the mile-wide chunk of ice that carved out the Puget Sound eons ago helped provide Washington with a bounty of high quality aggregates.  Nevertheless, according to State Geologist Ron Teissere, “We don’t have enough mineral resources from permitted sites to complete all the projects that are currently on the State’s books.” 

Of course, there is still a lot of aggregate in the ground.  But AGC members cite a growing problem within the construction industry:  the diminishing access to mineral resources.  Few new mines have come on-line, some important mines have been depleted, political battles rage over others, potential sites have been built over, and the price of aggregates has doubled in just a couple of years. 

Gravel price increases have a major impact on the cost of the construction process, says Frank Imhof of IMCO Construction. “The SR 539 Project north of Bellingham was awarded to us early in 2007 for $32 million, $4 million over the estimate,” says Imhof.  “Between the time of the design estimate of four years ago and the bid date, the price of aggregates increased by 100 percent in Whatcom County.  Much of our unused gravel lies in agriculture zones and when the Whatcom County Council barred the opening of new pits in agriculture areas they increased the local cost of gravel.” 

The relatively limited supply, coupled with high demand, has been one of the drivers of the increased prices.  Another is greater travel expenditures, which can be more than half of the overall cost of the material.  Local access to the materials is the most economical – and environmentally sound – way to build the state’s roads, bridges, houses and more.

According to a report by Pacific Lutheran University, a 25-mile haul from the source will double the cost of most aggregates and related products.  Another study shows that an additional 25-mile haul adds $500,000 to the cost of a retail center, $75,000 to the cost of a school or hospital, and $190,000 to the cost of one mile of a four-lane interstate highway.  These costs are in addition to the environmental and traffic impacts of extra miles driven by the trucks transporting the material from the mine to the construction site.  

“When the Whatcom County Council added the ag zone restrictions, it caused us to go to other sources,” says Imhof.  “We calculated that for every 20 miles of increased hauling distance, it adds $4.75 per ton to the user’s cost of gravel, not to mention the additional truck traffic and pollution.”  

The AGC is considering various policy options, and some within the industry have suggested two important ways to improve access to mineral resources:  improved mapping and streamlined permitting. 

Improved Mapping 

Under the State’s Growth Management Act (GMA), counties are supposed to designate and protect mineral resource areas.  Unfortunately, experts believe the counties are doing a less than stellar job with this responsibility because 1) Much aggregate-rich land is now sitting under houses or farms;  2) counties often don’t know where accessible deposits are; and 3) counties often lack the political will to designate and protect mineral lands anywhere near population centers. 

“When counties implemented GMA and drafted comprehensive plans, they too often took the easy route and simply drew circles around existing mines,” says Pete Stoltz, permitting coordinator for Glacier Northwest.  “This makes it hard to get new mines or even expand existing ones.  What is needed are mineral resource overlays that accurately reflect the distribution of the resource.” 

On this point – a mineral resource overlay – experts agree the State should step in and help the counties.  “The GMA assumes counties have the information needed to make decisions regarding mineral resources, but they often don’t,” says State Geologist Teissere.  “It is expensive and time consuming for individual counties to get this information, so counties usually don’t end up with appropriate information.” 

“The State needs to take a stronger role to make sure the resource is identified and designated appropriately,” says Stoltz.  “The Legislature should fund the Department of Natural Resources to do comprehensive mapping of mineral resources.  The local jurisdictions would then designate based on those maps.”   

One reason for greater state involvement is that mineral resources represent a regional need.  Counties are under local political pressures to limit mines, sometimes assuming that importing aggregates from other jurisdictions will meet the local demand.  But these decisions are counterproductive regionally, as the increased hauling distances increases the cost of all construction, particularly taxpayer-funded transportation projects. 

Streamlined Permitting 

Designating resource areas through improved mapping would be an important step.  Another would be streamlined permitting processes.  In order to permit a typical cost-effective facility of 50 acres or more, it may cost as much as $5 million. 

“It took us five years to expand one of our existing mines due to the multiple agencies involved,” says Tom Zamzow of Wilder Construction. “Anything to enhance the certainty of achieving a result – positive or negative – in a known time frame would make it less risky and less costly to permit a mine.” 

Counties are the point-agency for the permitting process, and they solicit input for multiple government agencies, such as the Departments of Ecology and Fish and Wildlife, and the amount of time it takes to get responses can be great.  Plus, multiple studies are required by the various agencies, not only for environmental fact-finding but also to shield the agency from potential lawsuits.  “Sometimes it’s like having to disprove the negative – prove that the mine wouldn’t have a certain impact,” says Zamzow.  “It’s not always possible.” 

There are different points of view within the industry regarding the permitting process.  Some believe it should be a state responsibility, since aggregates are a regional resource and the local jurisdictions are too susceptible to NIMBY politics.  Others believe that the county is the appropriate level for the ultimate decision-maker.  There is agreement, however, that a streamlined process would help no matter which jurisdiction is on-point.   

One model for bringing more aggregate plants on-line while maintaining environmental objectives is provided by an innovative program within the Department of Transportation.  Since passage of the AGC-supported Environmental Permit Streamlining Act in 2001, a collaborative, multi-stakeholder group has been charged with coordinating and streamlining the environmental permitting process for transportation projects in the state.  This Transportation Permit Efficiency and Accountability Committee (TPEAC) process brings together state and local agencies and business groups as well as Tribal, labor, environmental interests and others to develop methods to increase the predictability, inclusiveness and efficiency of transportation permitting. 

The authorization for TPEAC ended in 2006, with ongoing operations transferred to the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Assistance.  Analyses of the work of TPEAC demonstrate positive results:  It has indeed brought more efficient use of public resources and benefits for the state’s transportation system while not just maintaining but improving environmental protection.  Effective products such as multi-agency permit teams, web-based permitting tools, and model procedures for consultation with Native American Tribes were created. 

A similar collaborative, streamlined process could help bring additional aggregate supplies on-line, within reasonable proximity of the population centers they serve. 

Other Ideas 

In addition to improved resource mapping and streamlined permitting processes, experts have suggested other elements of a comprehensive approach: 

• Preserve what is currently on-line:  Some major mines, such as Glacier Northwest’s Maury Island site, are targets for shut down by environmental groups.  The Maury Island site has survived a gauntlet of court cases and permitting requirements, with a few hurdles remaining.  But the site’s importance to the local construction market is undeniable, as is its ability to transport material via barge. Barging is a particularly efficient way to transport aggregates.  Barging material from Glacier’s Dupont plant to Seattle saves 675,000 gallons of fuel per year and eliminates 93,750 truck trips annually.
   
• Improve public education:  “We need to be better about explaining to the public both the importance of mineral resources and the ramifications of diminished access to them,” says IMCO’s Imhof.  “It’s not good for industry, and it’s not good for public.”  It’s likely that few members of the general public, as well as few policymakers, are aware of the daunting amount of sand and gravel used in construction:   Washington residents consume about 13 tons of aggregates per person, per year.  The average 2,000 square foot home uses almost 210 tons of aggregates in driveways, foundations and sidewalks.  A typical county road uses 4,600 tons for each lane mile.
   
• Encourage greater use of recycled concrete and other aggregate-based material in construction projects.
   
• Consider economic incentives:  For example, counties currently place an excise tax on the timber extracted within its boundaries, but do not have the authority to place an excise tax on the extraction of mineral resources.  Some experts suggest that allowing counties to charge an excise tax for extraction could help entice them to permit new and expanded mines, although the idea is very controversial as the tax itself would increase the price of the material, and the taxing authority could be used to drive out existing mines.

The AGC will work with partners within the industry as well as with broader business interests, labor and environmental groups and government.  Each entity has a vital stake in accessible, affordable materials – acquired in a manner which responsibly addresses environmental and growth management concerns.  The effort will help ensure that the state will continue to benefit from its rich home-grown (or rather, home-ground) mineral resources.