Published: April 23, 2008 08:02 am      

Rock industry gains county support seeking delay in planned regulatory bill

Committee to look at proposal Wednesday

The Cumberland County stone industry is known world-wide because of the native Tennessee Quartzite (known locally as Crab Orchard Stone) but those who work in the rock say they are under assault by proponents of pending legislation that would increase fees and fines, add more restrictions and more heavily regulate the business.

Two in the industry — Woody Mercer and Delano Thompson — appeared before the Cumberland County Commission Monday night asking that the body formally notify the state and local legislators that a delay in the pending regulatory bill be made to allow for study and input over the summer.

The rock industry has been a cornerstone of Cumberland County economy for generations upon generations and Mercer claimed Monday night that stone workers were being singled out by the legislation. Admittedly, he added, this has happened because the stone industry is not formally organized like the Tennessee marble, lime and aggregate industries. Thompson and Mercer both said that they were not even made aware of the pending legislation until two weeks ago when it passed the Tennessee Senate.

The bill proposing new state permits if a property landowner disagrees with the mining is on the Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee agenda for this morning (Wednesday).

What brought this to the foreground is fight between a Florida company and the Bredesen administration over rock harvesting in the Cumberland Trail State Park near Chattanooga. Tennessee purchased the land for the park but failed to purchase the mineral rights, which were bought by the Florida firm.

Even though the state owns the property, the Florida company has been harvesting rock on the state land based on current mineral rights laws.

The case ended up in court with the Florida firm prevailing in early rounds. But a collateral issue has become the question of whether sandstone, fieldstone and flagstone are minerals. Environmental groups and the state contend that unless otherwise noted in land transaction records, rock should be considered a mineral.

Presently the state of Tennessee does not regulate the rock industry as it does mining. The state does give counties the right to tax stone that is mined as a product.

If the state legislature rewrites the law as presently planned, an adverse affect will be felt by thousands of workers in the rock industry, Mercer told commissioners.

After the presentation, which came under new business, Commissioner Lynn Tollett made a motion to send a resolution of support for the rock industry and to ask state lawmakers to delay further action until all parties are allowed are heard on the proposed law.

Commission parliamentarian Harry Sabine said the motion was out of order because it was not listed on the agenda, but a motion to waive the rules was then made and passed with Sabine voting no.

The motion to fax to surrounding counties, local law makers and members of the Tennessee General Assembly then passed on the same vote count.