Will Utah find a balance between growth and aggregate demand? -Deseret News

As Utah continues to grapple with explosive growth, housing shortages and significant transportation projects, the need for aggregate materials will increase and the state wants to be prepared.

HB502, passed during this last legislative session, is a way for the state to assess the needs, costs and impacts for developing strategic ways to stay on top of increasingly expensive materials.

The Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mines updated its board on the study parameters on Wednesday.

“There have been and continue to be differences between counties and jurisdictions in how this is regulated. And where is the industry going? Where is the aggregate? Where is it needed? “What’s the cost to meet demand over the next 10 or 20 years,” said Mick Thomas, director of the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.

But the way to dismantle aggregates is not without opponents and controversy. The aggregate comes from gravel pits. Salt Lake County, for example, is flanked by production pits on its northern and southern borders.

A gravel pit in Morgan County has caused some controversy and a mining operation in Parleys Canyon has drawn strong opposition.

“I mean, no one wants these in their backyard. But we all travel back and forth on the road and we will need even more materials when we build houses and everything else. So I just want a better understanding of the situation,” said Rep. Casey Snyder, R-Paradise, on the issue of burial pits. “There is a lot of incomplete information on both sides of the issue. So I think the better way is to figure something out – work with the authorities and then legislate from there.”

Dave Kallas, executive director of the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Coalition and lobbyist for Lobby Utah, said it is becoming increasingly difficult to work through the regulations for a new mine or gravel pit in Utah.

Some areas of the country have moved to ban them altogether, meaning they have to cover the costs of transporting the material to where it is needed – and these distances are driving up costs.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the building boom there is being helped by rock and sand brought in about 1,400 miles from Vancouver Island in British Columbia, although the material is locally available and plentiful.

Kallas said the cost of shipping the material often dwarfs the cost of the material itself.

He added that the reality is that Staker Parson’s operation in the northern end of Salt Lake County and Geneva’s Point of the Mountain location have been there for decades and surrounding communities have sprung up.

“Now there’s this pressure that says, well, we’ve allowed housing and other uses right next to these businesses and now people want them gone. So the question is: Do we want to protect these resources? And you know, there’s a city that ironically hires the lowest bidder on a road project, right?” Kallas said. “And the lowest bidder is usually the person who can get the material locally because the cost of transportation is so high. However, in their zoning decisions, they choose to zoning or reject any type of expansion or continuation of operations.”

The study report, which includes community participants, housing officials and the Utah Department of Transportation, is intended to spur reforms in the aggregates industry.