NSSGA member speaks out on WOTUS rule

By |  March 8, 2023
Luck Companies’ Mark Williams, a former chair of the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association’s Environmental Committee, represented the aggregate industry on Capitol Hill during a recent House committee hearing. Photo: Luck Companies

Luck Companies’ Mark Williams, a former chair of the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association’s Environmental Committee, represented the aggregate industry on Capitol Hill during a recent House committee hearing. Photo: Luck Companies

Ongoing issues with the latest Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule will undoubtedly be among the discussion points at the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) Annual Convention in Las Vegas.

Ahead of the convention, however, one NSSGA member offered perspective on the matter during a hearing in the nation’s capital held by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources & Environment. Mark Williams, environmental manager at Luck Companies, explored the impacts of the Biden administration’s WOTUS rule at the hearing, highlighting the important work the aggregate industry does and its history of environmental stewardship.

In his testimony, Williams offered insights about the confusion the new WOTUS rule creates.

“As the industry that provides the basic material for everything from the roads on which we drive to purifying the water we drink, NSSGA members are deeply concerned that EPA’s new WOTUS rule will further complicate an already lengthy and burdensome permitting process to establish or access new aggregates resources,” says Williams, who’s responsible for environmental compliance and community engagement at Luck Companies. “We want to do things the right way, but this unclear rule makes it nearly impossible to know what the right way is.”

Williams emphasized the challenges the WOTUS rule creates for the industry and not only how it hurts companies like his but the nation as a whole.

“While the new rule is being portrayed as a familiar regulation, it in fact poses more questions than it answers, making it very difficult for businesses in the aggregates industry to plan and hire the workforce needed to supply materials,” Williams says.

“According to our industry estimation, this rule will add years of additional permitting delays and cost inefficiencies for any new aggregates facility being permitted.”

Kevin Yanik

About the Author:

Kevin Yanik is editor-in-chief of Pit & Quarry. He can be reached at 216-706-3724 or kyanik@northcoastmedia.net.

Comments are closed