Mystery surrounds Cape Girardeau County mining exemption amendment

Cape Girardeau County's mining industry leaders on Tuesday said they don't know Dave Schatz, a state representative from Sullivan, Mo. It is beyond them why he apparently attempted to have them exempted from a 2011 law stating all mining operation boundaries must be 1,000 feet from schools.

Schatz attached the amendment to an unrelated agriculture bill, Senate Bill 342, on May 15, just before the end of the regular legislative session. The bill passed both chambers of the General Assembly, but was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon. One reason the governor gave for the veto was the amendment.

"It is generally objectionable to exclude a select industry or company from an existing standard to which all other like entities are held," Nixon wrote in a statement on the veto. "It is even more offensive to suggest that school children in Cape Girardeau County should receive any less protection than children in all other parts of the state."

State Rep. Donna Lichtenegger, R-Jackson, who sponsored a bill in 2011 similar to House Bill 89, which created the mine-school distance law, said if she had known about the amendment on the agriculture bill, she would have fought on the floor to have it removed.

Schatz, a Republican who represents the 61st House District that covers Franklin, Osage and Gasconade counties, is on vacation in Alaska this week, according to his legislative assistant, and wasn't reachable for comment.

The reason for concern over the amendment is two limestone quarries in Cape Girardeau County are near Saxony Lutheran High School, which has been caught in a legal battle with Strack Excavating and Heartland Materials LLC for several years over the mining operations near the school.

But J.W. Strack, owner of Strack Excavating, and Danny Dumey, one of Heartland Materials' owners, said on Tuesday they weren't aware of the amendment, don't know Schatz and have never spoken with him, and the amendment wouldn't have affected their operations or planned operations.

Lichtenegger said part of the amendment referred to soil and water, which she had spoken to Schatz about, but he never mentioned mining law exemptions. The amendment also did not explicitly name Cape Girardeau County for exemption, but it is the only county in the state that meets the amendment's specifications, which stated:

"The provisions of section 444.771 shall not apply to any business entity located in any county of the first classification with more than seventy thousand but fewer than eighty-three thousand inhabitants and with a city of the fourth classification with more than thirteen thousand five hundred but fewer than sixteen thousand inhabitants as the county seat."

The House journal shows no effort was made to oppose the amendment. Only two Southeast Missouri representatives voted against the bill after amendments were added -- Rep. Steve Hodges, D-East Prairie, and Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston.

The date the amendment was filed also raises questions about its motives. May 15 is one day after an appeals court gave Strack Excavating back its mining permit that was invalidated by Cape Girardeau County Circuit Judge William L. Syler in September 2011. In the suit, Saxony Lutheran appealed the issuance of Strack's permit, arguing the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Land Reclamation Commission was prohibited by law from issuing a permit to a quarry that has a boundary within 1,000 feet of an accredited school.

At the time the permit was issued, Strack's mine plan boundary was only 55 feet from Saxony's property, but the commission modified the permit to require a larger buffer before giving approval, in response to the then-new state law. The school contended the law did not give the commission the power to impose a special condition that would grant Strack a permit so long as its mining plan boundary was relocated 1,000 feet or more away from Saxony property.

However, the House journal shows Schatz added the amendment to another unrelated bill -- a bill on nuisance regulations -- a week before. A conference committee still was working to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill when the Legislative session ended.

A Southeast Missourian review of Schatz's campaign contributions materials from the most recent election didn't reveal any direct ties to mining interests, local business owners or the industry.

­Southeast Missourian webmaster James Baughn contributed to this report.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

Fruitland, MO

1965 County Road 601, Jackson, MO