SAN ANTONIO – J.T. Chapin has lived in his home near the Martin Marietta quarry on Bandera Road for nearly 20 years. Some nights, quarry workers make it hard to fall asleep with late night detonations to clear stone.
"When the thing goes off, it's usually between 10:30 p.m. and 11 o'clock on Tuesdays and Thursdays," said Chapin. "It will go, 'Whoomp!' The house will shake and the pictures on the wall will tilt."
Chapin said he and other residents have had to replace some glass in windows and door frames that have cracked from the constant detonations. While those can be replaced, his bigger concern is the chronic sinus infection and other allergy issues he attributes to the tiny debris from the quarry.
"When the wind blows across the material top it looks like snow, sheeting off the Alps and it covers this whole area," he said.
Martin Marietta officials did not respond to interview requests for this story but a representative with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said they have not received any official complaints about work at the quarry, and that the quarry is operating within its rights according to its permits.
The quarry partially runs along the Edwards Aquifer and a spokesperson with the Edwards Aquifer Authority said routine water tests have never turned up any causes for concern. The EAA's biggest concern with commercial sites over the aquifer centers around the storage of chemicals and the quarry has always followed guidelines.
"That's got enough rock, dirt and materials to go for another 20 years," said Chapin. "Looks like we're stuck with things."