Public meeting scheduled to tackle lingering worries over potential sand mine in Scott County

BENTON, Mo. — Despite the Drury family announcing they would stop the pursuit of a sand mining operation in north Scott County, interest in the issue remains high among citizens and county officials who want to ensure their health and safety.

As a result, the Scott County Commission will host a public meeting at 6 p.m. March 19 at the Scott City Public Schools FEMA Building on the west end of the school’s campus in Scott City. Scott County's three commissioners along with the Scott County Health Department administrator and the county’s attorney will be present for the meeting.

According to Scott County Presiding Commissioner Danny Tetley, who made an announcement about the meeting in a Facebook post Wednesday, Feb. 26, the county officials will answer questions about the steps being taken to address the county commission’s and/or health department’s authority to eliminate potential dangerous industry from settling in the county.

“There are a lot of rumors floating around,” Tetley said in the Facebook post, referring to the recently proposed sand mining operation just outside of Kelso.

Tetley said residents still have concerns the Drury family may lease or sell the property to another entity that would develop the project, which prompted scheduling the public meeting.

“We feel with the extreme interest and concern over this issue, it would be better to have it in a larger location that would hold more people,” said Tetley, who noted the FEMA buildling will seat about 300.

In early February word began to spread throughout the community of the possibility of a sand mining operation being developed near the intersections of County Highways 211 and 214 (the former Diebold property) in southwest Kelso.

Immediately residents voiced their concerns via social media and other platforms over the potential operation being located so closely to several schools and churches and also creating health hazards by exposing carcinogens and impacting home wells and foundations.

On Feb. 18, Tim Drury of St. Louis, Missouri, provided a statement to the Standard Democrat on his family’s decision not to pursue the project.

“The Drury family has been part of the Scott County community for three generations,” Drury said in the statement. “This is where we started our families. Our commitment to the Scott County community runs deep and will continue for years to come.

He continued: “As has been widely reported, we have been exploring ways to continue to serve as good stewards of our land, ensuring the fruits of our labor deliver value to the Scott County community, the state of Missouri and our country.”

Core drilling recently began on the Drury family’s property in Scott County in order to collect samples to determine if the land contains the quality and quantity of aggregate for use in many industrial applications, Drury said.

“We understand that this proposed project has received much attention in the community,” Drury said in the statement. “Because of the opposition expressed by the community to this project, we have made the decision to not pursue this project. While this project would have brought many needed jobs and economic opportunities to Scott County for many decades, we are listening to the concerned voices of the community.

Drury continued: “Although we will continue with core drilling into March, we will not proceed with the project. If the community would like to discuss this further, we would be willing to have those discussions.”

After the Drury's announcement, Tetley said as presiding commissioner, he would always put the health and safety of Scott County citizens first and foremost.

“I still believe that we, as a county, should consider at least exploring planning and zoning to get a better understanding of how that might look in Scott County … just to protect us all from future projects that may present a health detriment to our citizens,” Tetley said on Feb. 18.

Tetley encouraged interested citizens to attend the meeting on March 19.

“We will also be answering questions about the steps we have been taking to address this issue as well, and what our future plans are to address these issues. …We will have a question-and-answer session in place,” Tetley said. “We just ask that everyone be respectful of the others in the room.”