Group continues fight against mine
Citizens Against Mining legal battle an ‘Iron Man triathlon,’ lawyer says.
Citizens Against Mining in Mad River Twp. is continuing its fight against an Enon gravel company after the company filed an appeal with the state.
The group, nicknamed CAM, held a virtual public meeting
Wednesday night to update the community on the group’s legal fight. CAM formed about four years ago in opposition to Enon Sand & Gravel’s proposed limestone mine in southern Mad River Twp.
At that time, CAM claimed the company must have a permit before mining on the land because it was zoned for agricultural use. Enon Sand & Gravel claimed mining was grandfathered into the zoning.
As a result of the spat, the company sued Clark County in 2017 to get a designation to mine. The county settled with the company out of court in 2018.
Shortly after that, an appeal was filed with the state. That case, and an additional lawsuit with CAM specifically, is still open.
“When we started this fight in 2017, the neighbors who banded together to fight this quarry had no idea that we would still be fighting in 2021,” CAM board member Kathleen Mathews said. “We thought this would be a short battle, and this certainly has not been short-lived at all.”
Paul Kavangh, a Springfield attorney who represents that group, described the ongoing cases “as running the Iron Man triathlon,” because there are so many aspects.
Kavangh said the legal process might take so long that “it’s possible that some of us might be dead when this is over.”
“The next step for us is to go to the court of appeals,” Kavangh said. ”That will probably happen sometime this year.”