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POINT PENINSULA, N.Y. (WWTI) -- A proposed limestone mine has left a Lake Ontario community angry and fearful.
J.E. Sheehan Contracting Corp., a company out of Potsdam, has submitted a permit for a 15.2-acre limestone mine in the Village of Point Peninsula. This project proposal was submitted to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Sheehan owns a campground and restaurant in Point Peninsula. However, residents who live in the village just learned of the project in mid-December.
"They will be blasting and mining, they will be pulling stone out," Year-Round Resident Laney Hastings-Taylor explained.
Hastings-Taylor has lived in the village for decades and has worked to educate neighbors about the proposed mine, which would be located off Jefferson County Route 57.
Many people have rallied with Hastings-Taylor to voice why the mine does not belong in Point Peninsula.
"There's one road in, one road out. We didn't buy to have this kind of traffic out here. People walk the roads, they bike. A little girl across the street roller skates," Year-Round Resident Jeannie Koster shared. "You can't have that with that kind of traffic."
Aside from work within the mine, the contractor has shared that the mine would increase daily traffic to a minimum of 50 large trucks.
"To me, this is a resort area, not, you know, not an industrial type area for mining," Gene Taylor, Laney's husband added.
Site work has already been completed on Sheehan's 92.5-acre property, which Taylor explained, has destroyed ecosystems.
Point Peninsula and surrounding areas are home to migratory birds, such as snowy owls, bald eagles, ospreys and waterfowl.
Taylor also owns three AirBnb's in the village as well as the only you-pick berry farm in Jefferson County. She is worried that this mine will ruin the fragile balance.
"People's wells will be contaminated. The runoff from the blasting from the mining, the water is going to go right down that hill and right into the lake," she expressed. "People come and they have a magical vacation because of this lake, because it's just so beautiful. And all those things will be impacted."
The DEC is hosting a public comment period on this project. Comments will be accepted through Friday, December 22.
Point Peninsula is located in the town of Three Mile Bay, in Jefferson County.