Text of a letter from the Orange County African-American Historical Society:
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Deborah S. Kendall
Planning Director &
Zoning Administrator
Orange County Department of Planning and Zoning
112 West Main Street
P.O. Box 111
Orange, VA  22960


Dear Ms. Kendall:

The Orange Country African-American Historical Society would like to
express its unequivocal opposition to the Special Use Permit being
applied for by General Shale, LLC, that would allow strip-mining of
clay in an agriculturally-zoned historic district in western Orange
County.

The 139-acre parcel of land in question lies within the
Madison-Barbour Rural Historic District and is part of a cultural
landscape that was critical to our nation's beginnings. It is bordered
by a number of properties including Brownland, which was built in the
mid-19th century by the same African-American family that inhabits it
today, and the historically African-American freetown of
Careytown. Also bordering the tract is Burlington, the Greek Revival
home of the James Newman family, who were Barbour cousins. The
Barboursville Ruins, site of the mansion that Thomas Jefferson
designed for his friend, Virginia governor and U.S. senator James
Barbour, is just barely separated from the proposed mine site.

General Shale proposes essentially decimating the gently rolling hills
that have formed a panorama -- for black and white, slave and free --
over the course of more than eight generations. In the company's own
words, it intends to effect "a gradual lowering of the hilltops to a
fairly level configuration." It would achieve this goal with huge
industrial earthmovers that could leave scars 50 feet deep across our
historic landscape and prompt many safety and environmental
concerns. Once the rolling hills are leveled, left behind are likely
to be stagnant pools of waste water that will breed mosquitos and
could spread disease.

Most troublesome from a racial perspective, General Shale proposes
planting a "buffer zone" of white pine trees along the northern and
western borders of the site, which are predominantly inhabited by
white people; it also pledges not to mine closer than 700 feet to
those properties. Yet there are no plans at all to buffer the site
from Careytown and other historically African-American properties,
where mining might well be undertaken as close as 25 feet from their
property. How can such an inequitable plan be proposed or given
serious consideration without raising questions about the intentions
of General Shale?  How could it be that some people merit a greater
relief from visual and noise pollution than others?

The company plans to wash down its trucks before they leave the mine,
and to spray the site regularly in order to suppress dust. However, we
are concerned about where the water for such activities would come
from, and how it would affect the aquifer. During the current dry
spell, several in that area have had to dig new wells or deepen
existing ones. Contamination is also a very real danger. Will General
Shale pay for new wells and assure that contamination of existing
wells does not take place?

The proposed mining activities would directly straddle the old
Constitutional Route, destroying parts of that historic landscape for
all time, and perhaps carrying with it some of our potential knowledge
of the past. As part of the Madison-Barbour Rural Historic District --
which is anchored by Montpelier at one end and Barboursville at the
other -- the area is valued by the Virginia Department of Historic
Resources as one of the state's "most intact cultural landscapes
. . . composed of unspoiled pastoral scenery." The district is listed
on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks
Register.  The Hampstead Farm Archaeological District is nearby, and
it is more than likely that such strip-mining will also have an
adverse impact on archaeological resources The Orange County
African-American Historical Society also shares concerns with many
other Orange County citizens on general environmental and safety
issues associated with such an industrial use of the land. The massive
number of trucks running on narrow rural roads, six days a week, has
to be considered, not only on the basis of safety, but also on the
basis of the impact such traffic would have on the quality of
visitors' experience and the quality of the roads themselves. Is
General Shale going to contribute to the upkeep of Routes 20, 738 and
655? How will visitors feel about following huge truckloads of clay
through what should be a scenic, pastoral drive?

We also are concerned because there have been corporate efforts to
mine uranium in the county in the past which residents have blocked
only with much difficulty.  Clay may seem an innocuous substance, but
it could easily open the door for much more worrisome materials.

We strongly urge that the Orange County Department of Planning &
Zoning deny this Special Use Permit. Orange County has been blessed
with some of the most beautiful landscape in the Commonwealth
considered as representative of the history of America. Many of our
relationships and institutions were shaped by elements and aspects of
race and slavery, class, agriculture, and trade that stretch back to
our nation's beginnings and the effects of which continue to this day.
Once destroyed, those building blocks of America cannot be
recreated. It is up to the citizens and leadership of Orange County to
preserve this irreplaceable resource.


Sincerely,


Rebecca Gilmore Coleman

President