The Legend of Dancing Man

In April of 1999 at the Hands Across Maury gathering, Erica Helm Meade told the story of THE LEGEND OF DANCING MAN. Twelve years after the community gathered to oppose the Lonestar/Glacier gravel mine from ruining their drinking water aquafier and surrounding ecosystem the company acceded to their wishes and sold the property to the government to turn into parkland. Event organizer Marnie Jones-Koenig describes the battle in her letter to the editor of the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/s?action=login&f=y
Maury's protection: A victory 13 years in the making
By MARNIE JONES-KOENIG
Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber Contributor
Jan 04 2011, 11:55 AM
I am still pinching myself. After 13 years, a gravel mine is dead and the land is protected. Wow.
There is one thing very clear: Judge Ricardo Martinez's decision to cast out Glacier's dock permit — a turning point in this long battle — did not happen in a vacuum.
Let's look back to 1999, when the mine expansion was a foregone conclusion. An assumption was in the air. The gravel was needed for the third runway at SeaTac and other projects. They had what they needed to start.
This did not "fly" with the neighbors. At their insistence, an EIS and more than a dozen permits at all levels of government would be required. This would be a long fight, which started and ended at the shoreline.
Since then, we have learned what was really at stake. Studies have shown Maury's near shore to be essential to Puget Sound and have led to an aquatic reserve, declarations of endangered orcas, salmon and the ecosystem itself.
And, more recently, we have the governor-sponsored, legislature-passed Puget Sound Partnership, a consortium of interested parties all concerned with the health of Puget Sound --- snip ---

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Nonprofits & Activism

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• Hands Around Maury
• Lonestar
• Glacier
• Puget Sound
• gravel mine
• community action
• community organization
• Erica Helm Meade
• Dancing Man
• Judge Ricardo Martinez
• vashonbeachcomber
• marnie jones-koenig