I am afraid for my baby's health

I first moved to this area in the summer of 2006- my wife was pregnant and we felt like we had finally found the right place in New Hampshire to raise our baby- we'd found our dream home. Fast forward one year, we have a baby girl! She was born in our house and over time we've fallen in love with our neighborhood and community. We've come to realize that our house will be the house that our baby daughter grows up in. But all that was called into question when we found a flyer attached to our mailbox one day.

The flyer told us that all our dreams of the future and our perfect neighborhood were in jeopardy! It said that a company, Pike Industries, was working to try to open a "Redimix concrete plant" close to our home- in a town with almost zero commercial and industrial activity!

Concrete plants release dust or “particulate matter” during the handling of cement and aggregate, the production of concrete, and from on-site haul roads. "Particulate Matter" contains particles that are so small that they tend to stay in the lungs and can have a significant health impact. Concrete production facilities also use concrete release agents. These release agents contain substances that are classified as "Hazardous Air Pollutants" (HAP). HAPs can cause serious health problems. They can increase the risk of cancer, birth defects, or have other adverse health impacts. The official MSDS for ready mixed cement concrete shows chronic exposure to sand and gravel dust containing high levels of quartz has caused silicosis, a serious and progressive disorder which can be disabling and lead to death. Silica dust is listed as a potential carcinogen by the IARC. The proposed plant would be within the secondary groundwater protection area for both Dover’s Hughes and French Cross Road wells and is in close proximity to the Bellamy Reservoir. The Hughes and French Cross Road wells produce 1.5 million gallons of drinking water per day.

We fear for our baby's health! Our community is up in arms! Newspapers are covering it, town hall meetings are chock full of people in opposition! Some are collecting signatures in opposition, some have even started their own "no to pike" informational websites. Me? I've decided to blog about it and you can too- if you are concerned about Pike Industries attempt to open a Redimix Companies Concrete Plant in the Madbury and Dover New Hampshire areas then please contact me if you'd like to contribute your thoughts to this blog.

I hope this can be a place where myself and other members of the communities affected by this new plant can speak out and share their feeling with the world. I have big plans for this blog- video, pictures, podcasts and more. Pike Industries and Redimix Concrete Companies, I hope you are listening.