link to article: http://www.wsmv.com/news/15478638/detail.html

article:
Bill Meant To Prevent Damage To Residents' Homes
Reported By Jeremy Finley

POSTED: 5:03 pm CST March 3, 2008
UPDATED: 7:08 pm CST March 3, 2008
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A law that was supposed to protect thousands of homeowners from blasting damage is now being considered not good enough by some.

Video: Residents Call For Lawmakers To Reassess Blasting Bill

With people still complaining of cracks and damage to their property, legislators said they want to revise the law and hold more people responsible.

A law passed in 2007 was supposed to be the first step in repairing years of conflict with blasters. But even with the law, the complaints and cracks kept coming.

"It's obviously not doing enough to help the residents in my district,” said Metro Councilman Duane Dominy.

Dominy is making up stickers that support a revised version of the 2007 law. The law required developers to provide photographs and documentation of homes 300 feet around the blasting site so that after blasting, those homeowners could see if their homes were damaged.

The new bill extends the radius to a half-mile.

"We are correcting what we didn't do last year,” said Rep. Ben West.

But that's not the biggest change. The new bill would also require rock quarries to provide pre-blast surveys once a year to people within a half-mile of their quarry.

How long have there been complaints about quarries? Channel 4 spoke with Margaret Jones four years ago about the quarry near her home.

"People can be in my home and they'll say, ‘Ooh, what was that?’ ‘Oh, that's blasting,’” Jones said in 2004.

Both Metro and state lawmakers said they expect a fight because they know developers and rock quarry owners feel their blasting doesn't damage homes. But in this case, the lawmaker is also a homeowner affected by blasting.

"It shakes stuff on my shelves, rattles the dishes; sometimes it's that bad,” Dominy said.

Channel 4 contacted representatives from the rock quarry and blasting industries, but neither returned calls for comment. Representatives have said in the past that they are heavily regulated and further limitations will hurt construction of homes and businesses.

Rock quarries would also be required to file blasting plans with local governments so the public can view for themselves when the blasting happened and compare it to when damage showed up at their homes.

Previous Stories:

* April 25, 2007: Bill Would Regulate Construction Blasting
* April 4, 2007: Lawmakers Debate State's Blasting Laws
* November 21, 2006: Blasting May Have Damaged Nashville Homes