In follow up to the tremor experienced in La Grange this afternoon, the Village has been in contact with both the Hanson Material Service quarry in McCook and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which has oversight authority over quarry operations.
Hanson Material Service quarry has stated that they were preforming routine blasting operations at 12:35 p.m. today and that the blast was consistent with their typical operations. The quarry reports that the recorded seismic readings related to the blast were below regulatory limits.
Further, the quarry states that approximately seven seconds after the blast, a separate seismic event was recorded. Hanson is in the process of reviewing the seismic readings in order to better understand what may have occurred, but at this time they are denying any correlation between their blast and the seismic event.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has confirmed that they are investigating the event and will report back to the Village with the outcome of their review as soon as possible. An investigator was on-scene at the time of this writing.
Claims for damage should be directed to the Hanson Material Service quarry by calling the Lyons Township Quarry Complaint line at 1-866-WE-HEAR-U (1-866-934-3278).
The Village will continue to collect information and subsequently develop an appropriate response in follow-up to the occurrence.