Over the last year, I’ve read numerous posts on NextDoor about people hearing loud booms around town. In some cases, their windows even rattled. What’s going on? Are  Putin and the Russians now interfering in our great quality of life here in Georgetown?

I started digging into these loud booms and discovered it wasn’t Putin this time, but blasts from a growing number of quarries that seem to surround Georgetown. According to an article I recently read, if you live a few miles from these blasts, the blast’s shock wave is very similar to the sonic boom generated by a jet airplane when it “breaks the sound barrier.”

Talking to some friends that have been following these issues, I discovered that no one seems to have the authority to regulate the blasting at these quarries.

Now I’m not big on government regulations, but come on. When loud quarry blasts start to affect people’s quality of life and their property values…I think it’s time for someone to start doing something!

Looking into this noisy issue, I learned that the City says that they have no authority over the quarries, even though a lot of them are located in the City’s Extra-Terratorial Jurisdiction (ETJ). County Commissioners have told folks in Sun City that they can’t do anything about it…talk to the State. Apparently, the State of Texas doesn’t have much control over the situation either.

Is anyone doing anything?
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