Teachers spoke out about a gravel yard near their Mukilteo school, then came the cease-and-desist

Teachers at an elementary school in Snohomish County say a gravel yard next to their school is disrupting classes and is a health hazard to students.

Mountain Loop Mine started using the lot last year and teachers at Fairmount Elementary, which is part of Mukilteo School District, said they’re now forced to leave the windows closed or use homemade air filtration systems in their classrooms.

"There's the noise factor, which they said can be really loud and disruptive to their classes," said Daniel Beekman, who wrote about this for the Seattle Times. "They also say that the dust and diesel fumes from the yard get into the air and then get into the school as well."

Teachers spoke to a newspaper about the issue, then came a cease-and-desist letter from the gravel yard’s lawyers.

The letter said, "the information that you're putting out there to public agencies, to the public, in the press, about what's going on at our gravel yard and how it's affecting the school is inaccurate, and potentially defamatory," Beekman said.

"We demand that you stop making complaints that are unfounded about our operation, it's interfering with our business," he added.

KUOW reached out to Mountain Loop Mine, formerly named Green Mountain Mine, about Beekman's reporting. They refuted his reporting, calling it "inaccurate" and "inappropriate."

A portion of that statement reads:

"No action was taken by Green Mountain nor was or is there any such intent by Green Mountain to take any action against the District or threaten any employees. Rather, Green Mountain’s employees have felt harassed and false accusations regarding property damage and other activities unrelated to the District’s complaints were made that were known to be inaccurate."

Listen to Soundside’s full conversation with Daniel Beekman by clicking the play icon at the top of this story.