Gainesville — Local feedback and procedural progress regarding an air quality permit for a 1,400-acre “fracking” sand mine operation in Cooke and Montague counties comprised public hearings on Wednesday and Thursday in Gainesville.

Residents and officials discussed the viability of the operation’s permit, which remains pending with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Judges with the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), along with TCEQ representatives and legal counsel for mine company EOG Resources Inc., heard comments and questions during both hearings from citizens who dispute the mine’s safety.

Wednesday’s hearing was a public forum at Gainesville Civic Center and was the result of multiple requests from citizens. As in months past, area residents spoke to TCEQ and EOG representatives in protest of the mine, questioning the safety measures its company intends to take when processing silica-based sand.

Among other complaints about the mine, critics of the EOG project have insisted this sand contains deadly carcinogens and must be properly contained and constantly monitored.

And the opinion among those critics has been that once mining begins and proceeds 24 hours a day, neither will happen.

“The bottom line is, if that stuff’s in the air with a southerly wind ... I can see severe problems,” said Anderson County resident Jim Mann. “It’s okay to use your land for whatever you want, as long as you don’t mess with your neighbors.”

EOG officials denied charges of harmful behavior. Safety Manager Cee Cee Candler said Wednesday that the sand mine operation, once operational, will include proper safety measures for the region and for its employees.

But she added that those measures belong to a process that can only begin after the mine receives its permit.

“There are a number of concerns that have been raised, and we are listening and we have heard those concerns,” Candler said. “And we are just as dedicated to protecting the environment as you are. But sometimes, you can’t jump ahead of the process. And we can’t do our personnel monitoring and our area monitoring until we get our plant built.”

During Thursday’s hearing in the Cooke County Courthouse Annex, SOAH officials judicially established a list of more than 25 people who have “party status” and are eligible to be involved in future hearings regarding the permit.

Several of those who now have party status are residents of Cooke and Montague counties who live and work near the mine — and who established Thursday through further testimony that the mine and its operations may produce adverse effects such as hazardous air emissions, water contamination and water monopoly.

That list includes members of conservation group Save the Trinity Aquifer and representatives of Red River Motorcycle Trails, a Bulcher company with property that adjoins the nearby mine.

Local public forums related to this “fracking” sand mine began in June 2011, and the EOG company remains unpermitted to process sand in the mine, despite an estimated $30 million investment in the mine’s foundation.

SOAH Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Penny Wilkov said hearings regarding the air safety permit may extend through spring 2013, though hearing locations are still undetermined. And SOAH ALJ Travis Vickery said a timeline for the hearings, plus an official list of the “party status” members and the permit applicants, should be available through SOAH within the next several days.