"Should I be outraged to read that not only are they emptying the tunnel (ostensibly to repack it with 'safe' chalk), but they're also digging another 20' hole inside it too? Nothing of that size was mentioned in the blurb I read before they started!"

Outraged perhaps but as a founder member of Heritage Action I doubt if you're surprised. Wasn't HA formed precisely as a result of some of us reading between the lines of the blurb of that time and fearing that this day would come?