Judge OKs Cemex Mine; Santa Clarita to Appeal

A federal judge approved plans Monday for a mine that would extract 56.1 million tons of sand and gravel from a canyon near Santa Clarita, despite the objections of environmental groups and local governments.

Opponents say the project would adversely affect air quality, traffic and water supplies in north Los Angeles County.

The decision was hailed as a victory by Brian Mastin, spokesman for the Mexican concrete company Cemex, which holds the federal mineral rights for the project.

Southern California needs the building materials for new home construction and highway improvements, Mastin said, and “we’re looking forward to developing the resources that this region is in need of.”

He acknowledged that the ruling by U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian may not be the last word on the issue. The city of Santa Clarita recently won the right to intervene in litigation over the project, and on Monday, city officials vowed to continue their fight in federal appeals court.

“Absolutely, we’re going to appeal this decision,” City Councilwoman Marsha McLean said.

The mining project, located east of Santa Clarita in Soledad Canyon, has been tied up in courts for nearly 20 years. Most recently, Cemex sued Los Angeles County in federal court after the Board of Supervisors rejected the mine in February 2002.

Cemex, the county and federal officials eventually hashed out settlement terms in a consent decree, which Tevrizian made official with his ruling.

The settlement included a number of concessions to opponents, among them new limits on operating hours, shutdowns during serious smog alerts and the establishment of a $1.5-million environmental improvement fund.

Tevrizian praised the government and the company for reaching a compromise that he called “fair, just and more than reasonable.”

But the changes did not satisfy opponents in the region. In a statement distributed Monday, Santa Clarita officials argued that the current mining plan uses “vast amounts of precious groundwater,” fails to address traffic congestion problems and “blatantly attempts to circumvent local environmental laws.”

Andy Fried, president of the town council in nearby Agua Dulce, said the mining plans will produce too much truck traffic -- 1,100 trips per day, according to Santa Clarita officials -- and excessive dust pollution.

“That’s a lot of dirt and a lot of crushing,” Fried said. “We are all concerned about the extensive environmental impacts here.”

Opponents in Washington also are targeting the mine. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) has introduced legislation that would limit the scope of the mine to one-tenth its proposed size. A companion bill has been introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

But McKeon spokesman Vartan Djihanian said Monday that passing the bills would be an uphill battle.

As a result, McKeon wants his bill to include a provision giving Cemex other federal mineral rights to compensate the company for its loss -- a move that could make the idea more palatable to other legislators, Djihanian said.

McKeon said officials from Cemex and the Bureau of Land Management, which granted the company the mineral rights, promised they would discuss solutions.

“I fully expect [Cemex] and the BLM to sit down for an open dialogue to discuss every possible option to mitigating the size of this mega-mine,” McKeon said in a prepared statement.

The issue has stirred the passions of many. Deborah Prosser, an attorney representing Santa Clarita, fiercely critiqued the consent decree in Tevrizian’s downtown Los Angeles courtroom, calling it “preposterous.”

Tevrizian responded, “I’m surprised you have refrained from calling me names.”

Under the terms of the decree, the Board of Supervisors must approve the project at a public meeting in the next 60 days.