Politics & Government

Despite Criticism, No Major Changes to Quarry Planned

The final draft to a report on a proposed quarry's effect on the environment includes no major changes.

The final draft to a report outlining a proposed quarry’s effect on the environment was mostly unchanged, despite criticism.

The report was released to the public last week and will be reviewed by the County Planning Commission in a meeting next month.

The meeting is set for Rancho Community Church, 31300 Rancho Community Way in Temecula at 4 p.m. on April 26 and May 3.

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The 8,500-page report took six years to complete. It will play a key role in the Board of Supervisors’ vote on whether to give the go-ahead to Granite Construction, a Watsonville-based mining company.

The plan proposes putting a mile-long, 155-acre open-pit mine in the hills adjacent to Temecula and the county line. It would create aggregate – the main ingredient to concrete and asphalt – for 75 years.

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The first draft of the report was released to the public in July 2009. During the following four months, the county got 232 letters or emails commenting on the plan, according to the new draft.

Many of the letters were critical of the conclusion the report drew: that the quarry would benefit the county.

The quarry would reduce the need to import aggregate from other counties, making it cheaper, according to the report. It would also reduce the distance it would need to be shipped, improving the air quality, it stated.

The report was “incomplete,” “fundamentally misleading” and “altogether ignores or omits negative impacts,” wrote Betsy Lowrey, an assistant planner with the city, in a resolution against the quarry.

Despite the public criticism, the report – called an EIR, or Environmental Impact Report – was mostly unchanged. “Evaluation of the comments reviewed relative to the Draft EIR impact analysis determined that, in general, the comments received did not require additional evaluation or changes to the conclusions reached, or alternatives to the proposed project,” the report stated.

The City of Temecula passed a resolution last month formally opposing the project, mostly due to local air-quality concerns.

To mine the aggregate, the quarry will need to blast, the report stated. The explosions will throw silica dust into the air, which is known to cause a lung condition called silicosis, according to critics.

“We know silica dust will be carried on that wind, and we know it’s dangerous,” Mayor Pro-tem Chuck Washington said.

The report admits it will affect the air quality negatively, and called the effects “significant and unavoidable.” It proposed mitigating the pollution by using vehicles that run on alternative fuels, install devices to monitor air quality and buy emission offsets.

Offsets allow a project to emit more pollution than it would normally be allowed by paying another company to produce less pollution.

The environmental costs of the project are worth the benefits, said Gary Johnson, a manager for Granite Construction.

“Liberty Quarry will provide material close to the projects that need it,” he said in an emailed statement. “That means fewer trucks traveling on local freeways, which will reduce harmful diesel emissions.”

The report included small changes from the first draft, including extra requirements to monitor the air quality.

It also introduced steps to monitor the vibrations created by blasting. If the vibrations exceed a certain limit, operations would cease until the company makes a plan to fix the problem, according to the report.

To read the final environmental impact report, click here. 


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