Post by Bill on Jun 25, 2008 9:26:39 GMT -8
Our view
Join Duarte's mining fight
Article Launched: 06/23/2008 06:17:28 PM PDT
THE San Gabriel Valley is home to nearly 2 million residents who live between the Puente Hills on the south and sloping foothills in the north that lead up to some of the most majestic mountains in all the West.
Residents will soon be witnessing the closure of the nation's largest landfill, the Puente Hills Landfill, now that the county Sanitation Districts broke ground on a new rail yard that will take local trash and bury it not where millions of people and children live, but far away from any population center.
But while the Puente Hills landfill will be closing around 2013, and other landfills have ceased operations and become universities, parks, and shopping centers, the Valley's dusty and polluting mining operations remain. While one hillside blemish is ready to go away, another on the Azusa/Duarte border digs in. Who would have thought that San Gabriel Valley leaders would solve one major pollution problem and health threat, only to leave another in place?
One does not have to live adjacent to mining operations in the foothills to be concerned. For those not directly affected by dust and particulate pollution and mining noises, the Valley's mining operations are an aesthetic blight that lowers property values and leaves an ugly, unseemly blemish on that segment of the foothills/San Gabriel Mountains for millions to see.
We're talking about the unfortunate situation that east Duarte residents find themselves in. They are facing not
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only continued mining of its foothills by Vulcan Materials Co., but the real possibility of an expansion into 80 more acres right next to some of the city's most exclusive neighborhoods.
The residents fighting further blasting, mining dust and potentially lung-damaging particulates released by the scraping of the mountain side - the Save Van Tassel (Canyon) group - say it appears Vulcan has an agreement with Azusa, where the company is located, to expand.
That's because the mining company and the city of Azusa negotiated what amounted to a license to rape the mountainside back in 1988. That included permission to take more aggregate out of the mountain in an additional 80 acres to the east. Now, Vulcan wants to change the expansion footprint to 80 more acres to the west where it will impact Duarte foothill residents. And Vulcan arrogantly said it has the right to do so.
Vulcan is "in compliance with what appears to be a bad plan approved in 1988," said Jorge Rosales, president of Save Van Tassel, in an article by Staff Writer Nathan McIntire on Saturday, "Duarte seeks to block mining."
Despite Rosales' pessimism, it is far from a fait accompli. While Vulcan may think it has the right to expand 80 acres in any direction it wants, we wonder if a judge weighing the health and environmental impacts would think so. Certainly, the city of Duarte is smart to be ready to fight this outrageous expansion. It has put aside $700,000 for the battle, announced City Manager Darrell George.
In fact, before Vulcan could begin new mining operations, Azusa would have to approve a conditional use permit. More importantly, there must be a full Environmental Impact Report that satisfies requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Before Vulcan gains permission to add to the ecological disaster known by locals as "the Mayan steps" - a shrine of environmental damage wantonly carved into the precious San Gabriels near the entrance to San Gabriel Canyon, the full impacts must be presented, explained and brought to bear upon the public.
At stake are those precious foothills that make the San Gabriel Valley more livable than any other region in Los Angeles County, as well as the health and welfare of the residents who live between them.
www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_9677345
Join Duarte's mining fight
Article Launched: 06/23/2008 06:17:28 PM PDT
THE San Gabriel Valley is home to nearly 2 million residents who live between the Puente Hills on the south and sloping foothills in the north that lead up to some of the most majestic mountains in all the West.
Residents will soon be witnessing the closure of the nation's largest landfill, the Puente Hills Landfill, now that the county Sanitation Districts broke ground on a new rail yard that will take local trash and bury it not where millions of people and children live, but far away from any population center.
But while the Puente Hills landfill will be closing around 2013, and other landfills have ceased operations and become universities, parks, and shopping centers, the Valley's dusty and polluting mining operations remain. While one hillside blemish is ready to go away, another on the Azusa/Duarte border digs in. Who would have thought that San Gabriel Valley leaders would solve one major pollution problem and health threat, only to leave another in place?
One does not have to live adjacent to mining operations in the foothills to be concerned. For those not directly affected by dust and particulate pollution and mining noises, the Valley's mining operations are an aesthetic blight that lowers property values and leaves an ugly, unseemly blemish on that segment of the foothills/San Gabriel Mountains for millions to see.
We're talking about the unfortunate situation that east Duarte residents find themselves in. They are facing not
Advertisement
only continued mining of its foothills by Vulcan Materials Co., but the real possibility of an expansion into 80 more acres right next to some of the city's most exclusive neighborhoods.
The residents fighting further blasting, mining dust and potentially lung-damaging particulates released by the scraping of the mountain side - the Save Van Tassel (Canyon) group - say it appears Vulcan has an agreement with Azusa, where the company is located, to expand.
That's because the mining company and the city of Azusa negotiated what amounted to a license to rape the mountainside back in 1988. That included permission to take more aggregate out of the mountain in an additional 80 acres to the east. Now, Vulcan wants to change the expansion footprint to 80 more acres to the west where it will impact Duarte foothill residents. And Vulcan arrogantly said it has the right to do so.
Vulcan is "in compliance with what appears to be a bad plan approved in 1988," said Jorge Rosales, president of Save Van Tassel, in an article by Staff Writer Nathan McIntire on Saturday, "Duarte seeks to block mining."
Despite Rosales' pessimism, it is far from a fait accompli. While Vulcan may think it has the right to expand 80 acres in any direction it wants, we wonder if a judge weighing the health and environmental impacts would think so. Certainly, the city of Duarte is smart to be ready to fight this outrageous expansion. It has put aside $700,000 for the battle, announced City Manager Darrell George.
In fact, before Vulcan could begin new mining operations, Azusa would have to approve a conditional use permit. More importantly, there must be a full Environmental Impact Report that satisfies requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Before Vulcan gains permission to add to the ecological disaster known by locals as "the Mayan steps" - a shrine of environmental damage wantonly carved into the precious San Gabriels near the entrance to San Gabriel Canyon, the full impacts must be presented, explained and brought to bear upon the public.
At stake are those precious foothills that make the San Gabriel Valley more livable than any other region in Los Angeles County, as well as the health and welfare of the residents who live between them.
www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_9677345