BATTLE TO STOP MINE A COSTLY COMMITMENT CITY ALLOTS $1 MILLION TO FIGHT.Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, - The gloves have come off, and the battle over a massive sand and gravel mining pit in Canyon Country is joined. Twenty local groups, agencies and elected officials have appealed the federal Bureau of Land Management's approval of the 460-acre mine south of the Antelope Valley Freeway The Antelope Valley Freeway is a freeway in Los Angeles and Kern counties in southern California. It is signed as California State Highway 14 along its length. It connects Greater Los Angeles to the rapidly developing Antelope Valley. between Agua Dulce Agua Dulce is Spanish for "sweet water". It also refers to various locations: In Mexico:
But while some, such as the city of Santa Clarita, say they are prepared to go the distance, others acknowledge that they have limited resources to fight the mine and Azusa-based Transit Mixed Concrete's well-financed lobbying operation. According to the BLM BLM n abbr (US) (= Bureau of Land Management) → les domaines and TMC TMC Technology Marketing Corporation (Norwalk, Connecticut) TMC Texas Medical Center (Houston, TX) TMC Traffic Message Channel TMC The Movie Channel TMC Traffic Management Center , the mine will not harm the environment of the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. . But mine critics, many of whom took issue with that finding, say the mine will degrade the air quality in the valley, harm the Santa Clara River Santa Clara River may refer to:
TMC will pay the federal government $28 million over the 20-year life of the mine for the right to extract 83 million tons of material from Soledad Canyon. The city estimates there are 9,600 homes within a five-mile radius of the mine, and two elementary schools are just over a mile way. TMC will be a good neighbor in Santa Clarita, said Brian Mastin, the company's environmental affairs manager. Nevertheless, the city has set aside more than $1 million to fight the mine, but other agencies and groups appealing the decision have far less capital available. ``We're really not willing to let them know this, but we don't have that kind of money available, and nothing set aside,'' said Kent Frison, the assistant superintendent for the Sulphur Springs School District The Sulphur Springs School District is a school district in the Santa Clarita Valley that serves portions of the Canyon Country and Newhall communities within the city of Santa Clarita, California. As of March 26, 2006, it has 8 elementary schools. . ``But we'll fight it any way that we can.'' Sulphur Springs officials have held off on finalizing plans to build a new elementary school because the proposed site is less than a mile from the planned mine. New schools are desperately needed in the Santa Clarita Valley to ease overcrowding overcrowding overcrowding of animal accommodation. Many countries now publish codes of practice which define what the appropriate volumetric allowances should be for each species of animal when they are housed indoors. Breaches of these codes is overcrowding. brought on by new home developments. Frison said he expected to use the city's research to support the school district's appeal, a tactic that many of the other agencies are using, including the Agua Dulce Town Council. ``We simply don't have those kind of resources, and we're looking to the city to shoulder the bulk of the burden,'' said town council President Diane Terito. Terito said Agua Dulce officials are concerned that approval of the TMC mine will pave the way for another, larger mining operation to get under way in Soledad Canyon. Irwindale-based Calmat Co. has an inactive permit request pending before the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Department. The William S. Hart Union High School District also has appealed the decision, telling the BLM that the mine will cause air pollution that will sicken its students. Superintendent Bob Lee said school district officials also are concerned about the safety of students riding school buses on the Antelope Valley Freeway and Soledad Canyon Road with large gravel trucks going to and from the mine. Lee said that the level of the Hart district's involvement in the appeal process will depend on what additional information is required. ``We could search our health records for the number of students with respiratory ailments fairly easily and inexpensively,'' Lee said. ``But are we going to bring in biologists and consultants? Realistically, we don't have the money for that.'' But there are limits to the resources available to the city, and the political will to muster them. Mayor Jo Anne Darcy said Thursday she was not sure that spending $1 million on a fight the city cannot win was the best use of city funds. TMC officials argue that the mine needs only the approval of the BLM to move forward because of the supremacy of federal law over county regulations. Still, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five member governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district, the current members as of April 2006 are:
Don E. Newquist, vice president for public affairs for Southdown Inc., TMC's parent company, told the City Council on Aug. 29 that there will be mining in Soledad Canyon, despite the city's opposition. Maria Rountree said city officials believe they have a good argument, on both environmental and legal grounds, to stop the mine and do not share TMC's belief that the city cannot stop the mine. But Rountree acknowledged that city officials will likely think twice before spending a large amount of money if it looks to be a losing proposition. ``We always examine the feasibility of a project before spending a large amount of money,'' she said. TMC MINE FIGHTERS Agencies and organizations that have appealed the federal government's approval of Transit Mixed Concrete's plan to mine 460 acres in Soledad Canyon: City of Santa Clarita Agua Dulce Town Council Castaic Lake Water Agency Santa Clarita Organization for Planning Environment Safe Action for the Environment Friends of the Santa Clara River Center for Biological Diversity The Center for Biological Diversity combines conservation biology with litigation, policy advocacy, and an innovative strategic vision to secure a future for animals and plants hovering on the brink of extinction, for the wilderness they need to survive, and by extension for the Jonathan Truong, M.D. Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District A unified school district is a school district which includes both primary school (kindergarten through middle school or junior high) and high school (grades 9-12). In Illinois, these districts are called unit school districts. Sulphur Springs School District William S. Hart Union High School District Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce Valencia Industrial Association Southland Regional Association of Realtors International Union of Operating Engineers The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) is a labor union within the AFL-CIO representing primarily construction workers who work as heavy equipment operators, mechanics, surveyors, and stationary engineers, who maintain heating and other systems in buildings and U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon 5th District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San Newhall County Water District Sierra Club Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by the Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, the Sierra Club Curtis Sand & Gravel CAPTION(S): map, box Box: TMC Mine Fighters (see text) Map: Proposed Transit Mixed Concrete Site |
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