CEMEX FIGHTS BACK ON PR FRONT MINING FIRM BEGINS OUTREACH CAMPAIGN ON CONTROVERSIAL QUARRY.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- In the wake of a recent barrage of anti-Cemex publicity unleashed by the city, the mining company has begun an outreach campaign to introduce its planned 56.1-million-ton quarry in Soledad Canyon to the community.

The homespun feel of a one-page letter sent to 48,000 households nearest the mine bears a positive tone that avoids any hint of the conflict, instead saying ``there have been a lot of questions about my company,'' which the quarry's project manager addresses in general terms.

``There has been so much misinformation over the years, and we haven't been public until recently. We decided to let all the action move forward in the courts,'' said Jennifer Borgen, a Cemex spokeswoman. As the mine's opening nears, the time has come to set the record straight, she said.

Cemex hopes to begin operating in the canyon in 2008 and could mine 70 million tons of sand and gravel over the next 20 years, with up to 600 trucks a day going in and out. City officials say the plan amounts to 10 times the level of historic mining in the area and are prevailing on the company to extract no more than 300,000 tons a year.

Courts have rejected the city's claims in four lawsuits filed since 1999, which were lodged against Cemex and against government agencies for allowing the mine. County supervisors granted the mining permit under a consent decree in 2004.

Project manager Scott Hess's Aug. 17 letter says the company will uphold its commitment to care for the environment and invest in the community's betterment.

``CEMEX entered into this Consent Decree in good faith, and we, at CEMEX, are committed to fulfilling our obligations under the agreement,'' it says. ``We promise to be a positive force in the Soledad Canyon Area and will offer to support the community's interests.''

The letters and a company brochure were targeted to households in Canyon Country, Newhall and Acton as part of the company's ``Straight Talk'' campaign. Residents are encouraged to send Cemex e-mails and consult the U.S. District Court Web site where the consent decree is found.

Among the misinformation, Borgen said, is that the operation will be a huge open-pit mine and that it will take down the whole mountain. She says it will be a pit mine but probably not the size people imagine, and the company will restore the area when the mining is done, as spelled out in the decree.

The brochure says Cemex will donate more than $250,000 to the Clean School Bus Program, which benefits the William S. Hart Union, Sulphur Springs, Saugus Union and Acton-Agua Dulce Unified school districts, Borgen said. The mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program is to diminish air pollution from diesel school buses and decrease children's exposure to bus exhaust.

Robert Nolet, superintendent of the Sulphur Springs School District -- whose eight elementary schools are located within a three-mile radius of the proposed mine -- said his district does not participate in the program. Buses must be able to use cleaner-burning fuel, and the only station in town that dispenses it would force drivers to expend a half a tank getting there and back, he said.

``We have been on record as opposed to the mine ever since we discovered the Bureau of Land Management had awarded this contract,'' Nolet said.

Pinetree, Sulphur Springs and Mitchell elementary schools are less than a mile from the mine site, and another school is planned a half a mile from the mine. Nolet is concerned about poor air quality and increased traffic.

The city is executing new ground maneuvers in its nearly $7 million battle against the operation, which would be outside city limits to the east.

In the past couple of weeks the anti-mine section on the city's Web site was beefed up, in mid-August an 80-foot billboard warning of worse traffic jams was erected near the Antelope Valley Freeway and Sand Canyon Road, 14 banners were hung around town in July thanking U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon for introducing an anti-mine bill into Congress months earlier, and business-reply postcards were sent to households in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys urging residents to voice opposition by returning them to officials.

A 7,400-member Citizens Coalition has been formed, consisting of residents who returned the postcards.

Borgen disputed the message on the billboard, saying a BLM report notes that Antelope Valley Freeway traffic will increase less than 1.5 percent, and she noted claims that the mine would be the largest in BLM territory or in the county are false.

Further information is available on the U.S. District Court Web site, www.cacd.uscourts.gov; refer to Case No. CV-02-747 DT (FMOx) CONSENT DECREE. Cemex's e-mail address is soledad.usfacts(at)cemex.com. The city's Web page on Cemex is located at www.santa-clarita.com.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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