CEMEX PLANS '08 MINING SANTA CLARITA STILL BATTLING AGAINST CANYON SAND AND GRAVEL OPERATION.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

The Mexico-based Cemex conglomerate is moving forward on its sand and gravel mine planned in Soledad Canyon even as Santa Clarita officials continue their $6 million fight against it.

Cemex expects to begin operating in the canyon in 2008 and could mine about 70 million tons of sand and gravel over the next 20 years, with up to 600 trucks a day coming in and out.

``We fully expect to continue the planning process and start the operations within the next two years,'' said Susana Duarte, a Cemex spokeswoman.

In the first decade, 2 million tons could be mined each year, ramping up to 4 million to 5 million tons a year over the decade.

Santa Clarita officials say Cemex's proposal amounts to 10 times the level of historic mining in the area. The company should extract no more than 300,000 tons a year, they say. But they, and U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, continue to remain mum about their ongoing dialogue with Cemex.

``Within the immediate future we will be bringing forth new information enlightening the public on how we're progressing on the matter - or not progressing,'' Santa Clarita City Councilman Bob Kellar said.

Cemex would mine 177 acres on the southern slope of a ridge just off Soledad Canyon Road - about a 1/4-mile-long stretch - east of the Antelope Valley Freeway, and facing away from it. The property is a mile from the nearest residential neighborhood.

``The ridge will come down 50 feet and will come back as a slope, revegetated,'' said Brian Mastin, a company spokesman.*

A crew of about 40 workers would blast, excavate, crush, screen and process the materials from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Detonations would cease between 7 p.m and 7 a.m. Cemex would post public notices in local newspapers and online before blasting.

Sand and gravel would be trucked to asphalt and ready-mix batch plants where it would be mixed with cement to make concrete. Six hundred trucks - making up to 1,200 trips a day - would be allowed to visit the mine. Truck traffic would be restricted during peak hours to eight trucks in the morning, 20 at night.

The county had rejected the mine, but conceded when Cemex filed a lawsuit in federal court in 2002. County supervisors granted the mining permit in June 2004 under a court-approved consent decree. The decree was upheld in February in spite of the city's appeal.

Weapons in the city's arsenal to scale down the project include four lawsuits, hiring lobbyists and buying 906 acres including land over the mineral deposits.

Court rulings have favored Cemex and the federal government, but city officials have not folded; they hope to annex the property. Even if the city annexes the land, the county is still the lead permitting agency unless errors were made along the way.

Under the terms of the consent decree, Cemex would pay for road improvements and restoring the hillsides. An impartial monitor would be allowed onsite and a community advisory committee be formed.

County Counsel Richard Weiss said the agreement has teeth, but ``there may not be full agreement what those teeth are.'' He said it remains to be seen how severe the penalties would be if violations occur.

Cemex agreed to spend more than $2 million to benefit the community.

A smaller mine operated since the 1960s, but the property was put up for bid by the federal government as a result of its lawsuit against its operator. In 2000, the federal Bureau of Land Management awarded Transit Mixed Concrete Co. mining contracts for 20 years in return for $28 million in royalties; TMC was later bought by Cemex.

Cemex's U.S. holdings include 12 cement plants, 270 ready-mix operations and 40 terminals. U.S. sales of $1.04 billion in 2005 surpassed those in Mexico for the first time, Duarte said.

The love-hate relationship between municipalities and quarries festers in part because no-growth is not part of the equation. Trucking in materials 90 miles round-trip from plants in Sun Valley, Saticoy or Ventura to construction sites in Santa Clarita raises the cost of doing business.

``Adding 25 miles to the haul doubles the price of the aggregate,'' said Susan Kohler, a senior geologist with the California Geological Survey. The agency is updating its 50-year supply-demand forecast, but its 2000 report showed supplies in the San Fernando Valley would be depleted in five years. Aggregate from the mine would be destined for greater Los Angeles.

With the population increasing statewide, and projections for the city to reach 232,000 in 2030, plans are under way to shelter them. County officials said 60,000 homes are planned in unincorporated area around the city, the 20,000-home Newhall Ranch subdivision is planned west of town, and the 23,000-home master-planned Centennial community is situated on the Los Angeles-Kern County border.

A local businessman puts it this way: A small backyard cement patio uses about a truck's worth of sand and gravel, about eight cubic yards.

``If we don't have a plant in Santa Clarita, the ready-mix has to come in from Irwindale. The cost is so huge, instead of buying concrete delivered to your patio at $55 a cubic yard, we're now paying $85 to $90 ... because we have to truck it so far,'' said Dick Greenberg, chief financial officer for C.A. Rasmussen, Inc. The company builds many projects for the city and operates the Soledad Rock Quarry, a stone's throw from the planned Cemex site.

In some areas, mining does not descend on a community, it shapes it. Irwindale - a city of about 9 1/2 square miles - was incorporated by the mining industry about 50 years ago. It is home to five mines, none owned by Cemex. Mining was the mainstay until recent years, when other industries and commercial businesses took hold.

``Mining impact has always been very controversial here ...,'' said interim City Manager Robert Griego, who sits on the State Mining and Geology Board. ``The city now has 1,500 residents and the residents now control the city.''

Development agreements forged between that city and the mining companies have led to a 60 cents-a-ton mining tax, whose $3 million-a-year in revenue helps pay for road repairs and mine inspections.

Cemex's operations in Michigan and Colorado have resulted in legal actions requiring mitigation.

A 2004 consent decree between the Michigan attorney general's office and Cemex arose from problems at a cement-manufacturing plant in the northern Michigan.

``We had sizeable concerns about their continued violation of air quality regulations dating back over three years, and upon raising those concerns entered into the agreement,'' said Nate Dailey, Attorney General Mike Cox's spokesman.

Cemex reached an agreement with the Boulder County Department of Public Health to limit blasting at a sand and gravel mine in Lyons, Colo., after dust issues led to a 2004 violation notice, said Pam Milmoe, air and waste coordinator for the department.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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Map:

400 acres Cemex site