MCKEON BILL A LONG SHOT LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO CONTAIN GRAVEL MINE.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, said Monday he would introduce legislation in Congress to reduce the size and scope of a massive sand and gravel mine slated to be built in Canyon Country.

However, McKeon admitted the bill is a long shot and stands no chance of approval unless mining company Cemex Inc. agrees to scale down its plans in Soledad Canyon in return for permission to mine other federally controlled land.

``I'm not real optimistic about our chances,'' the congressman said. ``We don't have much leverage over (Cemex) - they are winning everywhere we are fighting them.''

McKeon plans to meet soon with top officials from Cemex in an effort to get them to agree to the compromise, which would reduce the amount of sand and gravel to be mined - from 56 million tons to 6 million tons.

``If we don't get their support, we don't stand much of a chance,'' said McKeon, whose first election to Congress was in 1992, after serving as Santa Clarita's first mayor.

There is no longer any hope of stopping Cemex from mining in Soledad Canyon entirely, McKeon said.

If Cemex supports the compromise bill, McKeon said he would work to give the company the opportunity to mine on other federal lands in his district, which stretches from Valencia to the Nevada border.

``I'm hoping they have a desire to work with me,'' McKeon said. ``But that's a pretty weak chance.''

Santa Clarita officials are hopeful that McKeon's legislation will get off the ground before a lawsuit filed by Cemex, over the county Board of Supervisors' rejection of a surface mining permit for the quarry, is settled or decided.

Lawyers for Cemex and Los Angeles County have reached a tentative agreement that is expected to allow plans for the mine to proceed with only minor changes, if any, officials said.

If, however, a final settlement proves elusive, U.S. District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian is expected to uphold Cemex's claim that the Board of Supervisors inappropriately used the environmental review process, which lasted more than a year, as a tool to delay and interfere with the federal government's approval of the mine.

Tevrizian has consistently ruled in Cemex's favor throughout the court case.

The fight over the mine began a decade ago, when the federal government awarded two 10-year contracts to Transit Mixed Concrete to mine the rich aggregate deposits in Canyon Country in return for royalty payments of $28 million. Azusa-based TMC was later purchased by Cemex, a Mexican firm. Cemex officials have refused to reduce the size of the quarry, insisting its contract with the federal Bureau of Land Management gives the company the right to mine 56 million tons of aggregate from the Soledad Canyon hillside, despite opposition from Santa Clarita leaders and county officials.

The BLM owns the rights to the 460 acres of sand and gravel, south of the Antelope Valley Freeway between Soledad Canyon Road and Agua Dulce Canyon Road, that is slated to be mined.

City officials contend the mine would have a devastating impact on the north Los Angeles County area by polluting the air, choking area roads and freeways with traffic and threatening the Santa Clarita Valley's water supply. The city has spent more than $2 million to derail the mine.

Company officials counter that the dozens of mitigation measures attached to the project would protect the environment, while most residents wouldn't even know the mine is operating.

Heather MacDonald, [phone]

heather.macdonald(at)dailynews.com