Mega Sand & Gravel Mine (CEMEX) FAQs

Effect of the City or the County on the Mega Sand & Gravel Mine (CEMEX)

QUESTION: The largest sand and gravel mine ever proposed to the Bureau of Land Management in the United States history is proposed less than a mile from Stonecrest. What has been the position of the County versus the City about this mega mine?

The mine has been trying to get started for 17 years. Just as Stonecrest is, the mine location is located outside the boundaries of the City of Santa Clarita.
The staff of Los Angeles County recommended that the mine be approved. Though it is not within its city boundaries, the City of Santa Clarita has fought the mine as proposed because of its many dangers.

The City has mounted a major opposition to the mine and has spent nearly 6 million dollars to-date attempting to protect the entire Santa Clarita Valley from the effect of the mine.

The County of Los Angeles was sued by the mega mining company (CEMEX) to force the approval of the mine.

Rather than defend the lawsuit in court, the County Board of Supervisors by a 3 to 2 vote gave up. The County actually signed a binding court order requiring the County to do everything in its power to allow the mine to operate exactly as originally proposed and as rapidly as possible.

QUESTION: Why is opposition to this mega sand and gravel mine (proposed by CEMEX) so important to Stonecrest?

The CEMEX sand and gravel mine is a health, property value and environmental disaster. Over 100 north Los Angeles County elected officials are on record opposing the mine. Organizations who typically don’t agree such as the Sierra Club, the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment (SCOPE), and the Valley Industrial Association, seven public school districts, three public water agencies, four Los Angeles County town councils, and other major organizations, over 100 in all are opposed to the mine.

The effect on the health, property values, air-quality, water quality and quantity, noise pollution, traffic congestion and overall quality of life will be devastating to Stonecrest if the mine is allowed to operate at the size it is requesting. Stonecrest needs an ally, not an opponent, in its local government jurisdiction. The City of Santa Clarita is our ally. The County of Los Angeles has chosen to be our opponent.

QUESTION: Isn’t the mega sand and gravel mine a “done deal”? Isn’t any further opposition just a futile waste of time and money?

Absolutely not. This defeatist attitude is exactly what the mega sand and gravel company (CEMEX) desperately hopes everyone will believe. Please check the website for Safe Action For The Environment, Inc., and the City of Santa Clarita for more details.

There are numerous strong weapons against the mine which the City intends to vigorously pursue. Annexation of the mine property is only one of many such weapons.

If this weren’t true, the mining company (CEMEX) wouldn’t be suing, as we speak, in an attempt to stop the annexation of the mine property into the City.

QUESTION: What effect would the annexation of Stonecrest into the City have on any operation of this mine or other mines?

Annexing Stonecrest would assist the City in having a tremendous effect on how any mine would operate. As part of its opposition, the City actually purchased the property where the mine is located. (The federal government only owns the mineral rights to the sand and gravel, not the land itself.) Between the mine property -- about _ of a mile from Stonecrest and current city boundaries lie three intervening parcels. These parcels are Stonecrest, the Pardee Spring Canyon Project, and a project call Bee Canyon plus the city-owned mine property.

Even though most developers vastly prefer developing in the County instead of the City (because of the city’s far more rigorous development standards), the other two parcels mentioned Pardee Spring Canyon and Bee Canyon have already agreed to not oppose their property being annexed into the City. These two developers aren’t thrilled about the prospect of the mine and the effects on their projects.

All three parcels mentioned need to annex to give the City a land bridge between the mine property it owns and existing city boundaries in order to bring the mine into city jurisdiction.

QUESTION: Some newspaper articles have quoted people who say that having the city-owned mine property within its government jurisdiction will have no effect on any potential mine operation. What is the truth?

The mega mine company (CEMEX) is currently suing the City of Santa Clarita to stop the annexation of the mine site. The mine company has stated in its lawsuit that it is opposing the annexation because the City has not disclosed “the effect on the operation of the mine by having the site within city jurisdiction”.

If the City couldn’t dramatically effect the operation of the mine, the mine company (CEMEX) would not be suing to stop the annexation. Also, the mining company would not have written a letter to the media encouraging a slow-down of Stonecrest’s annexation into the City.


QUESTION: If the mine ever does operate, what benefit to Stonecrest happens if Stonecrest and the mine are in the County or the City?

The County has signed a binding court order requiring that the County do everything possible to help the mine operate.

The City has pledged to do everything possible to protect everyone from the long list of dangers associated with mega mining.

Should it operate, the mine is suppose to be governed by stringent regulations regarding the following:

a) Toxic water run off into the nearby Santa Clara River, the source of much of our drinking water

b) Clean air laws governing the discharge of on-site diesel exhaust from heavy equipment

c) Dust generated from the thousands of pounds of high explosives blown up on the site monthly

d) Traffic from the thousands of sand-and-gravel trucks entering and exiting the 14 Freeway at Shadow Pines Boulevard each day

Should the mine operate, there are other regulatory agencies that will have authority over the mine’s operation. The mining company (CEMEX) has a record of amassing thousands upon thousands of violations of its operating conditions in all of the jurisdictions where it is located in the United States. When these violations occur, the following government agencies with police power will be need to be contacted. These are:

a) South Coast Air Quality Management District
b) The California Regional Water Quality Control Board
c) The Army Corp of Engineers
d) The California Department of Fish and Game
e) The United States Department of Fish and Wildlife
f) The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department
g) The appropriate local building and safety department
h) The California State Department of Toxic Substances Control

If Stonecrest remains governed by the County and the mine operates, we will be complaining as part of the County, which has signed a binding court order to assist the mine in its operation in everyway possible.

If Stonecrest is a part of the City of Santa Clarita, we will be a big fish in a small pond. We will have as our ally rather than our opponent, our local government.

When a complaint goes to the air quality or water quality agency, it won’t be just little Stonecrest protesting to the County of Los Angeles (which is on the side of the mine). Stonecrest as part of the City of Santa Clarita along with the mine property being owned by the City and in the City’s jurisdiction will have clout.

The City will be able to exert tremendous influence over the mine. If this weren’t true, the mine company (CEMEX) wouldn’t be suing to stop the annexation of the mine property and interfere with the annexation of Stonecrest.

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