Ding, Dong, Cemex is Dead
SCV News | August 30, 2015 –
U.S. Rep. Steve Knight deserves the award of the century. He has fought Cemex and he has won.
Truly, this is the best news for Santa Clarita, Agua Dulce and Acton that we ever could have hoped for. The congressman made the announcement Friday that the federal Bureau of Land Management is rescinding the contracts Cemex held on land in the Soledad corridor.
The city of Santa Clarita and the majority of the constituents have been fighting Cemex for 20 years. U.S. Rep. Buck McKeon and Sen. Barbara Boxer introduced legislation over and over again, and none of those bills ever came to the floor for a vote except for the very last bill McKeon introduced. It was hurriedly brought to the floor before the last Christmas break, was received a unanimous “yea” vote. But it was held up in the U.S. Senate by one senator from New Mexico, so the bill failed.
Many of us thought we’d lost our last opportunity to escort Cemex out of town. Cemex threatened immediately to begin operations.
But McKeon retired, and the Cemex debacle was handed over to Knight, our newest, brightest star. He managed to negotiate this health hazard and habitat destroyer right out of town. In only eight months, he has accomplished what others failed to do in years.
“Preventing Cemex from breaking ground on this mine has been my top priority since I took office. After eight months, I can proudly say that we have reached a turning point that was almost unheard of just a year ago,” Knight said in a statement.
The effect of Cemex not being allowed to break ground will be huge. There are many endangered and rare species close to the proposed mine area. It would have destroyed their habitat and in many cases just killed them outright. It would have poisoned our ground water, polluted our air, further jammed our surface streets and freeways with an additional 1, 164 truck trips every day, and it would have destroyed the Magic Mountain wilderness that is located immediately across the Santa Clara River from the potential mining site.
The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument that was signed into law by presidential proclamation last Oct. 10 was also immediately opposite the Cemex site. National monuments are supposed to protect historical and scientific sites. Cemex would have destroyed some, including some Native American petroglyphs.
Further, the mining site was located in the middle of the prime wildlife linkage that connects the San Gabriel Mountains to the Sierra Pelonas, the non-contiguous northern Angeles National Forest, the Los Padres, the Santa Susanas and ultimately the Eastern Sierra. If that area were disturbed a minimum of 17 hours a day for mining and 24 hours a day for shipping, it would destroy the linkage and have a grave impact on wildlife migration, genetic diversity and ultimately perhaps the species survival.
In addition, the airborne pollutants such as arsenic, uranium and cadmium that are always byproducts of mining would have caused some horrendous health problems for the citizens living close to the mine area. Diseases like valley fever most likely would surface and affect many of our citizens. Our land values would have plummeted, our pets would get sick, and we’d be having negative interactions with our forest predators because they would not cross through the linkage due to all of the noise and trucks. That means the bears and mountain lions would be working their way through neighborhoods and people’s back yards to try to negotiate their way to the next patch of forest. As a result of that, we’d be missing our pets as they became appetizers for the predators, and suffer untold property damage.
Heidi Webber, a constituent who lives close to the proposed mine site, had this to say: “Now we won’t have to worry about a myriad of things such as air quality, explosions 24 hours a day, dust, airborne pollutants and diseases like valley fever. Our property values won’t take a dive and the freeway won’t be clogged with extra gravel trucks flooding the freeway 24 hours a day, with the accompanying pollution associated with that, let alone sand and gravel escaping them to pelt vehicles following behind. I cannot thank the congressman enough.”
The Bureau of Land Management, which holds the mining rights, issued a decision to rescind the two mineral materials contracts for the sale of sand and gravel in Soledad Canyon that were issued to a predecessor of Cemex in 1990. Cemex failed to follow through with all of the necessary actions to make those contracts effective. In the 25 years since the contracts were issued, Cemex and its predecessors failed to fulfill the terms set forth. Knight worked tirelessly with the BLM and the Army Corps of Engineers to finalize this deal.
The official termination document was delivered to Cliff Kirkmeyer, the executive vice president of Cemex USA, by Jim Kenna, the state director of the BLM.
I can scarcely believe we all get to wake up with Cemex not being an issue on our horizon. Santa Clarita will still be the best, cleanest, safest city in which to live and work. It will remain that way without the Cemex blight that was almost upon us. Cemex is shut out forever. Thank you to all of the city officials who have worked so hard on this for so many long years. Thank you to all of the people who wrote letters. Thank you to our senators who tried so hard to dump Cemex. Thank you to U.S. Reps. Judy Chu and Brad Sherman and our wonderful City Council members. And a special thank you to our brilliant congressman who found a way to make it happen.
“Today is a great day,” Knight said. “Since I became a Member of Congress nearly eight months ago, I have fought tirelessly to prevent Cemex from mining in Soledad Canyon. Today, the Bureau of Land Management announced that Cemex’s mining contracts in Santa Clarita are cancelled – effectively halting their mining in the area. This is a huge victory for our community which we have fought for, for many years.”
Please consider writing a thank you letter to our congressman, or giving his office a call to say thanks. Phone: D.C. 1-202-225-1956 or locally: 661-255-5630. For a letter: U.S. Rep. Steve Knight, 26415 Carl Boyer Drive, Santa Clarita, CA 91350.
