Quarry 'facts' misleading at best

By: NORMAN BLOCK - Commentary | Tuesday, November 28, 2006 10:51 PM PST ∞

In a recent commentary ("Money not enough for region's infrastructure," Nov. 26, 2006), John Benoit, Russ Bogh and Ray Haynes, who represent Riverside County in the state Assembly, strongly supported Granite Construction's proposed Liberty Quarry project to be developed just north of the San Diego County line.

I am convinced that this huge quarry and its associated asphalt and cement plants would have a devastating effect on the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, the Santa Margarita River and our environment in general.

It appears that the legislators readily accepted the results of Granite Construction's consultant studies as being wholly factual, although they are not, and misinterpreted statistics from a state report.

Referring to aggregate reserves, their article states, "The Department of Conservation projects a 50 percent shortage for the Inland Empire in the next 50 years." However, if one reads the 26-page report published by the Department of Conservation, it is clear that while San Bernardino County will have a shortage of aggregate, Riverside County has a projected 40-year supply of permitted resources.

On the other hand, this report shows that San Diego County has a major shortfall in projected needs. Therefore, Granite Construction's proposed open-pit granite mine, the nation's largest, would be developed primarily to serve San Diego County.

The article also states that "more than 2,000 trucks per day" travel through Riverside County on the way to San Diego County. "Every truck sent to San Diego from Liberty Quarry will reduce traffic from Riverside County, removing over 1,000 truck trips per day off county roads."

These statements are based on studies done for Granite Construction by their consultant, Urban Crossroads Inc., and completely ignore two important facts.

First, Granite Construction already has approval to develop a large quarry called Rosemary's Mountain in northern San Diego County. No mention was made of this fact in the consultant's reports.

Second, the consultant's report counted trucks carrying both hard rock and sand through Riverside County. Indeed, the report highlighted that "Granite has indicated that it has recently shipped sand from a quarry north of Palm Springs through Western Riverside County to a construction job in the Rancho Bernardo area of San Diego County. The sand is being shipped over 100 miles due to a lack of adequate sand and gravel sources in the Southwestern Riverside County and Northern San Diego County areas."

According to Granite executives, the proposed Liberty Quarry will be a hard-rock quarry and will not produce any natural sand, and only a modest amount of the much less-desirable "manufactured" sand.

Before my visit, I did a very limited traffic study of my own. I was counting aggregate trucks traveling north and south on Interstate 15. However, I was standing on the Overland Drive overpass in Temecula and could look down directly into the bed of the trucks. It was then that I realized that a significant number of trucks were carrying sand to be delivered to San Diego County. These trucks will continue to deliver sand whether or not Liberty Quarry is permitted to operate.

It is no wonder that these three legislators are eager to support the development of Liberty Quarry. After all, they readily accepted major campaign contributions from builders associations. According to MAPLight.org, of all the Assembly members representing 36 million Californians, Mssrs. Bogh and Benoit are in the Top 10 for campaign contributions from builders associations; and builders associations represent the fourth-highest campaign contributor to Mr. Haynes.

Please contact the Riverside County Board of Supervisors stating your objections to Liberty Quarry and help protect our environment.

-- Norman Block of Temecula is president of the Santa Margarita River Foundation.

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