Sep 2, 2007

Mining operations in county at issue

State board sets regulation review meeting in San Jose

By Cody Kraatz / MediaNews

The California State Mining and Geology Board is poised to consider usurping Santa Clara County's mining-regulation authority, following a meeting this week arranged by Hanson Permanente Cement officials to field complaints and address the concerns of neighbors.

The county said it has stepped up its inspection efforts after a mining board audit in April 2006, and the board will decide if it agrees at a meeting Sept. 13 in San Jose. It has been a year since the board last reviewed the county's enforcement practices.

"The board could either take action of assumption, or it could defer and keep monitoring if the county shows that it has made good-faith efforts" toward improved regulation, said Stephen Testa, the mining board's executive officer.

The board had questioned whether the county was properly inspecting nine mines, including Hanson's mine, after an issue arose over the Lexington Quarry in Los Gatos.

The board asked the county to improve its inspection process, and several follow-up dates were set.

The issue involved whether mines operated outside the bounds of a 1985 reclamation plan had insufficient funds on hand to guarantee reclamation would be completed.

Since then, the county hired consultants versed in Surface Mining and Reclamation Act requirements and conducted intense inspections of mines in the county. A Santa Clara County civil grand jury report in March found the county had indeed stepped up its efforts.

"We made this a very thorough and a very expensive process because it's never been done that comprehensively before," said Valentin Alexeeff, county director of planning and development.

Hanson said the county had never noted any concerns, and rather than pursue a lengthy debate, Alexeeff told Hanson to include the areas in question in an amended reclamation plan.

The existing reclamation plan expires in 2010 and covers 330 acres of the 3,200-acre Hanson property, while the proposed amendment totals 917 acres.

In addition to bringing all of Hanson's disturbed areas under the plan so they eventually will be restored, the reclamation plan includes about 220 acres of undisturbed acres for a new 60-acre mining pit.

More than 60 people have spoken against the expansion at two county meetings and expressed concerns about existing mining operations, part of the reason Hanson organized a community meeting Thursday.

But Hanson and county officials said the reclamation area expansion is inevitable and desirable.

The original 1975 version of the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act specifies that in surface mining operations, all parts of the process involved in mining on mined lands, including private ways and roads, structures, facilities, equipment, machines and tools, must be included in a reclamation plan.

Alexeeff said an environmental impact report, due in the fall, will include research into whether Hanson has vested rights to mine. It was mining before the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act and therefore does not need a use permit.