NO GAIN FOR RIVERSIDE COUNTY IF QUARRY GOES IN

 Community Forum   Californian

"No gain for Riverside County if quarry goes in "

By JERRI ARGANDA North County Times - Californian |  Monday, September 6, 2010

There are so many inaccurate assertions floating around from Granite’s letter writers these days.

The "many" jobs claimed to be created by the proposed quarry will be only replacements for competitors' lost jobs in other Riverside County quarries currently providing the aggregate.

Net sales tax will not change; there is no gain to the county by switching from one location to another.

Often, as in the case of Robertson, who happens to be the company doing the work on Highway 76 in San Diego County , they have their own quarries. They would not buy from Granite and this is the case with most companies. In fact, Robertson stated that "98 percent of the time they use their own material."

This is so basic! So clear. It is ludicrous for Granite to promise these jobs.

How, then, can Granite say their quarry will be a "long term stimulus project" when there is no product being sold and volume is less than half of what it was?

A friend and manager of one quarry company insisted, "There will be no economic boom for the next 100 years!"

Google EDGAR (database for corporate financial information) and check out the last quarterly earnings for Hanson, Vulcan, Granite, Mitsubishi, etc. See the reduction in sales. As to any advantage to the County of Riverside , employment is related to volume of work. There would be no minimum royalty to the county.

Rick Kellogg has alluded, several times, to the "superior quality rock" on this particular site? This is simply not true. Sources and quarries in Corona and surrounding areas say otherwise that "their product is high quality aggregate."

Core samples from the proposed site were provided by Granite Construction. These were given to and analyzed by scientists at SDSU. Their results proved that the rock in this area was inferior quality granite. In addition, a hydrology study done by "Hydrofocus," commissioned by Endangered Habitat League, showed this same rock to be extremely porous.

Would this leak pollutants into the Santa Margarita River? What do you think?

This said, let’s examine just why Granite wants to put a quarry at this particular location. It is not the quality of the rock. It is not the necessity for more aggregate; There are plenty of quarries in Riverside County .

Could it be that, because Granite is first and foremost a road building company, it would be to their advantage to have control of another (besides Rosemary’s Mountain quarry, which is only doing approximately 12 percent business) aggregate source close to San Diego County, thus, allowing them to be the "low bidder" on future jobs?

Just wondering.

I am writing this letter as one of the thousands of residents within one to two miles of the proposed quarry site.

Looks like Rick got that one wrong too.

Jerri Arganda is a Rainbow resident.