Press-Enterprise Editorial: Re-site quarry
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE The Press Enterprise
Published: 05 February 2012 01:00 AM
The proposed Liberty Quarry near Temecula is a case of a promising project in the wrong location. The quarry proponents have not made a convincing case that the potential benefits of the mine in this spot outweigh the drawbacks to the nearby region. So Riverside County supervisors should uphold the Planning Commission’s rejection of the quarry plans.
Granite Construction Company proposes to put a 135-acre mine on a 414-acre site south of Temecula and west of Interstate 15, just north of the San Diego County line. The Liberty Quarry would produce aggregate, a type of rock used in construction materials such as cement and asphalt. But neighbors of the proposed mine site, including the city of Temecula and the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, adamantly oppose the project.
The county Planning Commission rejected the quarry proposal last year after five public hearings and nearly 52 hours of testimony. The company appealed that decision to the Board of Supervisors, which could make a decision on the issue on Monday.
Opposing the quarry location is not an easy call. The Press-Enterprise editorial board generally supports business growth and grasps the need for a sufficient source of building materials. The editorial board met with a range of stakeholders in the issue, and understands the concerns on all sides. And much of the discussion is a debate between dueling expert testimony that offers contradictory analyses of the need for and effects of the quarry.
On balance, however, the arguments for the quarry are insufficient to justify a hilltop site surrounded by a tribal reservation, an ecological preserve and a city of more than 101,000 people. Nor should anyone be comfortable with the prospect of a sensitive swath of Riverside County shouldering the burdens of a mine that mainly would serveSan Diego County needs: Granite says two-thirds of the materials from the quarry would go to construction south of the county line.
The demand for necessary building materials does not offer a convincing justification for the proposed site. The region will need more sources of aggregate in the future, but just how much and how soon is a subject of dispute. Granite and Temecula officials, for example, offer competing analyses of the immediacy and need. But even a pressing shortage does not mean that the proposed quarry site is the right solution. The long-term projections assume no other new sources open up, which seems unlikely. And the Temecula location is hardly the only spot in the region where such rock exists.
Nor are the potential economic benefits of the quarry persuasive. The quarry’s study points to a more than $200 million boost to the economy from the project by 2021, and hundreds of millions in new government revenue over the 75-year life of the mine. Yet a competing study says the quarry will result in a cumulative $3.6 billion cost to the region over the next 50 years — leaving residents to guess at which figure is right.
Jobs also are not a reason to push ahead with the current plan. Granite says the quarry will create 99 jobs on site and another 178 related jobs elsewhere. Jobs are welcome, given the region’s high unemployment levels. But there is no guarantee those would be new jobs, and not workers shifted from elsewhere. Nor is there any certainty those would go to local residents.
Riverside County should not chase business away, certainly. But the need for jobs and commerce should not mean abandoning careful planning. Quarries are necessary operations for a growing region — but only if the site makes sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment