Mining Operation Expected To Be Denied

Permits for a controversial surface mining operation planned near Temecula are expected to be formally denied by the Riverside County Planning Commission Wednesday.

In August, commissioners tentatively voted 4-1 to reject the 414-acre Liberty Quarry project. Wednesday's vote will be the final action required by the commission to end the review process.

Watsonville-based Granite Construction, the project developer, has vowed an appeal to the county Board of Supervisors.

Five public hearings were held this year on the proposed quarry, which would lie just north of the boundary separating Riverside and San Diego counties, east of the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, adjacent to Interstate 15 and Rainbow Valley Boulevard.

Thousands of people turned out for the hearings, the majority of them speaking out against the quarry. The Temecula City Council and the Pechanga Band of Lusieno Indians, whose reservation borders the project zone, opposed it.

A final environmental impact report was issued in March and found that noise, air, traffic and land-use problems arising from the quarry could be mitigated. Planning commission staff recommended that the board vote in favor of it, providing mitigation conditions were met.

Granite Construction sought a 75-year operating window, during which it planned to remove an estimated five million tons of construction-grade aggregate -- gravel and sand -- from hillsides.

Around 100 direct jobs and nearly 200 collateral jobs would be created by the project, according to Granite. Planning commission staff estimated the quarry would add about $341 million annually to local government coffers.

The aggregate produced at the mine would provide asphalt and concrete for roads, homes and other infrastructure projects, Granite officials said. A report attached to the EIR indicated the mine would cut down on how far trucks have to transport aggregate for projects in northern San Diego County and southwest Riverside County.

Project opponents argued air quality would suffer, water tables would drop and traffic congestion would surge if mining was permitted.