As a result of an effort led by Rep. Steve Knight (R-CA) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the omnibus federal spending bill recently signed into law by President Trump includes language that is designed to prevent additional mining in Soledad Canyon beyond what could be allowed under the existing CEMEX contracts, whose cancellation is under review by the Interior Board of Land Appeals. [Click on headline to read more]
Here’s a link to a commentary by Sierra Club Angeles Chapter SCV Group Chair Sandra Cattell, who urges Santa Clarita Valley residents to contact their congressional representatives to push legislation to kill the Cemex mining project in Soledad Canyon: https://scvnews.com/2018/02/07/cemex-the-clock-is-ticking/
| By Andrew Fried, SAFE President | Aug. 11, 2017 | When President Donald Trump ordered Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to review the status of 27 national monuments created by three former presidents, many across the nation took it as a call to action to advocate on behalf of the monuments closest to their homes, and their hearts. Los Angeles County is among them. Here, Trump’s order raised concerns over the fate of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, designated by President Obama in October 2014. Indeed,…
SB 146 Would Guarantee Residents a Voice Over Mine’s Water Permits | By Andrew Fried, SAFE President, Feb. 20, 2017 | Complacency is deadly. This truism can be aptly applied to the battle to prevent CEMEX USA from developing a massive sand and gravel mine in Soledad Canyon. After more than two decades, in August 2015 it appeared the battle may be drawing to a close, as the federal Bureau of Land Management canceled the contracts…
| By Andrew Fried, SAFE President | April 20, 2015 The game has changed when it comes to the dispute over whether Cemex will proceed with its plan to mine 56 million tons of aggregate from a site in Soledad Canyon just outside of Santa Clarita city limits. That much, at least, has been assured by the dueling letters between Cemex and the Bureau of Land Management. For the better part of two decades, local observers — including our organization,…
| By Andrew Fried, SAFE President | May 6, 2016 Over the years, the acronym NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) has taken on a widely recognized negative connotation: People who oppose things like new construction or government infrastructure projects get labeled, derisively, as NIMBY’s: The implication is that a NIMBY is someone who doesn’t care about the greater good, or the rights of another land owner to develop his or her property. If the new project is in a…
| By Andrew Fried, SAFE President | Feb. 26, 2016 As soon as the federal Bureau of Land Management announced it was canceling the CEMEX Soledad Canyon mining contracts last August, those of us who have been following the issue for over a decade noticed one potentially frightening loophole: The BLM never said it was ruling out a massive gravel mine in Soledad Canyon. It was just canceling CEMEX’s contract to develop it. Yes, perhaps we’re paranoid. For a decade…
| By Andrew Fried, SAFE President | Jan. 22, 2016 You name it, and someone has tried to stick this community with it. Hog farms. Toxic waste dumps. Prisons. Landfills. Over the past half-century, this corner of northern Los Angeles County has fended off all of them. A decade and a half ago, a group of concerned citizens formed Safe Action for the Environment Inc., a nonprofit organization promoting safe air, safe water and safe roads, with a focus on…
| By Andrew Fried, SAFE President | Oct. 7, 2015 To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of the death of CEMEX’s Soledad Canyon sand and gravel mine have been greatly exaggerated. A month ago, there was shouting from the rooftops, cheering headlines that said the BLM had “killed” the much-feared mining contracts, held by CEMEX for more than 20 years (but not yet acted upon). The contracts would allow CEMEX to mine 56 million tons of aggregate from a Soledad…
| By Andrew Fried, SAFE President | Sept. 3, 2015 It’s a natural reaction. When you have fought so long and so hard to defeat something, and it appears victory is yours, you’re inclined to celebrate. But most of the published reactions to the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to cancel Cemex’s Soledad Canyon mining contracts have been nothing short of naïve. Simply put, it’s a little soon to be singing, “Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead,” while the witch…