Our primary issue is the proposed development of a rock quarry next to an old Sonoma County Landfill!

Talking points:  Controversy about the proposed Roblar Road Gravel Mining 

CARRQ: Citizens Advocating for Roblar Rural Quality  

www.carrq.org

County actions in question

On December 17, 2009, based on the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) the county planning staff recommended to the Planning Commission, which approved the mining on April 1, 2010, that the County let North Bay Construction develop this gravel mine, even though the County admits there are about 160 conditions surrounding the project that cannot be mitigated to prevent hazards to water, air quality, health and safety, and environmental impacts to nearby streams and wetlands.  The  county already  admits  that it  does not  have the  staff  or funds  to  monitor quarries  already  permitted. How  will  they monitor  the  160 conditions  of  approval for  this  new quarry? 

The County’s justification for the project is that rock from the proposed Roblar quarry is needed for local construction projects and that County residents will be able to get cheaper gravel.  The Russian Riverkeepers organization has investigated the need for gravel and determined there is “no documented shortage of aggregate (gravel) and the future supply from existing sources is well over 100% of the demand.”

The County has required North Bay Construction to indemnify County government for all the harm mining will cause.  This protects them and the officials who approve the project, but offers no protection to residents and the consequences to air, water and land.  This indemnification request is very rare; it speaks to the discomfort and risk the County sees in this project and to their dismissal of public health and safety.

The gravel mine will not have a public benefit, but will make large profits for its private developer, North Bay Construction, which plans to use 80% of the gravel for its own projects.

Wind issues

At the Planning Commission on April 1, 2010 Blake Hillegas - County Planning staff,  said the FEIR wind measurements of 25 mph came from Valley Ford, 60 feet above sea level, the closest wind monitoring available, he said.  The gravel mine site elevation is 550 feet and will have higher wind speeds.  The proposed gravel mine is situated in the  Petaluma  Wind Gap, with wind  rushing through  the  Roblar valley  at   huge speeds  9 months  of the  year.   The wind  will  negatively affect  water use  and  dust control,  two  very important  issues for  this  project.

Air quality issues

The  EIR states  that  projected nitrous  oxide  emissions from  the project will  be 53.3 tons over  the  allowable threshold  in  the 1st  year.   Even with  all  mitigations in place  the  emissions would be  21.6  tons over  the  allowable threshold.   This is considered significant and unavoidable in the EIR. Most  of  these emissions  will  be blowing  through  the Roblar  Valley.  This is a concern for the health of the lungs  of residents in  this  valley.

Silica dust is a known carcinogen.

Blake Hillegas of the County Planning staff testified April 1, 2010 about the lack of asbestos and the presence of silica in the proposed Roblar quarry:  "The DEIR dispersion modeling conservatively assumed 100% silica content, which poses no significant adverse health risks according to applicable standards in a separation from residential uses."

There is nothing in this statement to address the silica content in the dust that will most certainly blow through our neighborhood, as the wind is from the southwest.  There is no explanation of his comment about "residential uses" which perhaps refers to use of the rock in building housing.

The Bay Area Air Quality District commented  in the FEIR  that the  wind  data used  was  from the  Valley  Ford meteorologic  station,  and that  the  project lies  outside  the area  represented  by this station.  Yet BAAQD did  not  require wind monitoring  data  from the project site.  How  can they  accurately  determine dust  control  without knowing  the  wind speeds  at  the site? How  much  silica is  going  to blow  into  resident homes,  Dunham  School, and  into  Cotati?

Land use

The  draft EIR  does not  mention that  the  project as  proposed  would require  the  board of supervisors  to  use its powers  of  eminent domain  to condemn  private  land to  widen  roads. This condemnation would be to  benefit a private  business.  This is unprecedented in this county.  How would  land  be obtained  to  widen roads  if  homeowners did  not  want to sell  it?  If land  was  not acquired  to  widen the  roads  then truck  traffic on  existing roads  will  be very unsafe  for  cars, pedestrians,  and  bicyclists.

The project proposes a cancellation/trade for Williamson Act property.   The Williamson Act gives significant tax benefits to property owners.  Why  should this  private  business benefit  financially  by a  cancellation  of the  Williamson Act  status of the property?  It was purchased knowing  it was  Williamson  Act property  and  that  mining  was not  consistent  with Williamson  Act  property.

The property was purchased by North Bay Construction (NBC) in 2001 for $5.3 million.    The county  then  granted NBC an  Open  Space easement  on  the property  and  gave them $2.3  million  dollars knowing  that they planned  to use the adjacent land for gravel mining.  Why  did the  county pay NBC $2.3  million of  taxpayer  money to  not  develop land  that  was  next to  a  proposed rock  quarry? 

The Unlined Landfill

The  proposed quarry  is  adjacent to  a  closed landfill  operated  by Sonoma county  in  the 1950’s  and  1960’s, closed in 1975.  The landfill consists  of 3  benches  that are  unlined and uncapped.  During the  years  the landfill  was  used  there  were  no  restrictions  about what  could  be  put into  the landfill.  Neighbors reported in public hearings that lead, pesticides, hormones  used  in chicken  farming and gasoline products were dumped into the landfill, prior to public understanding of chemical harm.  The  landfill was  operated as  a  burn site,  contents  were burned  after  dumping.

The  county has  never  done any  actual testing  of the  benches  to see  what  toxins exist  underground.   The county  collects  surface water  off  the landfill  site  and trucks  it  to the  county  water treatment  plant  on Llano Road  for  processing.

Blasting  next to  the  landfill could easily  create  fissures in the  rock and  allow leachate  to  enter the  water  supply and  adjacent  Americano creek.   The Americano Creek feeds into the Estero Americano, a federally protected waterway.    Blasting could  also  allow leachate into  local homeowners  wells;  there are no provisions  for  testing of local  wells in the EIR. 

The potential gravel mine location is on a seismic fault, not currently active but also not a smart place to begin blasting.  The EIR provides  insufficient  analysis of  slope  stability in the mining site and  ignores  the potential   for  earthquake and landslide  instabilities  to combine,  causing  slope failures.  These failures can cause landslides affecting  the  landfill and the water supply. 

Hydrology 

The quantity of water needed for  rock  processing and  dust control  is unknown.   In this  already  low producing  water  area the  effect on  local homeowners  wells can be significant.  There  are not  adequate  testing wells  to  see what  different  waterways exist  underground  and there  are  not adequate  testing  wells to  monitor   for toxins  entering  the local water supply.   Sediment  loads in  the  Americano Creek  may  be increased,  to  the detriment  of stream  and fish  health.  

Volatile organic compounds were found in one of the test wells on the mining site.  It  is likely  that  these VOC’s came  from the  adjacent  county landfill,  although  inadequate water  data  exists to  show the origin of the VOC’s.   The mitigation  proposed  for this  problem  was  to  dig another  well,  not  to find  out where   the  VOC’s are  coming  from and  deal  with the problem at  its  source. Since  we  know the  VOC’s  are there,  there  is a  likelihood  that the  significant  water use  the mining will  require and  the  proximity of  the  Roblar Road  unlined landfill, could change the  water  plume and contaminate local residents’ wells.  VOC’s are carcinogenic  at  any level,  we  are talking  about  the drinking  water  of local residents.  Will North Bay Construction  pay  for quarterly  water  testing for  carcinogens that  could be  introduced  into the  water  supply for the  wells of  local homeowners?    Where is  the  data to show  where  the actual  water  flows exist below the  landfill site and  the mine site and  at  what level?   

The  DEIR  discusses the  potential  for mining water  usage  to reduce deep recharge  to  regional ground  water  sources, that mining  could  adversely impact groundwater  flow  and quality  in nearby  domestic groundwater  wells,  and that  the  project use  of  onsite wells  could  cause periodic “downdraw” or lowering  of local  groundwater  levels. The  local  residents’ wells  are  already low producing  wells;  some have to  truck in water during parts of  the year.   The  EIR lists  this  water issue  as  not significant  and  no mitigation needed, thereby failing to foresee or protect the impact on health of residents.   While  the county is  requiring the  developer to indemnify the county  against  any damage  this  project could  cause,  it offers  no  protection to  local  homeowner’s water  supply  or water  safety.

North Bay Construction to do “self monitoring”

The  EIR lists  as  mitigation measures  multiple  areas where  North  Bay construction  will have to  self monitor wind, dust, storm runoff  and  storm damage.

Shortly  after North Bay Construction  purchased this  property  they graded a ¼  mile  long 12 foot  wide  swath into  the  hillside adjacent  to  the  Ranch  Tributary creek.  This grading was done with no thought to erosion control.  In fact rocks, dirt, and silt were pushed into the creek. This was done without a permit.  How  can we  trust  a company  who  already broke basic laws at  this site  to  do self  monitoring?

In this era of county budget cuts, how will the county be able to monitor its responsibility and respond to concerns of residents about violations?

Contract sales only 

This will  limit  sale of rock  to  those contracting  with  North Bay  Construction.   The project will have huge expenses and risks to the county.  Why  are we  doing  this so  a  single developer  can  make huge profits?        

Industrial uses

Our  community already  bears the  cumulative impacts  of  the  Meacham Road landfill,  the  Roblar landfill,  the  Stony Point  Quarry and  the Llano Water  treatment  plant all within  a  3.5 mile  radius.  This is more  than  enough for this rural area.   The  possibilities   of air and  water  contaminants that  this mining project  poses are  too  big a burden  to add.

Sonoma County has an agricultural heritage worthy of protection.  More and more of the county’s rural lands are becoming vineyards.  This area of West County is one of the last bastions of historic ranching, and an important corridor to the ocean.   The beauty and treasures of this area are irreplaceable.

If this gravel mining project is allowed, there will be 50,000 annual truck trips, according to North Bay Construction, through an area that had been set aside as Open Space. 

The quality and safety of narrow two lane rural roads will be severely compromised.  The bicyclists who regularly ride these roads, and all who use them for recreational and ranch purposes will be forced to accommodate constant gravel trucks, turning this into industrial territory.  Stony Point Road will be even more hazardous and the likelihood of accidents and loss of life will increase enormously.

The County will decide whether or not to permit the quarry operation very soon.  Now is the last opportunity to speak up.  Write or call your County representatives!

 

Contact Information for County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors

575 Administration Drive, Room 100 A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
(707) 565-2241 Phone
Fax:  (707) 565-3778

1st District Supervisor Valerie Brown: vbrown@sonoma-county.org

2nd District Supervisor Mike Kerns: mkerns@sonoma-county.org

3rd District Supervisor Shirlee Zane: szane@sonoma-county.org

4th District Supervisor Paul Kelley: pkelley@sonoma-county.org

5th District Supervisor Efren Carrillo:  ecarrillo@sonoma-county.org

Citizens Advocating for Roblar Rural Quality (CARRQ)

For more information: www.carrq.org   Sign  up on  our mailing  list.

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General Points

• The landfill has potentially dangerous materials that were dumped in the 50's and 60's.
• The landfill has no protective liner to prevent leaking.
• The quarry will blast rock from the property adjacent to the landfill. They propose once to twice a month with 20 to 25 detonations
• Sonoma County and its residents can be liable for the environmental damage to the landfill as a result of the blasting.
• This damage could affect the water wells in the area, land contamination, and present heath risks to residents, people using Roblar Road on their way to the coast.
• The project will have 149 rock trucks on Roblar, Pepper, Mecham and Stony Point roads an annual impact of 37,500 additional rock trucks!
• Roblar Rd is a favorite route for bicyclists.
• Roblar Rd does not have a bicycle lane or is fit for the additional truck traffic that the quarry will create
• Dunham School is located on Roblar Road, which makes the children subject to the increased traffic.
• Operation hours 6 AM to 10PM weekdays and 6 AM to 4:30 PM Saturdays