????????????????????????????????????? ?The Issue
?The only coastal-inland wildlife linkage remaining in Southern California is in danger of becoming?one giant, dusty?hole in the ground, thanks to?an enormous aggregate pit-mine?due to be installed soon, by?the equally enormous Granite Construction Corporation.
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???????????????????????????????????????The Story
?The property chosen for the mine is part of?the only coastal-to-inland wildlife corridoor of Southern California, yet? twelve additional Riverside County sites are?available.? The?corridoor is essential for the continuation of both local wildlife and?animals that migrate through the area. It enables?wildlife to safely go from coastal and inland ecosystems without?danger impended by industrial?issues.?
?The property was?to be purchased?by the adjacent Santa Margarita
Ecological Reserve?to complete the corridoor. Then Granite came around.????????
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?A little background on?the Granite Construction Corporation:
There are over fifty pit mines and quarries in Riverside County alone, and the majority of them are, you guessed it, Granite's.??
?In fact,? seven miles south of the currently proposed site for the Liberty quarry is?Rosemary's Mountain?Quarry, which is operated by Granite.?
?Rosemary's?Quarry produces approximately one-million tons of aggregate annually.
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?Granite has a history of creating pit mines for aggregate. And?quite?a history in Oregon; the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality?
recently fined Granite for polluting?the watershed of that state.?
?What would stop them from doing the same to our watershed???
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?The Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve is in the midst of the?Santa Margarita Valley.? Nestled?near the?cities of Fallbrook, Murrieta, Rainbow, and?Temecula, the Valley is a welcome retreat from fast-paced city life,?and?is one of the last pristine places in the area.? The?Valley is also home to the Santa Margarita River – one of the?very few free-flowing rivers of Southern California.??
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?The local Luiseno Indians?are opposed to the quarry. The site is
considered sacred to tribal members, and said to?have artifacts important?to their cultural heritage.??Their voice has thus far been ignored.
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?Native residents, homeowners, schools, doctors, entire cities, and?nearly 8oo local companies and bussinesses are opposed to the Quarry as well.
?Their opinions don't count, apparently.??
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?????????????????????????????? The Consequences?
The objective of this?quarry is to mine as much aggregate from the 414 acre site as possible by any means possible.
?The difference between this mine and others??This time, an entire mountain?needs to be taken down and broken up to acquire that aggregate. That means using 10,000 pounds of explosives per blast, per day. Twenty hours a day, six days a week(minemum). For seventy-five years. ?There is also the 310 gallons of fresh, clean water that will be used?per minute to manufacture the aggregate. That adds up to 86,000 gallons per day, or roughly 2,028,233,000 gallons?over the course of the mines 75-year?lifetime.
??Not to mention the huge trucks (needed to take the aggregate to buyers) that will clog the i15 freeway?even more than it already is. Oh, and the extra diesel soot as a byproduct of all those trucks.?
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? It will also create sillicate dust to pollute the air. That sillicate will be carried on the breeze at least?fifty miles in all directions from the?
quarry site.?Residents, both human and not,?will suffer respiratory problems as a result of the toxic nature of sillicate.? The dust will settle over and smother anything in its path.
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?? Even Granite's own environmental report admits there will be substantial ecological consequences?to the?area surrounding the mine.?
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?? The Riverside County Board of Supervisors is considering?approval of??this? monstrous pit mine to increase revenue and create jobs. Every?concern over the impacts -?environmental, cultural, residential -?of this?quarry?have thus far been ignored.???
?Of course, it will create?jobs.? But at what cost?
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??With so much aggregate already being mined from?Rosemary's Quarry,?within such a close proximity?to the Liberty Quarry,?is yet another pit mine really needed??
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?What is more important? Economy? Or preserving?our cultural heritage, our right to health as residents, and our?scarce SouthernCalifornia?coastal-inland??habitat???
???????????????????????????????? You decide.?
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