The Sunnyvale Sun
News
Hanson cement considers moving planned quarry pit
By Cody Kraatz
Hanson Permanente Cement may shift its plans for a controversial new quarry pit after it drew mountains of criticism.
"At the request of the community, we are now considering an alternative site on the property for exploration, which is farther away from the Cupertino neighborhood," said Marvin Howell, a Hanson Aggregates West land-entitlement and realestate director, in a statement. He did not elaborate.
During two meetings held in June and July, local residents complained that the new pit would move the noise, dust and other pollution of the mine closer to homes.
The meetings were held to take public input on the environmental impacts of the new pit, which is included in a proposed amendment to nearly triple the size of Hanson's reclamation plan to 917 acres.
State mining law requires a reclamation plan for areas disturbed by mining. It specifies how the company, bought in May by Germany's Heidelberg Cement AG for $15.8 billion, must return the land to a usable condition when mining is finished.
The pit may be relocated farther to the north, said Mark Connolly, a Santa Clara County planner working on Hanson's application, noting that he has not seen any definitive proposal.
Connolly said that the environmental impact report required to approve the amendment is held up indefinitely until Hanson applies for a county planning commission hearing to determine whether the company has a vested right to mine without a permit in the proposed new pit, as it claims.
"Because they're going into an area where it wasn't originally recorded that there was an intention to mine, they have to prove that there was an intent to mine there (prior to the passage of the State Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975)," said Connolly; otherwise they would need a permit. "The onus is on the applicant."
Emissions
Residents also continue to rail against air emissions from the plant, which burns coal 24 hours per day and seven days per week to produce 1.6 million tons of cement per year.
"Eventually the goals are to...have the pollution reduced that's coming out of the Hanson plant," said Joyce Eden, a member of West Valley Citizen Air Watch, which met on Nov. 20 with Bay Area Air Quality Management District engineers.
Howell was not available for comment about emissions, but said in July that local cement is better than cement produced in China, for example, which causes higher pollution in its production and transportation.
Hanson provides two-thirds of the county's cement, he said, adding that Hanson is heavily regulated and will comply with emissions laws.
In particular, the group wants to know how Hanson's emissions are measured, a question the district has not answered yet, she said.
"We got a little information, but we're still not clear and we're going to be following up on that," said Eden. "You would think they'd be able to answer that with clarity."
Emissions statistics at Hanson are based on periodic testing by BAAQMD staff, combined with information Hanson submits annually about its production and fuel usage. The only emissions that are tested continuously by actual instruments in the smokestacks are nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, said Brian Bateman, district director of engineering.
Hanson was the 62nd highest emitter of mercury in the United States in 2005, according to a USA Today report based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.
It put out 523 pounds of airborne mercury in 2005, an increase from 212 pounds in 2000, according to the EPA. Mercury gathers in fish and is hazardous to fetuses, infants and children.
The EPA introduced a rule in 2005 that aims to reduce mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants through a cap-and-trade scheme, but there is no such rule for cement plants.
Small particles
Topping Eden's list of concerns was small particles, which are 2.5 micrometers in diameter and smaller. They can be inhaled deep into the lungs.
"From a health standpoint, people dying prematurely, it's hard to beat the small particles," said professor Kirk Smith, an environmental health expert at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health.
During the week of Dec. 10, 2006, the concentration of small particles in the county's air averaged 8 micrograms per cubic meter of air, according to the California Air Resources Board. The next week, the average was nearly 22 micrograms per cubic meter.
The county's small particle concentration exceeded the EPA's standard--35 micrograms per cubic meter--on 94 days in 2006, placing it among the state's 10 worst.
Hanson's share appears to be small. The plant put out 40 tons of small particles in 2005, the most recent year data is available, while about 6,117 tons were emitted in the county during 2006, according to the ARB.
Also, while Hanson was the second highest stationary source of benzene--a carcinogen--in the Bay Area in 2005 and a major emitter of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, its emissions of these chemicals pale in comparison to those from on-road vehicles.
For more information on Hanson's application, visit www.sccplanning.org. For air pollution information, visit www.arb.ca.gov/ei/ei.htm or www.epa.gov/tri. Or, call Hanson's hotline at 408.500.5034.