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Cemex Battle: Unsung Heroes

Commentary by Carl Goldman

By Carl Goldman, AM-1220 KHTS | Monday, Aug 31, 2015

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[KHTS] – Friday’s announcement, “Cemex is dead in Santa Clarita,” is the biggest story in the history of our valley other than the original formation of our city in 1987.

In 1990, the Federal Government’s Bureau of Land Management granted mining rights to allow one of the largest mega mines in our country. It was right in our backyard, on the east side of our valley, just past Shadow Pines and Stone Crest in Canyon Country. The additional dust, traffic from dump trucks and devaluation of property values would have been devastating.

Since then our city has led the fight to stop the mine. They spent an incredible amount of time, energy and resources to benefit us, quite often taking a lot of heat for their efforts.

Council members Laurene Weste, Bob Kellar

Now that the dust (pun intended) has settled, it’s a shame to see who is taking the credit for winning the good battle. It is also frustrating to still see some residents not appreciating what our city actually accomplished. They still don’t get the potential domino effect Cemex would have had on our quality of life.

We’d like to set the record straight and share who our real heroes are in winning this battle. Mayor Pro-tem Bob Kellar and City Councilwoman, Laurene Weste put in thousands of hours with trips to Washington D.C., meetings, and protests. They walked the walk and talked the talk and always by their side was an unsung hero in this David vs. Goliath battle, City Government Affairs Director, Mike Murphy.

Behind the scenes, Mike Murphy, the city’s intergovernmental relations officer, did much of the heavy lifting through the years.

Many other city staff put themselves on the line, including current City Manager, Ken Striplin and his predecessor Ken Pulskamp. Gail Morgan, the city’s communications manager led a masterful, creative media and marketing campaign navigating through many challenging political obstacles.

The battle never would have been won without the continuous effort, diligence and perseverance of California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. Boxer and her staff were there from the beginning, giving her support, encouragement and political clout. Our current Congressman Steve Knight, took up the torch as a strong supporter during his current term. Assemblyman Scott Wilk assisted from the state level.

Our neighbors in Agua Dulce and Acton, led by community activist Andy Fried were also by our side throughout the fight. These are just a few of the heroes who believed in their hearts, despite the odds, despite the criticism and the political heat, stood behind their convictions, took their lumps and picked themselves back up to continue to lead the charge. Many others should be mentioned when the accurate history of the Cemex fight is written.

What is shameful are some of our politicians and community leaders who are now taking credit even with press releases. Hypocrisy has no shame.

Many Santa Clarita community leaders opposed the city’s efforts. Often they would tell me it’s a lost cause, we should take the money and stop spending our taxpayer dollars on a battle that couldn’t be won.

Andy Fried, president of SAFE Action for the Environment

Toward the end, our former Congressman Buck McKeon, finally came through and after 22 years introduced legislation allowing a swap of land for Cemex, only to have one lone junior U.S. Senator, Martin Heinrich (Democrat/ New Mexico) stand in the way from ending the fight.

It’s ironic because the stubbornness of Senator Heinrich probably caused Senator Feinstein to push U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to make her Bureau of Land Management revoke the mining rights to Cemex.

Also, on the sidelines was our controversial environmental group SCOPE. It would have been nice to see SCOPE devote a fraction of their resources to assisting the Cemex fight instead of their lawsuits against Newhall Land. In the past, SCOPE was one of many groups who aggressively assisted the city in their other David versus Goliath battle, permanently stopping the landfill at Elsmere Canyon, also on the east side of our valley back in the early 90’s. It was another fight the city masterfully navigated along with the assistance of our Congressman Buck McKeon and Senator Barbara Boxer after also being told it couldn’t be stopped.

So our city didn’t just overcome Goliath in one said-it-couldn’t-be-done battle (Elsmere). It now has a second one checked off with Cemex heading out of town and into the sunset. We are all winners today because our city just wouldn’t give up. Someday, someone will write a book about the battle. But until then, we want to make sure a trail is laid out so the heroes of this battle receive the proper credit and continue to serve us should we ever need to face Goliath a third time.

Carl Goldman is co-owner of KHTS AM-1220 Radio / Hometownstation.com.

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10 Comments

Vicki Satterfield Conklin says:

Monday, Aug 31, 2015 at

Diane Terito, Jim Dusick and Chuck Conklin

Reply
Steve Petzold says:

Monday, Aug 31, 2015 at

I wish that the author would name the names of politicians and community activists he conveniently accuses of hypocrisy. He seemed not to be as selective when naming SCOPE. The decision by the BLM was capricious and arbitrary , not based up the rule of law or established administrative procedure. Just because you agree with the “result”, does not justify ignoring the contractual rights of CEMEX. This is not the end of the road for aggregate mining in Soledad Canyon….there will be additional years of confusion and uncertainty.

Reply
Charles Conklin says:

Monday, Aug 31, 2015 at

Hi Carl
Thank you for your update on the Cemex mining issue. There are three additional individuals who, if the record is checked, may be mentioned. These would be the three Agua Dulce town council members who actually started this whole process. We attended the initial public hearings and challenged the state and federal process and determination. Diane Terito ( who has passed) Jim Duzick are amazing people whose determination and guidance were instrumental in bringing this issue to the Santa Clarita City council long before all the others. It was and is an honor to have been a part of the team that initiated the challenge, attended the initial public hearings, obtained the CFR regulations and informed the community of the questionable state process in granting the mining contracts. We also realized we could not do it on our own. A grass roots movement has been validated by the decision in place and the community benefits. Thank to all for carrying the torch.
Regards
Chuck Conklin

Reply
Tracy Mandell Spain says:

Monday, Aug 31, 2015 at

Thank you

Reply
waterwatcher says:

Monday, Aug 31, 2015 at

Well I guess SCOPE is damned if they do and damned if people think they don’t Geez. Someone should check the Administrative record and see all the letters they wrote before they complain that they didn’t do anything.

But as the City is not going to do anything about Newhall Ranch except support it even though many of the impacts from water to air quality will be far worse than that mine, I guess it is a good thing they spend their efforts were our City won’t take action.

Reply
Carole Lutness says:

Monday, Aug 31, 2015 at

I am concerned that the so-called settlement between CEMEX and the BLM may not really be as good as it seems at first blush. I am suspicious about this deal knowing that the CEMEX deal is regulated by NAFTA, I think. That means that BLM cancels the contract because CEMEX failed to do environmental studies, etc. CEMEX objects. What is the recourse? Under NAFTA as I understand it,the only recourse is that any disputes between corporations and a government have to be settled though a corporate-/appointed and run tribunal. The US will be subject to this tribunal’s decision. (If the TPP is passed the same arbitration system will be put in place using the doctrine of “right to profit” which is what these corporate thugs (500 mega multinational corporations) have invented. That is why the TPP is so scary.

I have written to Barbara Boxer to let me know if my concerns are valid.

Reply
- SCVNews.com says:
  
  Monday, Aug 31, 2015 at
  
  Read the BLM decision letter carefully: BLM rescinded the contracts because they expired, through Cemex’s own inaction, before they were ever triggered. “Part 2” of the decision letter explains (for Cemex and for the court) what BLM will do if Cemex tries to argue that the contracts were ever in force. In other words, BLM is saying that because Cemex failed for 25 years to make good on the contracts and in fact tried to welch on the contracts by pursuing a side deal with the city and with Congress that would nullified those same contracts, Cemex is out; and if it complains, BLM will throw the book at them. As for what you’re saying about NAFTA, Cemex USA is a separate corporate entity.
  
  Reply
  - Carole Lutness says:
    
    Monday, Aug 31, 2015 at
    
    Thanks for the clarification about it being a separate corporate entity. But your first point about BLM throwing the book at CEMEX is all well and good provided CEMEX doesn’t sue which is my other theory. CEMEX takes the GOV. to court and sues for mega bucks which is the nefarious plan cooked up by them/Knight,BLM, etc for them to to get paid off.
    
    Reply
    - SCVNews.com says:
      
      Tuesday, Sep 1, 2015 at
      
      Perhaps we weren’t clear. If Cemex sues, BLM throws the herein-described book at them (*READ* the pdf): http://scvnews.com/2015/08/28/feds-cancel-cemex-soledad-mining-contract/
      
      Reply
Susanne Sterndahl says:

Tuesday, Sep 1, 2015 at

Awesome commentary,Carl! Well written and highly appreciated!

Reply

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