Help end problems at South Bay quarry
Posted March 17, 2004 / Updated September 12, 2010

• Background on quarry operations and potential violations
• Problem 1: Ridgeline dumping and scarring   
• Problem 2: Public easement not providing adequate protections
• Problem 3: Quarry walls tumbling down
• CGF working with County and others to find solutions
• Aerial photos of the entire quarry operation
• What you can do   
   

In the hills above Cupertino a huge expanse of rock and dirt scars the hillsides, visible to tens of thousands of people from Milpitas to Palo Alto. For years now, this scar has been expanding and becoming ever more visible -- despite the view protections that we thought had been agreed upon between Santa Clara County and the owners of the land.

This mile-long scar is the most visible evidence of Hanson Quarry's several environmental violations, all of which encroach on our viewsheds. Please speak up and urge Santa Clara County and the Hanson Quarry operators to ensure that our hillsides are appropriately protected from quarry activities.

Background
For decades, the foothills have nestled a huge cement quarry, the former Kaiser Permanente Cement Plant, now owned by Hanson PLC, a British company and one of the world's largest cement companies. At their 3500 acre site in Cupertino, Hanson is mining around 5 million tons of rock each year, a third of which is waste.

Because this particular quarry began operations more than 60 years ago, before the County had regulations for such operations, it is not required to have a County permit. Other quarries that initiated operations more recently would be subject to more direct County oversight entailed by permit requirements.

Problem 1: Ridgeline dumping and scarring
The long horizontal scar as seen from the valley below has three components. The lower part is an area of the original hillside that has been scraped clean to expose the bare topsoil. Just above this an access road has been graded for dump trucks, and just behind and above that rise the massive tiers of deposited waste rock.

The major contributor to the scar we see today is this waste rock (also known as overburden) which is being piled high on top of and behind the ridge at the northern end of the quarry. Hanson Cement states that this dumping of rock at the summit of the quarry is expected to continue for at least another year. While quarry operators promise to revegetate the area, the scarring will get visibly worse for a year or more, and will take years beyond that before it fades from view.

News flash: On March 9, 2005, CGF announced that the operators of Hanson Quarry have agreed to stop the ridgeline dumping and revegetate the scar. This is a wonderful victory - thanks to each of you who spoke up on this issue.

Read our March 9 press release here.

Problem 2: Public easement not providing adequate protections
Decades ago, the County reached agreement with the quarry owners for the dedication of a "Ridgeline Protection Easement." The purpose of this 1972 easement was to preserve the ridgeline that shields the massive quarry operations from public view.

Unfortunately, the easement does not protect the area now being scarred with rock waste. However, even the limited protection afforded by the easement appears to have been violated. Four fixed monument markers were installed to mark the elevation of the protected area (and the area below which the quarry could not lower the ridgeline), but two of these markers are now missing, and a series of landslides have moved vast quantities of dirt near the ridgeline.

Problem 3: Quarry walls tumbling down
Part of the sidewall of the largest pit in the quarry has given way, and slid into the pit. In fact, in the last three years, there have been three landslides in the quarry area. The quarry's own geologists estimated that an eventual total of around 3.5 million cubic yards of rock material could give way.

Landslides from the quarry may have done more than violate the ridgeline easement. Records from Santa Clara County suggest that landslides from the quarry may have collapsed adjacent land owned by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD). If this is the case, the landslides caused by the quarry are a violation of the public's rights.

CGF working with County and others to find solutions
For some time now, Committee for Green Foothills has been researching and discussing these three problems with concerned citizens, government officials, and the quarry operators. Both Santa Clara County and MROSD have been negotiating with the quarry, but these negotiations have done little to date.

It's time for the public to speak up and demand solutions to these violations to the public viewshed.

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What you can do

1. Learn more.
Read our March 9, 2005 Press Release.
Read our Spring 2004 newsletter article about this issue.
Look at more photos of the quarry.
Read the Committee for Green Foothills' March 17, 2004 letter to Santa Clara County and to MROSD regarding the Hanson Quarry.
Read the March 24, 2004 article in the Los Altos Town Crier.

2. Ask Santa Clara County to protect the public's rights.
County Supervisor Liz Kniss' office reports that they have received various complaints, including those of Committee for Green Foothills, about the scarring. The County through its Planning Office is in the process of "consulting with its counsel and determining how to proceed with respect to the ridgeline easement." We have urged them to move quickly to protect the public interest before any more damage is done.

Ask the County to:

• Confirm publicly whether the ridgeline protection easement has been violated, and replace the two missing elevation markers to allow future monitoring of the easement.
• Work together with MROSD to resolve the potential landsliding trespass onto public property.