Fallbrook citizens study gigantic quarry proposal

Friday, March 9 2007
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Fallbrok Public Utilities Department - Across from the Circle-K
990 East Mission Road
Fallbrook, CA 92028

Quarry informational meeting set for March 9

FALLBROOK ---- Keep Fallbrook Clean and Green will sponsor an informational meeting on the Liberty Quarry at 7 p.m. March 9 (Friday) at the Fallbrook Public Utility Board Room, 990 E. Mission Road.

David Pruitt of "Save Our Southwest Hills" will narrate a PowerPoint presentation on the effects of the quarry on Fallbrook and the surrounding area, and Dr. Matt Rahn, reserve manager of the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, will speak on the potential consequences of the quarry on the reserve.

During the last several weeks, increasing interest has been generated in the proposal to build a rock quarry just north of the San Diego County line, and west of Interstate 15. Granite Construction, Inc., a $2 billion a year company, plans to develop the nation's largest granite open-pit mine one mile from Temecula. This open-pit mine will be one mile long, 1,000 feet deep, will operate 20 hours a day, six days a week, will blast and grind 300 tons of rock per day, and extract more than one-quarter billion tons of granite. The 155-acre quarry would sit on 311 acres located fairly near the Border Patrol station and would use the Rainbow Valley Boulevard off-ramp as its access road. Both the entrance and exit to the quarry would be on Rainbow Valley Boulevard.

The communities of Rainbow and Temecula have been sponsoring community meetings on the quarry for several months, and have recently contacted groups in Fallbrook in order to educate the "Friendly Village" about the quarry. In mid-February, a Fallbrook contingent of quarry activists gathered on East Mission Road to display a banner signifying the establishment of www.NoGravelQuarry.com as the Fallbrook response to the quarry. Other community organizations are also planning events in the near future related to the quarry.


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/06/13/news/californian/61106191432.txt

North County Times
June 11, 2006

Reserve ups debate against proposed quarry

By: DEIRDRE NEWMAN - Staff Writer
When Matt Rahn was hired to work at an ecological reserve south of Temecula, he was supposed to be engaged in research and outreach ---- letting people know about the eclectic array of projects going on among the pristine hills.

Soon after he began working as the director of the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, plans for a large mining operation nearby surfaced and Rahn was thrown on the defensive.
He has since been involved in a full-court press against the quarry as concerns mount about the effect it would have on the ecologically sensitive reserve. Now, San Diego State University, which owns the reserve, is poised to hire a public relations firm to counter what Rahn contends is misinformation being spread by Granite Construction, which has proposed the quarry.

The university has already hired an attorney to provide legal advice throughout the permitting process, Rahn said, and hiring a public relations firm will be another financial burden.

"Unfortunately, we have to do this," he said. "The option is to get bulldozed with false statements."

Granite has proposed building a mine that would be 1,000 feet deep and a mile long on a site north of the San Diego County line. An environmental report is being compiled and the project, dubbed Liberty Quarry, will ultimately come before the Riverside County Board of Supervisors for consideration.

The 4,344-acre ecological reserve is northwest of the proposed quarry site, and its research projects cover areas such as weather, water quality, earthquake monitoring, and more recently, fire detection monitoring.

While reserve officials fight to protect their property, a regional body in San Diego County has held preliminary discussions on how to make more areas filled with aggregate ---- rocks added to cement to make concrete ---- open to development, while not doing so at the expense of sensitive habitat areas.

Review process

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