All posts by Peter Terezakis

Earth, Petition, Sacred Sites

SUPPORT AB 742 and STOP Liberty Quarry

You are reading this because you are family, friend, fan, or interested in the Sacred Sky Sacred Earth series of events. As such a person you are a vital part of that work.

Until recently, postings have always been to let you know about an upcoming event or exhibition.

This one is different. Today I am asking you to join a growing number of concerned individuals to help prevent the erasure of a site sacred to the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, the destruction of Southern California’s LAST wild river and LAST coastal wildlife corridor, and more.

Please click through this link to show your support of the bi-partisan bill AB 742 which has been drafted to specifically prevent Granite Construction Corporation’s Liberty Quarry project.

Copies of the petition will be sent to elected officials concerned with this bill on the local and state level including the Board of Supervisors, Members of the Senate, and Congress and eventually to Governor Jerry Brown.

The bi-partisan legislation which is specific to defeating the attack on the land in question may be read here.   The City of Temecula has been fighting Granite Construction Corporation over the intended Liberty Quarry since 2005.   A Granite Construction Corporation spokesperson recently said that they had spent close to $10 million dollars on the project (without purchasing land or breaking ground) to date.  Another article indicated that Granite Construction Corporation had recently hired high-profile lobbying and PR firms in Sacramento.

There is little doubt that Granite Construction Corporation  is seeking to force itself on the community and is preparing a new strategy even now.

Granite Construction’s current official press release regarding AB 742 is at this link  with the spin that their most recent hire KP Public Affairs (Ka-Pow.com) is creating.

KP Public Affairs The Experts at Winning
KP Public Affairs The Experts at Winning

I ask that you click on the petition to signal your awareness of these issues and to support this bill to elected representatives. I have been told that they log every call, every fax, every email, both for and against this issue.

Together I believe we can speak for the living land and prevent its death.

Thank you,

Peter Terezakis
San Diego, California
August 31, 2011

STOP Liberty Quarry SAVE Sacred Sites and the LAST Wild River in Southern California
Support AB 742 STOP LIBERTY QUARRY

Video of the Santa Margarita River flowing through the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (January 2005).
Granite Construction would destroy Southern California's Last Wild River for profit

Earth

Lies, Half-Truths, and Deliberate Obfuscations of Reality

“​CalChamber-Opposed Bill Removes Local Control of Land Use Permitting Authority”
-Amy Mmagu CalChamber Policy Staff

In addition to jeopardizing jobs, AB 742 inappropriately circumvents local land use decisions.  This project, now in the sixth year of its permitting process, has a final environmental impact report and is being reviewed by the Riverside County Planning Commission. The project is expected to go to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors before the end of 2011.

CalChamber-Opposed Bill Removes Local Control of Land Use Permitting Authority

____________

1/2 Truth:   “….jeopardizing jobs….” – No quarry, no quarry jobs to lose.   In fact, the jobs that would be lost would be those from businesses having to leave the community – including those dependent on water.

? :  “circumvents local land use decisions” – the community and City of Temecula have been trying to keep the quarry out since 2005.  If city government is local government, could it be that Granite Construction, their PR firms and lobbyists are not telling the truth?

Obfuscation of Reality:  “….sixth year of permitting process….”  See above.  Granite keeps trying and the City keeps saying “NO”

Mega-Deliberate Obfuscation of Reality:  “[Granite Construction Corporation] ….has a final environmental impact report….”   The City of Temecula spent over a quarter of a million dollars to hire experts to debunk Granite Construction Corporation’s EIR.

Photo by Steve Evans
Santa Margarita River would be destroyed by Liberty Quarry
Sacred Sites

Granite Construction’s newest hire: “KP PUBLIC AFFAIRS: THE EXPERTS AT WINNING”

According to Granite Construction operations manager Gary Johnson, Granite Construction has spent $10 million dollars to date on their intended Liberty Quarry project.   Their goal is to create one of the largest open pit gravel mining operations in the United States, less than a mile from the City of Temecula, on land sacred to the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, at the source of the last wild river, and the last wildlife corridor in Southern California.  If you think this is a bad idea fraught with even more objections, you are not alone.

Not satisfied with the “NO” from over 30,000 signatures from residents, 159 area physicians, 467 local businesses, and now a pending bi-partisan article of legislation (AB 742) written to block this specific project from erasing a sacred site,

A 1,000 residents of Temecula gathered to make their voice heard
A Message to Elected Officials and Granite Construction Corporation

Granite Construction continues to seek to have over six years of documented “NO QUARRY” reinterpreted as “Yes.”

To accomplish this end, they have  recently hired the largest and most powerful public relations firm in Sacramento KP Public Affairs (KA-POW.com) to prevent the city of Temecula and its residents from preserving their land.

Within polite societies in most parts of the world, young adults are taught that when it comes to dating, “NO” means “NO.”  Could it be that an 89 year-old corporation may need to update its ethics?  What part of “NO” does Granite Construction not understand when it comes to courting Mother Earth?

Granite Construction has hired Ka-Pow.com to re-engineer “NO” to , “YES, please!.”  As of today all those opposed to the intended taking of the land by force of finance need to redouble their efforts to prevent this action.

The Truth Will Be Modified?
Granite Construction hires Ka-POW public relations

Specialized Regulatory Practice
Successfully addressing California’s regulatory activism requires a comprehensive knowledge of the issues as well as the political experience to impact the rulemaking process.

"For the last 20 years, KP has been involved in nearly every major environmental law and regulatory effort,"

“California has created the most stringent environmental regulations in the world. For the last 20 years, KP has been involved in nearly every major environmental law and regulatory effort, including AB 32 implementation and greenhouse gas regulations, California’s Green Chemistry Initiative and “Safer Substitutes” regulations, Brownfield and site cleanup standards, storm water policy and regulations and groundwater monitoring and protection programs. We also work on air quality issues, fuel regulations, energy efficiency standards and Proposition 65 listings and regulations.” – Ka-Pow.com website

Granite Construction Corporation, Pechanga, Sacred Sky Sacred Earth

Environmental Impact Reports, Granite Construction, and Devils in Suits…

Granite Construction Corporation’s (Granite) recently presented Environmental Impact Report (EIR) referencing their proposed Liberty Quarry project has by definition been funded by an 89-year old member of a gross polluting industry.

Granite has been generating EIR for years. A good deal of their research has been funded by other polluting industries.

In this most recent study, through omission the authors claim that Americans do not put any value on things like having parks to walk in, breathing unpolluted air, drinking safe water, or avoiding getting sick. Of course, the paper doesn’t state it quite like that. What it says is academic-sounding, inside-baseball stuff. It claims that the Environmental Protection Agency got it all wrong in a recent analysis that found true value from less pollution. Why? Because, the authors say, you can’t put a dollar figure on the benefit of less pollution.

This assertion is not only wrong. It is Earth-is-flat fraudulent.

It ignores something what we all know: people value a lot of things that you can’t put a dollar figure on. Something that economics references as “well-being.” In doing this, the paper helps give academic-sounding cover to those who would remove hard-won safeguards which help keep Americans safe and healthy.

By challenging the way the American government calculates benefits to its citizens – i.e. the work of scientists and experts whose duty is to keep Americans’ health and environment safe – the paper is serves economic interests of factories, oil companies and others who don’t like to be held accountable for the pollution they release into our air.

There are many other troubling issues in the paper. It ignores, for instance, the fact that the government’s calculations have been peer-reviewed; not based on ideological hyperbole. It also fails to account for the savings generated when people don’t have to be paid damages after getting sick from pollution. It also leaves out that its authors have long been paid by gross polluting industries.

But it’s the way the paper fits into the broader undermining of American values that’s most troubling.

It is, in fact, just one of many signs of the growing movement against government safeguards. That movement taps into the American spirit of the frontier and a yearning for independence. The movement discounts the fact that a free, functioning society is a society where laws – and yes, government – protect basic privileges which we take for granted. These includes everything from roads that are safe to drive on, lakes that are clean enough to swim in, air that is healthy to breathe, and rivers that do not catch on fire.

A paper like the one put out by National Economic Research Associates not only disregards the value of these government services. It also tries to give a veneer of credibility to those who would undermine so many things Americans cherish. It is time to pull back the curtain and reveal the polluter-funded pseudo-economists for what they really are: anti-regulatory advocates, not independent academics.

Petition, Sacred Sites

AB 742

BILL NUMBER: AB 742 AMENDED BILL TEXT

AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 16, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2011

INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Nestande Bonnie Lowenthal
( Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Roger Hernández )
( Principal coauthor: Senator Wyland )
( Coauthors: Assembly Members Allen, Atkins, Beall, Block, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Butler, Carter, Davis, Eng, Beth Gaines, Gatto, Hagman,
Hill, Hueso, Lara, Ma, Mitchell, V. Manuel Pérez, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, and Yamada )
( Coauthors: Senators Harman, Lieu, Padilla, Price, Runner, Strickland, Vargas, and Wolk )

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

An act to amend Section 2773.3 of the Public Resources Code, relating to mining, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 742, as amended, Nestande Bonnie Lowenthal . Tribal gaming: local agencies.
Surface mining: Indian reservations and Native American sacred sites.
(1) The Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 prohibits a person, with exceptions, from conducting surface mining operations unless a permit is obtained from, a reclamation plan is submitted to and approved by, and financial assurances for reclamation have been approved by, the lead agency for the operation. Existing law prohibits a lead agency from approving a reclamation plan for a surface mining operation for gold, silver, copper, or other metallic minerals or financial assurances for the operation if the operation is located on, or within one mile of, a Native American sacred site and is located in an area of special concern, unless certain criteria are met.

This bill would also prohibit a lead agency from approving a reclamation plan for an aggregate products operation if the operation is located on or within 2,000 yards of the external boundaries of an Indian reservation and is on or within 5,000 yards of a Native American sacred site, and is on or within 4,000 yards of the Santa Margarita River or an aquifer that is hydrologically connected to the river, unless the tribe whose reservation is nearest the operation consents to the operation.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

    THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Section 2773.3 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:
2773.3. (a) In addition to other reclamation plan requirements of this chapter and regulations adopted by the board pursuant to this chapter, a lead agency may not approve a reclamation plan for a surface mining operation for gold, silver, copper, or other metallic minerals or financial assurances for the operation, if the operation is located on, or within one mile of, any Native American sacred site and is located in an area of special concern, unless both of the following criteria are met:
(1) The reclamation plan requires that all excavations be backfilled and graded to do both of the following:
(A) Achieve the approximate original contours of the mined lands prior to mining.
(B) Grade all mined materials that are in excess of the materials that can be placed back into excavated areas, including, but not limited to, all overburden, spoil piles, and heap leach piles, over the project site to achieve the approximate original contours of the mined lands prior to mining.
(2) The financial assurances are sufficient in amount to provide for the backfilling and grading required by paragraph (1).
(b) In addition to other reclamation plan requirements of this chapter and regulations adopted by the board pursuant to this chapter, a lead agency may not approve a reclamation plan for an aggregate products operation if the operation is located on or within 2,000 yards of the external boundaries of an Indian reservation and is on or within 5,000 yards of a site that is a Native American sacred site and is on or within 4,000 yards of the Santa Margarita River or an aquifer that is hydrologically connected to that river, unless the tribe whose reservation is nearest the operation consents to the operation.
(c) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meaning meanings :
(1) “Native American sacred site” means a specific area that is identified by a federally recognized Indian Tribe, Rancheria or Mission Band of Indians, or by the Native American Heritage Commission, as sacred by virtue of its established historical or cultural significance to, or ceremonial use by, a Native American group, including, but not limited to, any an area containing a prayer circle, shrine, petroglyph, or spirit break, or a path or area linking the circle, shrine, petroglyph, or spirit break with another circle, shrine, petroglyph, or spirit break.
(2) “Area of special concern” means an area in the California desert that is designated as Class C or Class L lands or as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern under the California Desert Conservation Area Plan of 1980, as amended, by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, pursuant to Section 1781 of Title 43 of the United States Code.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

To protect from imminent destruction Native American reservations and sacred sites threatened by proposed aggregate products mining operations, it is necessary for this measure to take effective immediately. All matter omitted in this version of the bill appears in the bill as amended in the Assembly, March 31, 2011.
(JR11)

MAKE YOUR VOICE COUNT: Let our elected representatives know that you support this very important piece of legislation by sending the petition below.

[emailpetition id=”2″]

Unlike social media and commercial web sites, your contact information will remain private.

NYU

Support AB 742 : Protect Sacred Sites

PETITION TO SUPPORT AB 742: PROTECT SACRED SITES OF THE PENCHANGA BAND OF LUISENO INDIANS:

[emailpetition id=”2″]

August 15, 2011
California State Assembly Members and Senators
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: SUPPORT for AB 742 (B. Lowenthal)

Dear Assembly Member and Senator:

I write today to ask you to support AB 742 (B. Lowenthal). AB 742 is an important measure which would provide greater protection for Native American sacred sites by adding aggregate operations to the list of mining activities prohibited near such sites; specifically the project which threatens the creation place of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. This legislation will also help to protect the Santa Margarita River, the 4,500 acre Santa Margarita Ecological Preserve of San Diego State University, and the Quality of Life for residents in the communities of Temecula, Murrieta, Fallbrook and Rainbow.

This specific article of legislation will not affect mining anywhere else in the state.

Granite Construction Company has applied to the County of Riverside for a Surface Mining Permit to produce 5 million tons aggregate (crushed rock) per year from the proposed Liberty Quarry. The proposed quarry would have a working surface area equivalent to 17 football fields and a depth twenty feet less than the Empire State Building is tall. This would be one of the largest open-pit hard rock mines in the United States and it would also be located at the Pechanga and Luiseño Place of Creation.

The referenced site, while critical to the Pechanga and the Luiseño, is important to the people of the Temecula Valley. Tourism is a critical element in the Temecula Valley, employing 6,600 people directly, providing services to 67,000 visitors per month with an estimated annual impact of 605 million dollars per year. A recent report by the Rose Institute of Claremont McKenna College estimated a negative impact of a minimal impact on tourism of 60.5 million dollars. When considering all costs, the Rose Institute estimated an annual cost to the community of over 80 million dollars. While the quarry might create 99 new jobs, it would destroy at least 660 existing jobs in the tourism industry alone.

It is because of these potential impacts as well as impacts on air quality, water quality and traffic, and the loss of the only remaining wildlife linkage between the Santa Ana mountains and inland mountain ranges, that over 30,000 valley residents have signed petitions seeking to prevent the quarry. In addition, over 520 Businesses and Non-Government Organizations have signed up opposing the quarry. These businesses are joined by 159 local physicians opposing the quarry.

SACRED SKY SACRED EARTH: TEMECULA
Support AB 742: Save Sacred Sites • Save the Last River

The proposed “Liberty Quarry” project would mark the end of the LAST wild river of Southern California and with it the region’s LAST wildlife corridor between the coastal Santa Ana Mountains and inland Palomar Mountains. Granite Construction’s project would degrade this LAST section of living, vital land., which is filled with the living history of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. The area of living earth which Granite has targeted for destruction is part of a greater area which is replete with all the plant and animal life unique to our area. Destruction of the living earth for the sake of profit is easy, and also forever.

Stewardship of this unique gift of a vital, dynamic, living ecosystem for generations to come may be the more difficult route. It is also what the community wants, what the voters want, and what is right for future generations.

Should the quarry go forward its legacy will be the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources, degradation of the environment, and the birth of long-lasting animosity towards all who would have permitted the project. There are currently over thirty thousand signatories who have expressed their desire to NOT have this project in their community. Other sources for aggregate currently exist in San Diego, Riverside, and Imperial Counties.

I respectfully ask you to preserve the Earth and Sky which are Sacred to both Native Americans and to those of us who have made this great land our home. Do not let Granite Construction destroy this land, malign your electorate, and put the business plan of one corporation above the will of thousands who live in the community. Please support AB 742 and help to ensure the preservation of this sacred site for generations to come.

Granite Construction Corporation, Liberty Quarry, Petition, Sacred Sites, Sacred Sky Sacred Earth

AB 742

PETITION TO SUPPORT AB 742: PROTECT SACRED SITES OF THE PENCHANGA BAND OF LUISENO INDIANS:

[emailpetition id=”2″]

August 15, 2011
California State Assembly Members and Senators
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: SUPPORT for AB 742 (B. Lowenthal)

Dear Assembly Member and Senator:

I write today to ask you to support AB 742 (B. Lowenthal). AB 742 is an important measure which would provide greater protection for Native American sacred sites by adding aggregate operations to the list of mining activities prohibited near such sites; specifically the project which threatens the creation place of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. This legislation will also help to protect the Santa Margarita River, the 4,500 acre Santa Margarita Ecological Preserve of San Diego State University, and the Quality of Life for residents in the communities of Temecula, Murrieta, Fallbrook and Rainbow.

This specific article of legislation will not affect mining anywhere else in the state.

Granite Construction Company has applied to the County of Riverside for a Surface Mining Permit to produce 5 million tons aggregate (crushed rock) per year from the proposed Liberty Quarry. The proposed quarry would have a working surface area equivalent to 17 football fields and a depth twenty feet less than the Empire State Building is tall. This would be one of the largest open-pit hard rock mines in the United States and it would also be located at the Pechanga and Luiseño Place of Creation.

The referenced site, while critical to the Pechanga and the Luiseño, is important to the people of the Temecula Valley. Tourism is a critical element in the Temecula Valley, employing 6,600 people directly, providing services to 67,000 visitors per month with an estimated annual impact of 605 million dollars per year. A recent report by the Rose Institute of Claremont McKenna College estimated a negative impact of a minimal impact on tourism of 60.5 million dollars. When considering all costs, the Rose Institute estimated an annual cost to the community of over 80 million dollars. While the quarry might create 99 new jobs, it would destroy at least 660 existing jobs in the tourism industry alone.

It is because of these potential impacts as well as impacts on air quality, water quality and traffic, and the loss of the only remaining wildlife linkage between the Santa Ana mountains and inland mountain ranges, that over 30,000 valley residents have signed petitions seeking to prevent the quarry. In addition, over 520 Businesses and Non-Government Organizations have signed up opposing the quarry. These businesses are joined by 159 local physicians opposing the quarry.

SACRED SKY SACRED EARTH: TEMECULA
Support AB 742: Save Sacred Sites • Save the Last River

The proposed “Liberty Quarry” project would mark the end of the LAST wild river of Southern California and with it the region’s LAST wildlife corridor between the coastal Santa Ana Mountains and inland Palomar Mountains. Granite Construction’s project would degrade this LAST section of living, vital land., which is filled with the living history of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. The area of living earth which Granite has targeted for destruction is part of a greater area which is replete with all the plant and animal life unique to our area. Destruction of the living earth for the sake of profit is easy, and also forever.

Stewardship of this unique gift of a vital, dynamic, living ecosystem for generations to come may be the more difficult route. It is also what the community wants, what the voters want, and what is right for future generations.

Should the quarry go forward its legacy will be the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources, degradation of the environment, and the birth of long-lasting animosity towards all who would have permitted the project. There are currently over thirty thousand signatories who have expressed their desire to NOT have this project in their community. Other sources for aggregate currently exist in San Diego, Riverside, and Imperial Counties.

I respectfully ask you to preserve the Earth and Sky which are Sacred to both Native Americans and to those of us who have made this great land our home. Do not let Granite Construction destroy this land, malign your electorate, and put the business plan of one corporation above the will of thousands who live in the community. Please support AB 742 and help to ensure the preservation of this sacred site for generations to come.

Granite Construction Corporation, Mining, Pechanga

Liberty Quarry Quick Facts

Reality vs. Public Relations

• Over 30,000 Temecula Community citizens, 159 physicians, and 467 local businesses have signed petitions protesting the Liberty Quarry Project.
• Since 2005, the City of Temecula has spent $784,000 dollars to combat Granite Construction’s Liberty Quarry
• Temecula City Council passed a resolution opposing Liberty Quarry.
• Blasting would occur six days a week for the seventy-five year lifetime of the project.
• 5 million tons of aggregate would be removed by trucks every year (7 am until 9 pm).
• Asphalt, concrete, and concrete re-cycling plants, would be part of the quarry.
• Excavation would be approximately 1000 feet deep. The observatory deck at the Empire State Building is 1224 feet from the ground
• Excavation intended to be equal to 117 football fields in width.
• Once completed, there are no plans to remediate the land: a hole would remain.
• The land is held to be Sacred by Native Americans who have called the area their home for generations before being forced at gunpoint to resettle on the reservation.
• The “undeveloped land” is part of a greater area of uninterrupted forest which comprises the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve – a living laboratory under continuous operation by San Diego State University and researchers for the past forty years.
• The acreage in question feeds the Santa Margarita River (flowing through the Reserve) and supplies drinking water to nearby, down-river Camp Pendleton.
• Liberty Quarry would consume 130,000,000 gallons of water per year.
• The Santa Margarita River is the LAST wild river in Southern California.
• The Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve and the surrounding area comprise the LAST wildlife corridor between the Santa Ana Mountains and the Palomar Mountain Range.
• Other sources for construction aggregate exist in the region, at least one of which is owned by Granite Construction Corporation.

A 1,000 residents of Temecula gathered to make their voice heard
A Message to Elected Officials and Granite Construction Corporation

From the Granite Construction Website:
” Character Matters

Honesty, Integrity, Fairness, Accountability, Consideration of Others, Pursuit of Excellence, Reliability, and Citizenship are the fundamentals of our Code of Conduct.”
– Walter Wilkinson, First President of Granite Construction Coporation

Granite Construction Corporation, Liberty Quarry, Pechanga, Petition

Pechanga Sponsors Legislation to Protect Tribe’s Place of Creation

Pechanga Sponsors Legislation to Protect Tribe’s Place of Creation

Pechanga Indian Reservation, CA, August 4, 2011 – The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians announced that it is sponsoring a bipartisan bill with more than 30 co‐authors in the State Legislature to protect the mountain that is the very birthplace of creation for Pechanga and other Luiseño tribes from being blasted and excavated as a mine for the next 75 years.

Granite Construction Inc. is seeking Riverside County’s approval of its Surface Mining Permit Application to develop the Liberty Quarry, which would be one of the largest open‐pit hard rock mines in the United States generating 5 million tons of aggregate each year. Located just 500 yards from the Pechanga Indian Reservation, the Liberty Quarry would produce 270 million tons of aggregate by blasting a crater as wide as 117 football fields and as deep as the Empire State Building is tall less than ¼ of a mile from the heavily populated City of Temecula.

Upon reviewing Liberty Quarry’s Draft Environmental Impact Report, the Pechanga Band determined the 414‐acre project would cause irreparable and immitigable destruction to this place of creation. “Our Tribe participated in the environmental review process and took extraordinary and unprecedented steps to provide Riverside County with ethnographic and other evidence detailing the significance of this area to Pechanga,” said Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro.

Granite’s own ethnographic experts acknowledged the site as significant to the Tribe. Published in May 2009, the Ethnography Study noted, “…it is clear that much if not all of the Liberty Quarry project area… lies within a landscape that the Pechanga Tribe regards as spiritually significant… As such, this landscape is eligible for National Register of Historic Properties nomination as a TCP [Traditional Cultural Property] district.”

County planning staff in March, however, wrote in the Final Environmental Impact Report “…the County respectfully disagrees with the Tribe’s characterization of the area in and around the Project Site as TCP” and found the devastating cultural impacts to be “less than significant” under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

“That county planners deemed our Tribe’s place of creation ‘insignificant’ under CEQA despite overwhelming and independent evidence to the contrary is disgraceful,” said Tribal Chairman Macarro. “Because county planners have failed to honor the spirit of the law designed to protect such areas, we are forced to seek additional legislation to protect our place of creation from destruction.”

Authored by Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal, D‐Long Beach, AB 742 would amend the Public Resources Code to include aggregate operations on the list of mining activities restricted near Native American sacred sites.

“I believe respecting one another’s religious beliefs is key to a healthy society,” said Lowenthal. “And there’s probably no better place to demonstrate this than on a mountain where some believe life itself began,” she said.

Scholars say that Káamalam Pomki is analogous to the Garden of Eden as the location of creation or to the Wailing Wall or Sistine Chapel in terms of spiritual significance.

“It is not an option to tell our future generations that their place of creation, the basis of their history and their very identity, used to be here,” said Macarro. “As any other People would, we will bring to bear all of the resources at our disposal to protect this sacred area from the permanent destruction this massive mine would cause.”

The controversial Liberty Quarry is also opposed by the City of Temecula, the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve that is immediately adjacent to the proposed area, thousands of residents, hundreds of businesses, more than 150 physicians that live and work in the Temecula Valley, Southern California Indian Tribes, and every federally recognized Luiseño Tribe.

Proponents of the Liberty Quarry argue that the mine will create a total of 99 jobs. However, the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College analyzed Granite’s economic impact report and found “these quarry jobs will be more than offset by job losses in tourism, real estate, construction, and agriculture.”

Calculating all of the benefits and the costs associated with the proposed Liberty Quarry, the Rose Institute estimates that, “the quarry will reduce property values by $540 million and cost the region an additional $80 million per year” with an “estimated total cumulative net negative impact of $3.6 billion to the region.”



Watch Granite Construction take the land apart at about 4:30

Real-life AVATAR drama re-enacted in Temecula Granite Construction Corporation (RDA) vs. citizens of Temecula and surrounding areaWill Big Government side with Big Business against the will of the people?

Earth, Sacred Sites

Pechanga Sponsors Legislation to Protect Tribe’s Place of Creation

2 Comments

Pechanga Sponsors Legislation to Protect Tribe’s Place of Creation

Pechanga Indian Reservation, CA, August 4, 2011 – The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians announced that it is sponsoring a bipartisan bill with more than 30 co‐authors in the State Legislature to protect the mountain that is the very birthplace of creation for Pechanga and other Luiseño tribes from being blasted and excavated as a mine for the next 75 years.

Granite Construction Inc. is seeking Riverside County’s approval of its Surface Mining Permit Application to develop the Liberty Quarry, which would be one of the largest open‐pit hard rock mines in the United States generating 5 million tons of aggregate each year. Located just 500 yards from the Pechanga Indian Reservation, the Liberty Quarry would produce 270 million tons of aggregate by blasting a crater as wide as 117 football fields and as deep as the Empire State Building is tall less than ¼ of a mile from the heavily populated City of Temecula.

Upon reviewing Liberty Quarry’s Draft Environmental Impact Report, the Pechanga Band determined the 414‐acre project would cause irreparable and immitigable destruction to this place of creation. “Our Tribe participated in the environmental review process and took extraordinary and unprecedented steps to provide Riverside County with ethnographic and other evidence detailing the significance of this area to Pechanga,” said Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro.

Granite’s own ethnographic experts acknowledged the site as significant to the Tribe. Published in May 2009, the Ethnography Study noted, “…it is clear that much if not all of the Liberty Quarry project area… lies within a landscape that the Pechanga Tribe regards as spiritually significant… As such, this landscape is eligible for National Register of Historic Properties nomination as a TCP [Traditional Cultural Property] district.”

County planning staff in March, however, wrote in the Final Environmental Impact Report “…the County respectfully disagrees with the Tribe’s characterization of the area in and around the Project Site as TCP” and found the devastating cultural impacts to be “less than significant” under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

“That county planners deemed our Tribe’s place of creation ‘insignificant’ under CEQA despite overwhelming and independent evidence to the contrary is disgraceful,” said Tribal Chairman Macarro. “Because county planners have failed to honor the spirit of the law designed to protect such areas, we are forced to seek additional legislation to protect our place of creation from destruction.”

Authored by Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal, D‐Long Beach, AB 742 would amend the Public Resources Code to include aggregate operations on the list of mining activities restricted near Native American sacred sites.

“I believe respecting one another’s religious beliefs is key to a healthy society,” said Lowenthal. “And there’s probably no better place to demonstrate this than on a mountain where some believe life itself began,” she said.

Scholars say that Káamalam Pomki is analogous to the Garden of Eden as the location of creation or to the Wailing Wall or Sistine Chapel in terms of spiritual significance.

“It is not an option to tell our future generations that their place of creation, the basis of their history and their very identity, used to be here,” said Macarro. “As any other People would, we will bring to bear all of the resources at our disposal to protect this sacred area from the permanent destruction this massive mine would cause.”

The controversial Liberty Quarry is also opposed by the City of Temecula, the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve that is immediately adjacent to the proposed area, thousands of residents, hundreds of businesses, more than 150 physicians that live and work in the Temecula Valley, Southern California Indian Tribes, and every federally recognized Luiseño Tribe.

Proponents of the Liberty Quarry argue that the mine will create a total of 99 jobs. However, the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College analyzed Granite’s economic impact report and found “these quarry jobs will be more than offset by job losses in tourism, real estate, construction, and agriculture.”

Calculating all of the benefits and the costs associated with the proposed Liberty Quarry, the Rose Institute estimates that, “the quarry will reduce property values by $540 million and cost the region an additional $80 million per year” with an “estimated total cumulative net negative impact of $3.6 billion to the region.”

Watch Granite Construction take the land apart at about 4:30

Real-life AVATAR drama re-enacted in Temecula Granite Construction Corporation (RDA) vs. citizens of Temecula and surrounding areaWill Regional Government side with Big Business Against Local Government?