The title says it all. As if it isn’t enough that our planet is under attack by greedy, narrow-minded individuals, and corporations, drug-related activity in forests and park lands will degrade those environments, and create the excuse for state and federal authorities to sell those lands. On the flip side, fighting the war on drugs and getting a grip on illegal border crossings might be the best use of American troops returning from wars abroad. The article from the current issue of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility appears here.
Category Archives: Earth
7 Billion People On Earth
We have some serious issues as a species when economic growth in the United States is measured by new housing construction and sales. Extending that visualization to the absurd, questions come to mind. One resource indicates that Athens during the Golden Age of Greece possessed a population of 315,000. The population in Athens is now over 4 million.
Millions of Bees Die Overnight
Banned by the Valley News Network and recent posts elsewhere
North County Times and the Fallbrook Valley News like to delete my comments on articles related to Liberty Quarry. I wonder why?
I came across some interesting articles the past 24 hours and have posted some comments which I am reproducing here:
Since AB-742 was recently introduced, Granite has been crying for “local government” to decide the issue. Given LAFCO’s denial of the City of Temecula’s original annexation plans due to a request from Granite, I’d be tempted to say some of the $10 million dollars that Garry Johnson has invested spoke louder than local government.
This fight is far from over: Granite will not go away easily.
Support AB 742. Join both Native American and non-Native Americans to enact legislation which will save Native American sacred sites as well as the LAST wild river and LAST coastal wildlife corridor in Southern California: http://www.ab-742.com
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EVERYONE needs to stay committed to the political process. We MUST elect officials of integrity – and vote them OUT of office when they cease to represent us.
“The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.” – Brown Act, 1953 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Act
Peter Terezakis
5:53am on Thursday, September 15, 2011
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Tribe, Granite Fight Over Sacred Site
The construction company and the tribe argued about whether a site near a proposed quarry is sacred.
Granite cares about nothing except converting rock into cash. They will continue to use their time-tested scripts to achieve goals and ride over local communities using millions of well-placed dollars to grease the wheels of the corrupt to do so.
Support AB 742. Join both Native American and non-Native Americans to enact legislation which will save Native American sacred sites as well as the LAST wild river and LAST coastal wildlife corridor in Southern California: http://www.ab-742.com
Peter Terezakis
6:36am on Thursday, September 15, 2011
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• Quarry jobs: Most would be taken by unemployed union members from outside of the area.
• There is no way to put a lid over the entire quarry.
• Winds blowing over the quarry will create a partial vacuum pulling material into the atmosphere.
• superfine particulate matter will mix with moisture in the air and form an aerosol which will not fall to the ground.
• ” Editor’s note: This story is actually from a news service; it is not an article written by one of our writers.” – That is a pathetic excuse for how YOU have chosen to portray this issue to YOUR public.
• “….the news service is from Los Angeles who was there and they are in no way in Granite’s back pocket…” This is an equally pathetic statement proven wrong by the contents of the article.
The Editor and Staff ought to be embarrassed for printing Granite’s press release spin as fact. If FVN was at all concerned about advertising from the community which it ostensibly represents; this article would never have come to print. Since you chose to endorse this article the only question is how much money are you directly taking from Granite or its affiliates?
Support AB 742. Join both Native American and non-Native Americans to enact legislation which will save Native American sacred sites as well as the LAST wild river and LAST coastal wildlife corridor in Southern California: http://www.ab-742.com
Note: This following comment on the article published above was removed twice by the Village News Network editors and/or staff. After answering a challenge question on a return visit to prove I was not a SPAMBOT, I was allowed to post this same text a third time. When assembling this page I went to check to see if my comment was still up. As of today, my computer has been banned from their network.
The Great Blackout of 8/9/11
This should become THE classic example of why the old model of a highly centralized, monolithic power generation system should be DUMPED in favor of de-centralized local power generation.
The same parallels exist for the old model of the central IBM supercomputer versus the infinitely more robust and powerful distributed networking structure which forms the internet today: Centralized = catastrophic failure, maximum impact De-centralized = localized failures, minimal impact.
Power generation technology has changed: We are no longer dependent on capital intensive coal/gas-fired mega plants (at least in the southwest) to supply power.
Southern California property owners should all be generating power from every rooftop and available open space according to their ability and willingness.
Everyone can take advantage of existing wiring which brings power to homes and businesses to transmit power back through the network.
Those who want to generate their own power at night can install the necessary off-the-shelf hardware to do so.
Massive capital-intensive solar projects and “green” power transmission efforts string cable and towers across vast expanses of desert will perpetuate the exact same scenario as we have just experienced.
With 9/11 only days away it would be good to remember that the SunRise PowerLink, Blythe Solar Project and other efforts will continue to offer terrorists hundreds of miles of indefensible, easily accessible towers and power lines which could trigger an even larger blackout next time.
From what I can tell a “Public Utility” just means that it has a monopoly to to provide an essential service to a captive market.
Yesterday’s blackout possesses the potential to provide an opportunity for SDG&E/Sempra Energy and a host of other related companies to prove that even blood-sucking leeches ensconced in nineteenth century carpetbagger business practices can change for the better.
If anyone has read this much, there are a whole lot of us that would appreciate your support on this issue: http://www.ab-742.com.com Thank you.
Et Tu, KPBS? “Casino Money Goes To Protecting Indian Sacred Sites”
BY ALISON ST JOHN
September 2, 2011
The article on the KPBS website may be read in full here
I admit to being upset by the article referenced above.
So much so that I wrote the following – which KPBS has elected to leave visible.
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Great headline! Maybe the author could work in, “Granite Construction Corporation receives $29 Million Dollars of Federal stimulus money for work on roads within the Navajo Reservation and uses $10 million to destroy sites sacred to the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians.
Or a fact or two about the project:
The quarry would be a mile and a half long and as deep as the Empire State Building is tall. It would be one of the largest gravel pits in the nation. Blasting would occur every day that the quarry is open (six days) and operation would be from 7 am until 10 pm. Deforested areas visible from the highway (due to loss of ground water) would be painted green.
A note about the involvement of local government:
The communities surrounding the site selected by Granite Construction Corporation have been fighting the proposed quarry since at least 2005. Documentation to this effect is available to the public via PDF of the Temecula City Council. Over 40,000 residents, 500 local businesses, and 140 area physicians have signed petitions protesting the proposed quarry.
On March 8, 2011 the City Council of the City of Temecula passed Resolution No. 11 opposing the Liberty Quarry project after spending $784,000 to annex properties and analyze/debunk Lilburn’s EIR paid for by Granite Construction Corporation. Lilburn’s motto of “Getting to Yes” gives insight into their methodology.
It was only after the failure of local communities and local government to stop Granite Construction’s plans that the Native American community became involved. Now both Native and non-Native Americans are doing their utmost to prevent the project.
On Wednesday August 31, 2011, the Riverside Planning Commission voted to deny the project as the benefits of the project did not outweigh the risks.
And a closing thought:
Why KPBS has chosen to malign the efforts of concerned communities surrounding the proposed Gregory Canyon Landfill and proposed Liberty Quarry with a borderline racist slant is beyond my comprehension.
The Liberty Quarry project would destroy the LAST wild river and LAST coastal wildlife corridor in Southern California. The fact that it contains sites which are sacred to people who have inhabited those lands for 10,000 years is axiomatic and I respect that. Native American beliefs and customs are different than those of my Christian heritage; but possibly not all that dissimilar from my forefathers belief system. Here is something else which I understand: All Creation is Divine.
Mr. John Petty (3rd District Planning Commissioner) raised an interesting topic at Wednesday’s meeting regarding Riverside County’s outdated permitting process. I trust that this is something which will be pursued. Regardless it is time to re-examine our treatment of “undeveloped land.” The negative effects of eighteenth century attitudes toward our vanishing natural world is impacting us all and not in a good way. It is time for a change based on facts: not the weight of a financial juggernaut.
http://sacredskysacredearth.com/ab-742/
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.
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
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).
Lies, Half-Truths, and Deliberate Obfuscations of Reality
CalChamber-Opposed Bill Removes Local Control of Land Use Permitting Authority
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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.
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
Will Regional Government side with Big Business Against Local Government?
Sacred Sky Sacred Earth new website
Summer is a time-proven golden opportunity to run special interest agendas through when you do not want a bunch of people to know what you are up to. Case and point would be Granite Construction Corporation’s euphemistically named “Liberty Quarry” project. Problem is that they have chosen a section of land to develop which would spell the end of the last wild river and the last wild life corridor in Southern California. LAST. Ain’t no more. All bought up, paved, built on and converted to contemporary ideas of civilization.
I recently became aware of this project as it would mean the destruction, actually the erasure of sites which are sacred to the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians. Having grown up with sacred sites on the islands of both sides of my family (Crete and Samothrace) I have an idea of what their loss would mean – especially to future generations.
Long story short, I will be spending more time updating the new Sacred Sky Sacred Earth website than adding to this one. Please visit by clicking the image below and signing a petition to help save this LAST section of land from destructive development.
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