Californians deserve to have their public lands managed for the good of the people. These precious wilderness areas belong to us, not the oil and gas industry.
The Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rules for regulated hydraulic fracturing on Federal and Native American lands are not only weak, but they do not take into account all the harmful processes required to frack for oil and gas.
Support SB 833 : Protect Sacred Sites and Clean Drinking Water
[emailpetition id=”4″]
RE: SB 833 (VARGAS) Water Quality and Sacred Site Protection in San Diego County – SUPPORT
Dear Governor Brown:
I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to please sign SB 833, by Senator Juan Vargas. This bill would prohibit the operation of a waste disposal facility within 1,000 feet of a drinking water source and within 1,000 feet of a site that is listed with the Native American Heritage Commission as sacred to a federally recognized Indian tribe. This bill would put a stop to the proposed Gregory Canyon Landfill project, which would be built on the border of the Pala Indian Reservation and next to the San Luis Rey River.
The Gregory Canyon Landfill presents numerous environmental problems, not the least of which is the threat to water supplies. The San Luis Rey River flows past the mouth of the landfill site; two California Water Authority pipelines that supply drinking water to San Diego County are located within the landfill footprint; and a vital groundwater aquifer lies underneath the site. A landfill in Gregory Canyon would unacceptably threaten the safety of these water sources.
A landfill in Gregory Canyon would also desecrate Gregory Canyon and Medicine Rock, two sites that hold tremendous religious significance for Native Americans throughout southern California. SB 833 would help insure that these irreplaceable sacred sites are protected for future generations.
Protecting precious water and respecting the religion and culture of Native American tribes is of utmost importance, which is why I respectfully urge you to sign SB 833 and protect Gregory Canyon forever. I respectfully ask you to preserve the Earth and Sky which are Sacred to both Native and non-Native Americans who have made this great land our home.
Sincerely,
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
________
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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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
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Big Government side with Big Business against the will of the people?
Granite Construction Corporation’s proposed Liberty Quarry project is inconsistent with the needs and land use within the targeted area of southern Riverside County.
The Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve is part of uninterrupted forest adjacent to the proposed quarry. On this same land, the existence of the last wildlife corridor between the coastal Santa Ana Mountains and inland Palomar Mountains is threatened. The Santa Margarita is the last free flowing river in Southern California and is in danger of becoming polluted. Failure to consider cultural, environmental, and social issues beyond the letter of the law will lead to irreversible consequences within the vicinity of the site and at locations distant from the site. These include threatened loss of Native American Sacred Sites, pollution of groundwater, pollution of the Santa Margarita River from quarry runoff, pollution of the drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendelton, loss of San Diego State University-based research funding and ultimately, loss of the LAST pristine, wild river and wildlife corridor of Southern California’s American West.
Take Action
“All it will take for Granite Construction to triumph is for good citizens to do nothing.” —Edmund Burke (with respect)
Don’t let cynicism rob you of your will to speak up for what you know is right. If you elect to do nothing to speak for the land which cannot speak for itself, the corporation will win through the default of your inaction.
Send the petition below, post on FaceBook, make calls to your elected representatives, tell your friends, read more about what we all stand to lose if Granite Construction Corporation has their way. They may win anyway. Guaranteed you will sleep better at night knowing that you at least tried to make a difference.
Help ensure the survival of this important area, including the last free-flowing river in Southern California by signing this petition: [emailpetition id=”1″]
Once you have signed the petition, you may share the petition with your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter using the buttons provided.
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