News Subscribe  to Our Newsletter Sign  up for Email Updates CGF  In the News Press  Inquiries Past  Articles Calendar Related articles Intro:  Three perspectives on Hanson Quarry Quarry Perspective: Reclamation  status of Hanson Quarry County Response: Regulating  Hanson Quarry			CGF's Comments Our response to quarry  and county by Brian Schmidt, CGF Legislative Advocate The Committee for Green Foothills thanks Mr.  Stewart Smith from Hanson Permanente Cement and Supervisor  Kniss for addressing the issue of the scar from depositing waste rock  on the ridgeline overlooking much of the South Bay area. We specifically  want to commend Hanson Quarry for their quick response to our efforts.  We only wish that all officials were as quick as Hanson Quarry (and Supervisor  Kniss, for that matter) to return calls and invite our staff to check  out what they are doing. Plantings of grass and shrubs are a good first  step With Mr. Smith's kind invitation, we had the opportunity to tour the overburden  area. From that area, we observed a noticeable difference in the area  seeded with grass and the other areas that are mostly bare rock. Up close,  we saw the plantings of native shrubs and trees on a portion of the ridgeline  that will ultimately remove the visual impact of the overburden where  these shrubs have been planted. Installing driplines, as Hanson has done,  will accelerate the growth process. All that is to the good, but it is  not the entire story, and significant problems remain. On our tour of the Hanson Quarry, we saw up-close  the overburden area that has been planted with the native shrub and tree  seedlings that will help the scarred area transition to a more natural  state. CGF is asking Hanson to plant shrubs throughout the scarred region,  including the areas now covered only with grasses, so as to reduce its  visibility from throughout the valley. Plantings needed on the ridgetop Hanson does not plan to install native shrubs any higher than it has already, and grasses alone will not remove the visual impact from the waste rock. If one looks at the ridgeline now, the brown grass left on the lower part of the ridgeline stands out prominently from the dark green chaparral surrounding the area. Hanson officials have told us that some grassland originally existed on the ridgeline, but then it certainly would have blended in more than the long, straight rectangle that now exists. Fixing this problem would involve simply planting shrubs in some or all of the remaining area. Phased approach needed to speed restoration Hanson's plan for depositing waste rock maximizes the length of time that the scarring will be visible, instead of minimizing it. Hanson plans to deposit waste rock across the entire ridgeline until it reaches a specified height limit, and then the quarry operators will complete their revegetation plans.  We have suggested that Hanson instead work exclusively on one subsection of the ridgeline at a time. The quarry would reach its height limit in that area much more quickly and therefore could begin revegetation of that subsection sooner, while shifting the waste rock deposit to another section. Hanson staff has said they will investigate this solution; we look forward to their response.  "Reclamation Plan" sows the seeds for disaster Most ominously, Hanson wants to make the scarring much, much bigger. Their newly-proposed reclamation plan would raise the existing height limit by 100 feet, nearly doubling the overall height of the scar on the ridgeline. Along with making the scarring much bigger, the height extension would also make it last for many years longer. It is simply hard to take this proposal seriously - it feels like a bargaining chip that Hanson expects to give up in return for being allowed other actions in their reclamation plan. The simple reaction should be that the height limit set in the unregulated 1980s must remain, and no bargaining should take place. Property rights violation in question The key to this discussion remains the likely violations of public property  rights by Hanson. Santa Clara County owns an easement on another portion  of ridgeline above the quarry, an easement intended to protect against  visual impacts from the quarry. Midpeninsula  Regional Open Space District (MROSD) owns adjoining land that has  been physically destroyed by quarry operators. Neither the County nor MROSD has answered our request to confirm that public property has been harmed, and we would certainly appreciate a response. If that harm is confirmed, we would ask both agencies to seek a limit to the visual impact from the nearby ridgeline scarring. Hard work remains The Committee expects to continue these discussions with the public agencies and with Hanson. Unfortunately, progress on these and many other issues cannot come without a great deal of communication, but we are ready and willing to be involved, and thank Hanson Permanente and Supervisor Kniss for their responses so far. Published July 2004 in Green  Footnotes. Page last updated July 13, 2004 .

	Photo by Brian Schmidt.