KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Congress voted Thursday to pass the National Defense Authorization Act without a Cemex bill, despite efforts by Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste and future SCV congressman, state Sen. Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, said Thursday.
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Congressman-elect Steve Knight, who’s set to take McKeon’s place in January, said he made efforts to try and see if the Cemex bill language could be added, but it appeared as though it was too late, he said.
Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste sent an email Thursday to Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, urging him to include a Cemex bill in the National Defense Authorization Act.
See the complete email at the bottom of this story.
Knight also contacted House Majority Leader Congressman Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, as part of an 11th-hour effort to see if there was any possibility of action Thursday, he said.
Knight expressed concern about the bill’s future, noting the NDAA, an omnibus bill that included about 60 public land use and energy bills, was the best chance to find a legislative solution for Cemex and the Santa Clarita Valley.
When asked Wednesday night why the legislation was left out of the package, McKeon said he was unaware of the bipartisan effort to include the legislation in the NDAA.
Knight questioned that claim Thursday afternoon.
“I can’t believe that the committee chairman didn’t know about this bill package,” Knight said. “That’s what stresses me now — we had an opportunity to put this to rest once and for all.”
Knight also said he was aware of what’s known as a Manager’s Amendment. which could have allowed McKeon, as the chairman for the House Committee of the bill’s origin — the House Armed Services — to add the Cemex language to the legislation.
McKeon’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
However, there’s certainly precedent for such a move, according to city officials.
With Elsmere Canyon, Congressman McKeon, successfully inserted language into an omnibus bill package that aided the city in its effort to fight a large landfill from area that’s now part of the city’s greenbelt.
Knight said he would like to be optimistic and act on the legislative effort to keep the mine out of the Santa Clarita Valley as soon as he could once he takes office, but he’s worried it might be too late.
Sen. Knight, R-Palmdale, said information given to him indicated Cemex is looking to satisfy its mining rights if no solution is found this legislative session. Councilman Bob Kellar made a similar claim in front of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, during testimony last year for a past iteration of the bill.
Santa Clarita officials have lobbied for years to stop a sand and gravel mine from moving into Soledad Canyon, working cooperatively with Cemex for the last seven years, because Cemex has mineral rights to land owned by the city.
Cemex did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste praised the efforts Thursday of Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., for their work and support in the legislation. She was hopeful that Cemex would continue to be a partner in the effort to satisfy their contracts.
The city estimates its spent in excess of $12 million lobbying to stop the mine from going into land the city purchased 10 years ago.
The legislation that was authored by Sen. Barbara Boxer last month would compensate Cemex, which owns two 10-year contracts to mine the Santa Clarita Valley, with lands in Victorville.
Boxer’s bill obtained a zero score — meaning there is no cost to the federal government — when she introduced it mid-November. The cost concern was cited as a past obstacle to the bill’s passage, which has garnered bipartisan support.
City officials were surprised to Wednesday night, before a vote scheduled for Thursday, about the Cemex bill being left out of the omnibus bill package.
Councilman Bob Kellar, who discussed the situation with McKeon on Wednesday evening, has indicated the bill’s passage is unlikely as a stand-alone piece of legislation.
McKeon and Cemex did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mayor Laurene Weste’s Email To McKeon:
December 4, 2014
The Honorable Howard P. “Buck” McKeon
Member of Congress
26650 The Old Road, Suite 203
Santa Clarita, CA 91381
Dear Representative McKeon:
We are writing to implore you to once again consider inclusion of the language contained in your H.R. 5742 within a legislative vehicle before the
adjournment of the 113th Congress. While we were disappointed that you were unable to include the provision with the other public lands provisions in the National Defense Reauthorization Act, we remain hopeful that with your 22 years of experience and leadership position in Congress, you will find an opportunity to satisfactorily resolve this issue during the final days of this congressional session and your term as Santa Clarita’s representative.
As you well know, the resolution of the 15-year old dispute between the City of Santa Clarita and CEMEX is an important issue to the community with long term ramifications. Should the mine go forward, the health and safety of Santa Clarita residents and those of the surrounding unincorporated communities will be adversely impacted; most notably affecting children, the elderly, and individuals with existing health problems. We are concerned that daily commuters using State Route 14 and our region’s business community, particularly the film industry, will also be negatively impacted.
Furthermore, the ability to preserve and protect important ecological natural resources in the Upper Santa Clara River area will likely be lost forever; negating the consistent findings of several important and costly federal studies that have identified the need to conserve critical natural resources in the region.
You have repeatedly expressed your commitment to seeking every opportunity to bring this long-standing and complex problem to a satisfactory resolution. While the rules of the House of Representatives relating to earmarks have precluded you from sponsoring legislation to assist your constituents, you have consistently maintained your commitment to advancing legislation in the event that a zero score could be reached. A zero score has been reached.
At your suggestion, we have worked with California’s two Senators to move forward on this issue and develop bill language that scores at zero. We appreciate your participation in last year’s hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests and Mining. As you noted during your testimony, “Throughout my time in Congress, I have worked endlessly to find a solution.” We applaud your personal commitment, as evidenced by your bringing CEMEX and the City together in partnership and through the introduction of nine different bills, reaching back to the 106th Congress.
The challenge over the past few years has been to develop bill language that will definitely score at zero. H.R. 5742 meets that difficult threshold as it does not violate House Rules, otherwise you would have been unable to introduce it. As we discussed with your staff during our visit to Washington on November 20, 2014, one of the intents of having legislation introduced so late in the session is to take advantage of any opportunity for resolution of this critical issue during your term of office. There is now bi-partisan, bi-cameral legislation in the form of your H.R. 5742 and Senator Boxer and Senator Feinstein’s co-sponsored S. 2938 and there is clearly no better time to act.
The National Defense Reauthorization Act was unexpected in its provisions to include a wide-range of public lands and energy bills, thus making it the de-facto largest omnibus lands bill since 2009, in spite of its primary goal to address the nation’s defense and military needs. While the language of H.R. 5742 would have been an appropriate addition to the bill, we are disappointed in your reluctance to seek an amendment, given your previous efforts related to including Elsmere in an omnibus lands package and your attempt to include mining preclusion language over a decade ago in a defense authorization bill.
As the House of Representatives heads into its final week of session, we continue to urge you, as we have previously discussed, to take advantage of any opportunity through the appropriations process to insert the required language. With the existing budget authority set to expire on December 11, 2014, we are hearing that there is a desire to pass omnibus appropriations language to fund the government through the 2015 fiscal year.
Additionally, we understand that there may potentially be other legislative vehicles upon which to attach H.R. 5742. The health, safety, and natural environment in a valley of over 250,000 constituents is in peril without this legislative solution that everyone wants.
Although it has been a long and difficult road to reach this point of having zero-score legislation that has no known objection, save the Bureau of Land Management, we urge you to employ your skills and leadership in securing a lasting solution to this critical issue and securing your hard fought legacy of service to the community, which has been your home for 50 years.
Sincerely,
Laurene Weste
Mayor
I’m more concerned with buck signing the bill that stabbed our veterans in the back. It also contains a landgrab on the part of the federal government of thousands of acres in southwestern United States. This designation of protected land makes it almost impossible for ranchers to make a living and I’m already tough environment.
I expected so much more from the chairman of the House armed services subcommittee and someone who calls himself a conservative.
McKeon is useless and has been for years. He uses his position and “Good Ole Boy” crap to seem like he cares. All he cares about is his own gain. If it was not for some folks in his office nothing would get done. He is unreachable most of the time and the other time he has no idea what he is talking about. He should have been out of office a long time ago.