Home » Santa Clarita News » Business » Cemex Informs Santa Clarita Of Soledad Canyon Mining Plan
Cemex officials were “disappointed” Wednesday by a letter sent from the Bureau of Land Management questioning their ability to mine on Soledad Canyon.
Santa Clarita City Council is considering support for legislation that could slow the effort to put a massive mine on the east side of Santa Clarita Valley

Cemex Informs Santa Clarita Of Soledad Canyon Mining Plan

Santa Clarita officials are asking residents who are concerned about the mine to visit a website the city created to inform people about their activity. 

Santa Clarita officials’ expressed concern Friday about Cemex mining in Soledad Canyon, with news the international building supply company is moving forward on its Santa Clarita Valley plans.


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Cemex officials are looking to get final approvals on two 10-year contracts to mine a 493-acre plot on land just east of city limits, to which the city actually owns the surface rights.

However, Cemex was awarded mining contracts more than 10 years ago.

After a period of an adversarial relationship, the city of Santa Clarita has been working with Cemex for several years to find a mutually beneficial compromise that would avoid the mine and compensate the company.

The projected impacts to area residents include “excavation activities going on 17 hours per day, six days per week. Processing is scheduled to take place 16 hours a day and shipping activities are expected to take place 24 hours a day,” according to a statement from city officials.

A Cemex spokeswoman gave little detail on what that timeline would like other than to confirm the city’s statement, which was headlined “CEMEX TO CITY: WE ARE GETTING READY TO MINE IN SOLEDAD CANYON!”

“Bringing a mine online is a very complex process, and for that reason, I’m not able to answer specifics (about when mining would begin),” said Sara Engdahl, spokeswoman for Cemex. “The anticipated timeline to begin mining operations is dependent upon several steps the company must take before beginning operations.”

The process could take “many months” to complete, but the company remains “supportive of finding a mutually beneficial solution with the city of Santa Clarita,” she said.

“It is not a break in the partnership,” said Mike Murphy, intergovernmental relations officer for Santa Clarita. “They are very much committed to working with us on a legislative solution — but at the same time they’ve also indicated that they need to look at other options.”

Congressman Steve Knight, R-Santa Clarita, as well as Santa Clarita officials, are still 100 percent committed to a legislative solution, which is something that’s been discussed for more than a dozen years, Knight said Friday.

“I met with Cemex a couple of days ago, but I basically said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to give me a chance at this at least,’” Knight said, expressing frustration over past shortcomings on legislation to stop the mine.

Murphy indicated a legislative solution was Cemex’ preferred option, but officials are still unclear of the mechanism that would be used in Congress.

Murphy, Knight and other Santa Clarita officials have met with Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to try and figure out whether a new bill would be identical to the last failed measure, SB 2938, or a different iteration altogether.

Murphy said Boxer’s office has discussed things with the Department of the Interior, which raised objection to the last bill because it called for selling government land to compensate the mining company.

Santa Clarita officials are asking residents to visit santa-clarita.com/stopthemine to register for information about the city’s efforts to prevent a large-scale sand-and-gravel mine.

“We really want people to visit ‘stopthemine,’” said Gail Morgan, spokeswoman for the city of Santa Clarita. Santa Clarita officials are asking residents to sign up to keep apprised on the city’s efforts — and how they can partake — in the city’s fight against having a sand-and-gravel mine dominate the landscape of the east side of the Santa Clarita Valley for decades.

From a previous story :

A brief history of the Cemex bill

Santa Clarita officials and Cemex executives struck a partnership seven years ago, after years of fighting.

The deal essentially entailed the international mining company holding off on profiting from its mineral rights contracts in Soledad Canyon, so both sides could work on a way to compensate Cemex by other means.

The latest version of “the legislative solution,” the Soledad Canyon Settlement Act, calls for Cemex to cancel their mining contracts in exchange for 10,000 acres of federal land being sold, with those proceeds compensating Cemex.

Santa Clarita officials said the bill, which was authored by Boxer and achieved a zero score, led to city officials celebrating the move as the best bet for Santa Clarita to stop a massive sand and gravel mine.

The legislative answer languished for more than a decade as little more than a campaign promise due to a congressional ban on earmarks, according to McKeon.

Then, in November, Santa Clarita officials were filled with renewed optimism.

Boxer’s zero score bill meant the Cemex bill, as its been known colloquially by most in the Santa Clarita Valley, had no cost to the taxpayer. No congressional rules, agreements or understanding, would stop McKeon from introducing the bill in the House, after eight previously failed attempts.

The 113th legislative session

Because of the nature of the bill, officials working on the bill identified the National Defense Authorization Act as the perfect vehicle for Cemex’ passage.

The bill had little chance as a standalone bill, said one city official, who unwittingly portended its fate nearly two weeks ago after a meeting with McKeon.

The meeting between Santa Clarita City Councilman Bob Kellar and McKeon was precipitated by news the Cemex bill, or H.R. 5472, which McKeon introduced about a week after Boxer’s S.B. 2938, would not be included in the NDAA.

The NDAA was the right fit for Cemex because the omnibus legislation included a slew of bipartisan public land use bills, officials said.

The omnibus package was hailed by many — from Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, who plays an integral role later in the story, to McKeon, who chairs the committee where the defense appropriations bill originates, the House Armed Services Committee.

However, the Cemex bill was conspicuously absent.

City officials got on the phones, met with legislators and lobbied McKeon for the chairman of the HASC to add the bill as a manager’s amendment.

McKeon said he couldn’t, according to Kellar, and that state Sen. Steve Knight, R-Palmdale — who was elected to replace McKeon in January — was the bill’s best bet.

How the Cemex bill failed

Apparently, unbeknownst to all, McKeon reportedly planned things this way.

About one week after city officials sent out a letter expressing their disappointment in McKeon for not including the Cemex bill in the NDAA, he pulled the bill off the suspension calendar.

“(H.R. 5742) was never an appropriate bill for the NDAA and the omnibus,” said Morris Thomas, Santa Clarita Valley field representative for McKeon, shortly after McKeon got the bill passed with a unanimous voice vote. “We’ve been working on an alternative for some time, but any prior disclosure of this particular option would have jeopardized it.”

Days earlier, McKeon told Kellar the Cemex bill would have been scored months earlier in order to make it into the omnibus NDAA package. McKeon claimed to be unaware of the bipartisan legislative package, which Knight said he “can’t believe” at the time.

However, the move meant the bill bypassed normal House committee procedure, and therefore in order to make it to President Barack Obama’s desk for a signature, it must have the signoff of all 100 senators.

This placed Boxer and her staff with few options, and just a few days to garner support from Heinrich — who served two terms in the House of Representatives in the HASC under McKeon before his election to the Senate and opposed the Cemex bill on ideological grounds.

Heinrich placed a legislative hold on the bill, indicating he didn’t support it, leaving Boxer little option.

“Heinrich has no objection to buying out the gravel mining contract outside of Santa Clarita, Calif.,” said Whitney Porter, Heinrich’s spokeswoman. “However, the Soledad Canyon Settlement Act uses the sale of 10,000 acres of BLM land as a budget offset to pay for the buyout. This is highly unusual for public land legislation.”

The bill sets a dangerous precedent, she added, noting it could allow Congress to use federal lands as a “piggy bank” any time legislators need funds.

His views echo those of the Bureau of Land Management officials, who also formally opposed the bill, despite numerous attempts by city officials.

Where things stand now for the Cemex bill

Now the only hope for the bill  would be for Cemex to wait another several months for Knight to, as he’s already promised, introduce a bill with identical language, and hope Cemex doesn’t begin mining in the meantime.

Wednesday’s statement makes it seem as though that’s very unlikely.

Cemex officials were openly optimistic about a legislative solution leading up to the 113th Congress’ final hours. The bill was expected to compensate the mining company with more than $20 million for its contracts — considered by both sides to be an equitable sum.

The city, for its part, has spent about $12 million in the effort to stop a Santa Clarita Valley, including the purchase of the land where the mine is slated to go.

Santa Clarita officials remain hopeful about a Cemex bill for obvious reasons, and Cemex officials have been publicly supportive of their efforts

But both sides seem aware patience is running out for how long the mining company is willing to wait to cash in on its contracts.

Last year, Kellar seemed to indicate time for a compromise was running out during a Senate committee that included Heinrich.

“If we cannot bring closure to the issue during this session, Cemex has indicated that they will have no choice but to go forward and obtain the final permits leading to mining of the site,” Kellar said in front of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, of which Heinrich is a part.

“Many years of cooperation and trust will be lost,” Kellar added, “and, more importantly, the community will be changed forever with the establishment of large-scale mining.”

When reached for comment last week, Cemex spokeswoman Sara Engdahl said the international mining company “fully supports this legislation and is optimistic of its passage in the Senate,” referring to  S.B. 2938.  “We will continue to keep the lines of communication open with the city of Santa Clarita as we move closer to a resolution.”

However, as it appeared hope for a legislative session was fading in the waning hours of the 113th Congress, the words from Cemex officials took on a more guarded tone.

“Cemex will definitely have to take a longer term look forward at our next steps with Soledad Canyon,” said Sara Engdahl, spokeswoman for Cemex, on Monday. “If a resolution is not reached, then Cemex is still under obligation for the contracts we hold.”

“There are a series of permits that are required before Cemex could begin on-site operations, she added. “Based on the ongoing conversation that Cemex has had (with affected parties, such as the city of Santa Clarita),” Engdahl said, “it seems as though the time for a resolution has come.”

Ultimately, all city officials can do is hang to the hope that Cemex will remain committed to the partnership, Morgan said.

“They’re keeping their options open and they’re reminding us and legisators that they do have contracts to mine,” Morgan said. “They have responsibility to shareholders — and they are reminding us of that, which we are very mindful of — so we do appreciate their restraint and look forward to success  in 2015.”

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

KHTS AM 1220 - Santa Clarita Radio

Cemex Informs Santa Clarita Of Soledad Canyon Mining Plan

2 comments

  1. Why doesn’t the city just buy out the contracts from Cemex?

  2. Am I to understand that this whole thing goes away for a lousy $20 million? Pay the man, Santa Clarita! For crying out
    loud, pass a special tax, maybe a sales tax for 5 years, and get this overwith! Or is the 20 a misprint? How much simpler could that be?

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About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.