Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian’s request for a decadelong record of violations at the Lehigh cement plant and quarry outside Los Altos could lead to a suspension of the operation’s long-standing use permit.
Simitian received approval Jan. 25 from the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors for a referral that would direct county counsel to draw up a collection of environmental violations at the facility going back to 2012.
The request stems from Simitian’s frustration over a perceived lack of transparency and “fractured regulatory system,” with numerous federal, state, regional and local agencies tasked with monitoring the facilities.
The plant and quarry, the county’s dirtiest polluter, is up against increased scrutiny as it has become surrounded by residential development over the course of its 80-plus-year history of harvesting limestone and manufacturing cement.
“While the county has general land-use authority over the property, there is no one place the public can go to understand how operations at Lehigh Cement Plant and Quarry are being conducted, and whether Lehigh is in compliance across the spectrum of their operations as assessed by all entities with regulatory authority,” Simitian said in his referral.
He pointed to the cement plant’s use permit, issued in 1939, that “appears to suggest authority to operate in perpetuity, … has only three conditions of approval; one of those three conditions, however, is that when there is a violation of … any other provision of the law or ordinance, it shall constitute cause for the Board of Supervisors to suspend the use permit to operate said plant.”
“It appears this provision has never been invoked in the history of the permit. The obvious question, of course, is: How would we (or the general public) know if Lehigh were in violation?” Simitian asked. “While the county obviously has a good handle on violations that it records, there doesn’t appear to be a good answer for activities that extend beyond the boundaries of our county’s authority. Thus, this referral.”
The referral seeks a list of violations, including dates and the status of the violations, from agencies that include the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board, state and federal fish and wildlife agencies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration and the city of Cupertino.
“This referral is designed to provide additional transparency, and to help clarify whether
Lehigh’s various violations, taken as a whole, constitute the basis for further regulatory and/or legal action,” Simitian said.
Ongoing regulation
The Lehigh property includes a total of 3,510 acres, 2,656 in unincorporated Santa Clara County that contain the cement plant and quarry. The remaining acreage is in the incorporated cities of Cupertino and Palo Alto.
The county’s oversight of the quarry is regulated by a Reclamation Plan approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2012, and by a vested rights decision made by the board in 2011 (which apparently affirmed that a portion of the property could be mined without a use permit). In 2019, Lehigh submitted an application for a Reclamation Plan Amendment. Currently, environmental review is on hold pending funding from Lehigh to finance work on an environmental impact report. Activity at the cement plant is regulated by the 1939 use permit.
The Town Crier has reached out to Lehigh officials for a response.
Los Altos Mayor Anita Enander said operation of the Lehigh plant and quarry continues to be of concern to residents and the city council.
“These concerns relate to potential quarry expansion, air and water safety, impacts to Permanente Creek – which has considerable length on the border and through the city of Los Altos, the silos, the face, waste material storage, construction projects on the site, traffic and road impacts, and impacts of industrial uses of the site,” she wrote in support of the referral. “The disparate agencies and their separate enforcement processes make it very difficult for a small city to track enforcement activities and take timely action on behalf of our residents.”
Councilmember Lynette Lee
Eng and Vice Mayor Sally Meadows, members of the city’s Lehigh subcommittee, supported the referral as well.
“We appreciate and support Supervisor Simitian’s ongoing focus on appropriate regulation and accountability for this significant operation in our county,” they wrote. “The requested list … will provide much needed transparency on the deficiencies of Lehigh’s operations and allow us to better assess the impacts on our community.”
Local residents also offered their input on the situation.
“As I understand it, Lehigh is already one of the biggest polluters in California,” said Los Altos Hills resident Pat Lang, in correspondence with the county board. “This must stop!”
“I have lived in the general area near Lehigh for over 30 years,” said Catherine Dilts of Los Altos. “Two years ago, I discovered that I had lung cancer. I have never smoked. I partially blame the lung cancer on the air pollution from the Lehigh/Kaiser plant. Lehigh definitely needs to run its operation in a clean manner and not be allowed to expand its operations.”
