Capping an 8-year battle, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors turned down a massive mining proposal near Temecula on a “cliffhanging” 3:2 vote on February 14, 2012.

The proposed Liberty Quarry would have sent 70% of its aggregate mining product south to San Diego, “liberating” the San Diego County Board of Supervisors from their responsibility to meet their own county’s needs for building material. It posed unique impacts, due to its location adjacent to the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve (a scientific research facility for San Diego State University), on a mountain sacred to the Pechanga tribe, and near the population center of Temecula. Better options include local sites that do not involve long distance trucking as well as importation via ship, as is now being done by the Port of Long Beach and planned by the Port of San Diego.

EHL was small but active part of a much larger team – the City of Temecula, San Diego State University, Save Our Southwest Hills, and the Pechanga tribe – that mounted an enormous and sophisticated campaign against the quarry. EHL’s consultants brought forward the risk of the mining operation dewatering streams, we testified at hearings stressing alternative solutions, and assisted the local activists in public outreach through EHL Action Alerts. We commend the Board of Supervisors for its action.