Council to Air District: More Stringent Standards for Lehigh

The Cupertino City Council votes unanimously to request that Lehigh be subject to stricter air quality rules.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, the Cupertino City Council voted to encourage the Bay Area’s air district to impose stricter emissions rules on the Lehigh Southwest Cement Plant and Quarry.  Not only did the council vote in favor of Mayor Mark Santoro writing a letter to the Bay Area Air Quality District (BAAQMD) saying the council wants the district to apply tougher standards for cement plants, the council members used wording provided by a local Sierra Club activist in drafting the letter. The collaboration between the council and environmentalists was quite a contrast to past interactions, when the two sides appeared more at odds. After the Nov. 7, 2011 election the council now includes two members of Bay Area Clean Environment (BACE…

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Frank Geefay

12:21 pm on Saturday, February 11, 2012

The war has definitely not been won. But this local victory and strongly written letter that Gary Latshaw wrote and was the basis for City Councils final text to BAAQMD lends much stronger support for making the rules much tighter for this cements plant located so close to a major population area. We must still work hard to get the rules actually changed.   more ›

Residents Pepper Officials On Cement Plant Health Risk

Citizens at a Los Altos Hills forum push for more regulation and even an end to operations, despite a consultant's report of low health risk from the Lehigh Southwest Permanente cement plant.

From Monday night's workshop at Los Altos Hills Town Hall, it's clear that the concern over health risks from the Lehigh Southwest Cement plant is not going away. Although a consulting company reviewed data recently and found the risk to Los Altos and Los Altos Hills from the plant and quarry is small, concern from an engaged audience of residents kept experts busy answering questions for two hours.  Representatives from Iris Environmental, the company hired by the two cities to study data pertaining to Lehigh’s impact, as well as from two government agencies charged with regulating the company’s operations just outside of Cupertino, were peppered with written questions—some highly detailed, others sharp with criticism. “The easy way for …

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Lehigh Touts EIR; Residents Remain Unconvinced

Company and residents remain opponents as County Planning Commission considers draft EIR and reclamation plan amendment.

Lehigh Southwest Cement officials proudly touted the draft environmental impact report for the Lehigh Permanente Quarry Reclamation Plan Amendment at a county planning commission meeting on Thursday, but residents remained adamant in maintaining it's flawed. The public hearing was another step toward an expected approval of the EIR and the reclamation plan amendment, possibly as early as the March 22 Santa Clara County Planning Commission meeting. At a public workshop on Jan. 26, just one week before, Lehigh officials were in attendance, but did not speak. On Feb. 2 representatives stepped up to the microphone, saying they were proud of the EIR, and pointing out future benefits to the environment. "We’ve gone to great lengths to make this …

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City Council Wrap-Up

Items on the Council's agenda included Stevens Creek Corridor, Rodrigues Avenue Bike Lanes, Sports Center Tennis and Lehigh Southwest Cement

The Cupertino City Council met Tuesday night in its first regular session, tackling several issues, including the Stevens Creek Corridor, new bike lanes on Rodrigues Avenue, the Sports Center tennis contract and Lehigh Southwest Cement. Below is a wrap-up of what happened. You can watch the entire meeting on the city's website. Stevens Creek Corridor Progress The council voted unanimously to amend the scope of work for a company creating detail plans for Phase 2 of the restoration of Stevens Creek and extension of the Stevens Creek trail along the Blackberry Farm Golf Course. The amendment allows SSA Landscape Architects to do up to $380,000 of design work. Cupertino Historical Society member Donna Austin expressed concern about the trail …

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Frank Geefay

10:35 am on Friday, January 20, 2012

Why in the entire history of Lehigh Cement has not the County collected one cent of fines from its numerous Notices of Violations ("NOV") from the County? Why are fines levied by BAAQMD not stopping Lehigh from further violations and why does it take years and some cases decades to resolve NOVs issued by our regulatory agencies? Why are regulatory agencies agreeing with Lehigh that they are In …   more ›

City Council Election November 2011

Election Analysis: Money and Endorsements Didn't Necessarily Pay Off

Gilbert Wong won a second term on council, but he couldn't convince voters to elect Marty Miller, who was beat by the grassroots organizing of Rod Sinks.

Cash may be king, but Tuesday night’s Cupertino Council election results proved that sometimes good old fashioned grassroots organizing trumps even a big campaign chest. The results have yet to be certified by the Registrar of Voters, but initial results indicate that newcomer Rod Sinks won his first bid for election over both long-time Fremont Union School Board Trustee Homer Tong and three-time council candidate Marty Miller, despite raising less money than Mayor Gilbert Wong and Miller, and garnering less big-time political endorsements. Even heavy campaigning by first place winner Wong wasn’t enough to bring Miller onto council. Initially Miller was right behind Sinks in the results, but on Wednesday updated results showed that Tong …

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Sierra Club Endorses Wong and Sinks in November Election

Wong receives endorsement over Homer Tong for making good on past campaign promises on environmental protections.

In a surprising move, the local Sierra Club Chapter announced this weekend that it is endorsing incumbent Gilbert Wong and political newcomer Rod Sinks in the November Cupertino City Council election over four other candidates. Even a member of the Loma Prieta Chapter committee that made the decision, Gary Latshaw, acknowledged that he thought going into the endorsement process the group would most likely back Sinks and Homer Tong. Both Sinks and Tong are supported by Councilmember Barry Chang, founder of the group Bay Area Clean Environment (BACE), and a chief Lehigh Southwest Cement opponent. Last month the Sierra Club announced it would sue Lehigh within 60 days for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. Currently BACE (formerly …

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Five Things To Know About Cupertino

The Cupertino November 8 Election

Patch is your go-to source for campaign information; here are five items to get you started.

Just 57 campaigning days until the November 8 election! Voters will choose between six candidates for two seats on the Cupertino City Council, and give an up or down vote on Measure C, a hotel tax initiative. As the local source for up-to-date campaign info, Patch gets you started with five things to know about the upcoming election. 1. The six council candidates in ballot order are: - Homer Tong, a member of the Fremont Union School District Board, elected five times to the post; - Rod Sinks, a political newcomer, he is active in Bay Area Clean Environment (BACE), the group currently challenging Lehigh Southwest Cement; - Donna Austin, a long-time resident active in the community who previously served on the Planning Commission; - Gilbert…

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Susan

12:22 pm on Sunday, October 23, 2011

What a mess, and these lavish developer contributions raise an immediate question: On Oct. 11, the Planning Commission denied Kimco Realty's request to extend the expiration date by three years for Cupertino Village's previously approved Use Permit and Architectural and Site application. Therefore, the decision is heading to the City Council. (BTW: Cupertino Village is next door to the proposed …   more ›

Sierra Club Threatens Suit Against Lehigh For Permanente Creek Pollution

Club alleges elevated levels of selenium and other toxins are threatening wildlife; will sue under Clean Water Act if discharges don't stop within 60 days.

Charging that Lehigh Southwest Cement is dumping elevated levels of selenium and other toxins into Permanente Creek and San Francisco Bay, the Sierra Club stepped into the legal fray against the company, saying it will sue under the Clean Water Act if discharges do not stop within 60 days. In one specific instance, the club said that Lehigh’s own documentation shows “that quarry pit wastewater that Lehigh discharges in the creek has been a staggering 16 times higher than Clean Water Act stream standards,” for certain toxins, according to a statement released Wednesday. The statement added that in popular Rancho San Antonio County Park, immediately downstream from the plant, pollution is “especially dangerous” where selenium concentrations …

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Quarry Road is Private, Supervisors Declare, But Courts May Decide Issue

Residents from Cupertino, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills plead with board to no avail on Tuesday morning.

Permanente Road, a former wagon trail winding up into the foothills above Cupertino and Los Altos, is private, for use by Lehigh Southwest Cement only, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday morning. About 15 residents from Cupertino, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills implored the supervisors to either deny or postpone the request. “The board is acting as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lehigh,” accused Richard Adler, an opponent who is on the board of a citizen's group called BACE, when he addressed the supervisors. The board’s unanimous vote Tuesday morning was expected by residents opposing the move, and because of supervisors' past decisions, most expressed cynicism that the current Board of Supervisors would ever listen to…

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Public or Private? Citizens Get Another Chance to Debate Status of Road

Board of Supervisors will weigh testimony about Permanente Road at public hearing on Tuesday.

A dispute over whether a foothills roadway critical to Lehigh Southwest Cement is public or private will get another airing at the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. The status of Permanente Road is part of a lawsuit against the board and the company filed in May by the group Bay Area Clean Environment, formerly known as No Toxic Air. If a court finds the road to be public, it could call into question a Feb. 8 board decision to grant Lehigh vested rights on large portions of its property just outside Cupertino.  The activist group also protested the road closure at a protest in June. In the meantime, the February vote cleared the way for Lehigh officials to file official paperwork asking the road to be formally …

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