Eastern Sandoval Citizens Association

Many have asked how they can inform their Legislators of the importance of ES-CA’s responsible gravel mining legislation. Write them, go visit with them, and tell them in committee. The first committee hearing is this Friday, 2/13/15 with the House Regulatory and Public Affairs Committee or HRPAC (see Forum article “Legislation Needs Your Help”). Legislative committee members can be found by going to nmlegis.gov and then click on the tab for Standing Committees.  Opening this link will also take you to contact information for the HRPAC members.

E-mail is a good venue for written communication and the total number of letters, especially unique not form letters, is important.  Then it is important for in-person one-on-one lobbying with legislative members, and then finally, attending committee hearings is very important. Legislators want to know what gravel mining is doing to you and your neighbors.

We need to communicate to our legislators that:
1) We are not trying to stop all gravel mining (the majority of NM mines are less than 20 acres) — just the big ones that seem to feel they can abuse and ignore the communities that surround them and only need to satisfy their stockholders.
2) No substantial increases in development or highway costs can be justified, contrary to what these mines would have you believe, as most of the mines in this state are less than 20 acres in size — and would not be affected by this legislation (assuming, as we have agreed, that HB190 is so amended).
3) This is not simply an “enforcement issue” solvable with existing law–those agencies who currently issue permits to these mines are limited in scope and cannot provide the needed protection.

We in Placitas are seeing the issues of large-scale gravel mining as a result of the Lafarge (now Vulcan) mine. Vulcan has disturbed over 400 acres of land and has not  reclaimed any of it — all of which NM winds whip into our neighborhoods. Sandoval County has charged Lafarge with multiple violations which continue to be ignored while Lafarge forces it into the courts for meaningful resolution.

HB188 (Zoning Enforcement Law):
1) The current law is ambiguous — Sandoval County’s Attorney reads the max fine to be $300. Bernalillo County interprets it as $300 per violation per day.
2) At Lafarge’s 2013 reported transport tonnage levels, estimated revenues are $20K per day (averaged over 365 days per year) — even with Bernalillo County interpretation, fines are not sufficient to be a deterrent.
3) We need to level the playing field between deep-pocketed mining operations and tax-payer funded counties. We’re not trying to stop gravel mining — just protect our citizens.

HB190 (Certain Sand & Gravel under NM Mining Act):
Due to the current exclusion from the mining act, the only state permitting agency is NM Environment Department (NMED). NMED has charged Lafarge with multiple violations of the Air Quality requirements, but does not have sufficient statutory authority to provide the protection our citizens need and deserve.
1) NMED has no authority to require and enforce reclamation (as noted above, a major cause of both fugitive dust and reduced property values in Placitas) including requiring appropriate financial assurances — the Mining Act has this power.
2) The Mining Act limits the duration of mining permits and requires periodic re-justification with public hearings to ensure that the communities around the mine are not being improperly impacted — NMED does not.
3) The Mining Act permits require background checks on mining operators including compliance history at all mines operating now and in the past — NMED does not.
4) The Mining Act permitting process requires a more extensive analysis of the hydrological consequence (e.g. leaching, impact to aquifers, etc) than NMED. Lafarge used 94M gallons of precious water during the drought in 2013 (2-3x residential use levels) from a high arsenic source and the holding ponds leach back into our aquifer or into our air.

This Friday, February 13, ES-CA’s Bills HB188 and HB190 co-sponsored by Rep. Smith and Sen. Sapien will be heard in Santa Fe at 1:30PM in room 315 of the State Capital. If responsible gravel mining is important to you, please attend or at the very least, contact the members of the committee and let them know how you feel (see ES-CA Forum “What Legislators Want to Know”). This first hearing is in the House Regulatory and Public Affairs Committee (HRPAC). For the two responsible gravel mining bills to pass, we must convince HRPAC, then three other committees, the full House, and the full Senate that these Bills are important to the public and must pass.

Anyone wishing to carpool up to the hearing in Santa Fe should arrive at the MERC around 11:45PM this Friday to leave at noon. If you drive or ride the train up on your own, consider coming early to watching the House and Senate debate passage of bills.

You can read these bills by following these links HB188 and  HB190. The bills were formed by ES-CA in response to ongoing concerns of our Eastern Sandoval County citizens and ES-CA members, drafted into potential law by Representative Smith, and then co-sponsored by Senator Sapien. HB188 increases potential penalties for sand and gravel violations of county zoning ordinances. HB190 requires very large scale sand and gravel mines to meet the more cohesive requirements of the Mining Act from which they are currently excluded.

This is not just a localized issue. Some of the most beautiful areas of the state have large gravel deposits. While we use the Lafarge Pit as the current example, we are anticipating that the BLM will soon act to permit gravel mining on 2 sections of land (800 acres) also in the Placitas area — so we repeat: we are asking for our citizens to be protected from the negative impacts these mines have to our air, our water, and the value of our properties, and believe these bills to be tools we need.

The 2015 Legislature will consider legislation crafted by ES-CA and drafted by Representative Jim Smith, and according to Jim, Senator John Sapien has asked that he be included as a co-sponsor. This legislation is important not only to the health and welfare of Placitans, but to other New Mexicans that cannot locally defend their well-being against well-funded mining operators and their lawyers.

There are two Bill drafts. The, Zoning Enforcement law would bolster a County’s ability to administratively enforce its zoning laws in regards to gravel mining violations. Sandoval County interprets NM Statute 4-37-3 NMSA 1978 to limit penalty to a mine that has violations, such as Fisher or Vulcan (previously Lafarge), to a one time fine of $300. Bernalillo County interprets the same statute to allow the penalty per violation and per day which significantly increases its ability to enforce a violation. Still, with substantial daily profits out of mines like Vulcan’s, even if the penalty were assessed daily, it may not represent even 1/100th of a mine’s daily revenues. The proposed legislation clarifies that stated fines related to gravel mining are per violation and per day.  The fines are also increased to $1,000 per violation and jail time of up to a year.

The Gravel Mining Law would increase oversight by bringing gravel mines with five acres or more of active working area under the Mining Act. This would not prohibit a small operator from mining five acres, reclaiming, and then mining another five acres. Currently, gravel mining is excluded from the Mining Act, so mega mines, such as the several we have in the Placitas area, are excluded from many of the environmental and health safeguards required of other large mines. A few of the safeguards they are currently excluded from include water discharge plans, off-site storm water control, reclamation, and periodic re-permitting to ensure they are not causing harm. While some safeguards can be imposed by county or municipal ordinances, if a mine is on BLM land, local ordinances do not apply and there is a lot of BLM land surrounding Placitas. If this Bill becomes law, the Mining Act will also protections to BLM lands and their nearby communities, like Placitas,

The New Mexico Legislature starts January 20th and runs through March 21st. ES-CA will announce when these bills will be heard in committees. New Mexico Legislators have a greater tendency to seriously consider bills when citizens turn out to be heard. Please plan to attend all committee hearings and show your support.