Breaking … as promised some months ago, Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon introduced a sixth (and final?) bill to end the dispute between Santa Clarita and CEMEX. Official release on the house.gov site.
Weste in front of a "Stop Cemex" bus circa 2007
The Signal and KHTS have more…
From KHTS:
This new legislation aims to resolve a mining dispute between the City of Santa Clarita and CEMEX USA. It both mirrors and improves upon the Soledad Canyon Mine Act, a bill that was introduced in April 2008 and involved a complicated exchange: if CEMEX abandoned its mineral rights to the property in Soledad Canyon near Acton, the Bureau of Land Management would make 5,000 acres of property available in Victorville, which CEMEX would then sell to the city of Victorville for redevelopment projects.
Gilberto Perez, President of CEMEX USA, had this to offer:
“We’re pleased Congressman McKeon has once again taken a leadership role in advancing legislation that offers a positive solution to the City and CEMEX for the Soledad Canyon project. We are eager to work with the Congressman, California’s Senators, the City of Santa Clarita, and others in pursuing its success in 2010.”
A sweet development for re-minted Mayor Weste (shown in the photo-op above), who said:
“The City Council is deeply appreciative of Congressman McKeon’s perseverance and diligence in crafting thoughtful legislation that reflects the needs and environmental concerns of his district.”
So it looks like Mr. McKeon has put something together that the City, CEMEX, and the feds all like. Time will tell if Buck can marshal support in the Senate, possibly via “companion legislation” hinted at in the KHTS piece.
CORRECTIVE NOTE: the previous posting alluded to a land exchange that was proposed in 2008. That provision has been modified in this bill to involve the feds to determine the value of the dirt and protect environmentally-sensitive lands from any mining.
It will be interesting to see who co-sponsored the bill from the dems side? I will put in good word with the speaker when I see her at the CA Dem Party Convention in Los Angeles in April…I am a state delegate!
As I said when the whole Cemex thing started, there is little that spending $2 million a year on attorneys’ fees cannot accomplish!
Cemex is in trouble with the building slowdown. I read another cement plant was asking for a bailout. They may be much more willing to bargain away business they no longer have in the first place.
spine: Good point. To Tim’s point, the litigation alone must be a costly distraction.
ND:
I joked with Pauline Harte in 1998 that the City would prevail if they were willing to spend $2 million a year to fight the mine until concrete was obsolete! We now see the more likely outcome: The City delayed until we had a construction recession, so Cemex has lost interest.
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