AQMD Issues Another Comment Letter to Azusa Citing Additional Public Health Concerns About Vulcan’s Proposed Expanded Mining Project
Officials from the South Coast Air Quality Management District issued an additional comment letter to the City of Azusa on additional public health concerns associated with the recently released Final Environment Impact Report (FEIR) for the proposed Vulcan mining expansion. The Agency issued comments in six new areas including blasting, NOx emissions, aggregate caps and the purchase of new mining equipment.
AQMD first revealed its additional concerns with the plan during a packed Duarte Town Hall meeting that took place on April 8, 2010.The AQMD is requesting that the City of Azusa, as lead Agency, act on these matters prior to the certification of the FEIR as well as incorporate them into the final Conditional Use Permit (CUP). Both the FEIR, CUP and Development Agreement are due to go before the Azusa City Council for consideration of approval on April 19th.
Areas described in the letter included:
Baseline Off-Road Assumptions – The majority of the NOx emissions are due to off-road mining equipment. AQMD was not able to reproduce the baseline year emission presented in the FEIR. Given the significance of NOx emissions, further justification is being asked for.
2009 Off Road Fleet – Vulcan assumes it will purchase new mining equipment as part of the project. Enforceable conditions reflecting that assumption should be placed in the CUP.
Curtail Blasting on High Wind Days – Blasting will increase by 500% under the new FEIR. Since emissions associated with blasting is high, an enforceable condition should be placed in the CUP limiting blasting during high winds including Santa Ana conditions.
Enforceable throughput Condition – A cap of 19,000 tons of aggregate per day should be included in the CUP.
Duarte Meteorological Data - Final EIR should include a more thorough discussion of potential health risks posed by the project considering the Duarte Meteorological data.
Ongoing Monitoring Efforts - AQMD staff will pursue additional monitoring activities to assess future impacts on local Valley residents. Should significant impacts be identified, the AQMD will pursue specific rule-making and permit modifications to protect public health.
Prior to the release of this correspondence, the City of Duarte had taken issue with several of AQMD’s initial comments submitted to Azusa on the Vulcan DEIR, specifically: The baseline emissions cited in the DEIR were overestimated, and established using inappropriate time; Project emissions such truck traffic due to increased mining were underestimated; and Meteorological data used in the model were incorrect. At the request of Duarte, AQMD remodeled the project using two years of wind data previously collected in Duarte and conservative modeling parameters. Based on modeling assumptions of flat terrain, Duarte wind data, and modified emission source locations, AQMD found modeled air contaminant concentrations higher in Duarte. While particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide concentrations were found to be below acceptable thresholds, the “health risk assessment indicates possibility of higher impacts.”
AQMD Executive Officer Barry Wallerstein said his agency will also continue to work with Duarte to study locations to install one or more monitoring stations to measure particulate emissions from the mining site. “One of the options that AQMD is considering is a real-time monitor that will tell us in essence by the minute what the particulate levels are. Because of the concerns about silica dust we’re probably going to want to take some additional samples that allow us to do a chemical analysis of the type of particulate. We are already scouting out potential sites near the fence line of the facility so that we are right in the residential neighborhood as opposed to a distance away at the school as in the previous model,” he said.
Vulcan is requesting a revised Conditional Use Permit that will allow the company to expand its mining operations from a currently approved and partially mined site on the east side of its 270-acre property to a pristine 80-acre mountain ridge abutting hundreds of Duarte homes and schools.
Videotaped coverage of the AQMD Town Hall, and Planning Commission meetings and recent Congressmember Judy Chu press conference can be viewed on Duarte Public Access (DCTV), Charter Cable Channel 3 in Duarte, and on DCTV on the Web, www.dctvduarte.com.
For more information about the issues surrounding Vulcan’s mining expansion plan, visit www.saveourcanyon.org and/or contact Duarte Deputy City Manager, Karen Herrera at (626) 357-7931.
