Duarte files 20 page Response to City of Azusa’s Notice of Preparation of an EIR for Vulcan’s Application for a Modified Conditional Use Permit and Amended Reclamation Plan 
The City of Duarte has filed with the City of Azusa a 20-page response to Azusa’s notice of intent to prepare an environment impact report on the proposed Azusa Rock Revised Modified Conditional Use Permit & Reclamation Plan.
This response, also shared with 28 City Managers and Directors of Community Development of cities in the San Gabriel Valley, identified numerous deficiencies in Azusa’s document and demonstrated that it failed to comply with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Azusa’s notice of preparation document contained a multitude of significant informational, analytical, and legal flaws including an incomplete project description, the failure to consider indirect and cumulative environmental impacts, and the discounting of impacts that will persist during the balance of the 29-years of future mining. “It is difficult to perceive any environmental benefits with a project that is located only 0.6 miles from our residents, does not decrease mining operation times- or, the amount of material to be mined, ruins pristine natural open space and increases drilling, blasting, dust and air quality erosion,” says Darrell George, Duarte City Manger.
Duarte staff and members of the Duarte City Council have also attended and commented at a public scoping meeting for the proposed modified Conditional Use Permit and Amended Reclamation Plan on May 27, 2009 and the first public meeting of the “Save Our Canyon” coalition on June 17, 2009. The proposed revised mining plan would substitute 80 acres on the east side of the Vulcan mining area, which are acres currently approved for mining, with 80 acres on the west side of the property right on the border of Duarte and only six-tenths of a mile from homes. Duarte residents can find Vulcan’s complete submittal, all technical attachments and draft Environmental Impact Report on the official City of Azusa website by using the following link: http://www.ci.azusa.ca.us/index.asp?NID=943. Residents call also review the Notice of Preparation and the City’s response as a links to this story.
Last year the Duarte City Council established a $700,000 fund to monitor and counter anticipated expansion plans by Vulcan that would adversely impact Duarte residents. The “Fight Against Vulcan Expansion” fund (FAVE) will allow the City of Duarte to monitor the approximately two-year application process involving a Conditional Use Permit and Environmental Impact Report through whatever legal and environmental means necessary.
For more information about the City of Duarte’s Fight Against Vulcan Expansion activities, call Duarte Deputy City Manager, Karen Herrera at (626) 357-7931, ext. 221.
Azusa Notice of Preparation EIR Letter May 12, 2009
Notice of Preparation Response Letter June 9, 2009
Azusa City Politics and Dust from the San Gabriels San Gabriel Valley Tribune June 29, 2009
City of Azusa Response to San Gabriel Valley Tribune Article June 30, 2009
