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Appeal over use of Indy gravel pit now settled |
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Tuesday, 05 August 2008 |
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By Debbie Murphy
Register Correspondent 8-2-2008
Following 18 months of negotiations and appeals over aggregate sources for state highway improvement projects, Caltrans and the Bureau of Land Management have reached a settlement with Independence citizen groups.
Due to land use and settlement details, the Manzanar project contract has been awarded with construction to begin in August or September of this year. The agreement was reached with no significant delay in any of the three ongoing U.S. 395 projects.
Caltrans has agreed to make “every reasonable effort” to identify aggregate sources closer to the 11-mile Olancha/Cartago project. In addition, Mineral Site (MS) 118, the Independence pit, will be tapped to supply only 800,000 cubic yards of aggregate rather than the initial 1.2 million cubic yards. The original Record of Decision had earmarked the Independence pit as the supply source for the current 14.3-mile Black Rock four-lane project north of Independence, the 11.1-mile Manzanar project south of the town as well as the Southern Inyo project 45 miles south of the site.
That extensive use of the site and the resulting 90-mile round trip truck travel were the primary points of contention that spurred Tom Van Sant and the citizen groups to appeal to the federal Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA). The Oak Creek Property Owners Association, Concerned Citizens of Independence and the Ft. Independence Paiute Tribe were also appellants in the process.
“We have to assume the Olancha capacity is adequate,” said Van Sant. “This is as good as success.”
Brad Mettam, Caltrans District 9 deputy director, said Caltrans had intended to source the aggregate near Olancha from the outset. “We offered to remove the Olancha/Cartago project from the permit,” he said. “We hadn’t identified sources in Olancha yet, we had time to do that. With the original permit we were covered if we couldn’t find alternative sources.” The Southern Inyo project is funded for environmental studies and right-of-way, scheduled to begin fall in 2011, with construction, yet unfunded, slated for 2014.
According to Van Sant, the Olancha sources include MS 290, 165 as well as the Keeler and Cottonwood pits, all on BLM land. Mettam said the sites’ capacities were judged not adequate for Caltrans’ current needs but could possibly be expanded. According to the settlement, Caltrans cannot use the Independence site for the Olancha/Cartago project “unless it has exhausted all reasonable alternatives.” June 30, 2009 is the deadline for the evaluation. Assuming capacity is adequate for the roughly 650,000 cubic-yard Olancha/Cartago project, reclamation of the Independence pit will begin as soon the Manzanar project is completed in late 2010.
The journey from the project presentation by District 9 Director Tom Hallenbeck in early 2007 to the July 3, 2008 settlement is a study in federal land use law. The Owens Valley falls into Class III of the BLM’s Land Use Plan Visual Resource Standards. Under those standards, the aggregate processing plant (including a rock crusher and separator, asphalt and batch plants, conveyor belts and storage tanks) installed in the Independence pit was illegal, unless the project requiring the equipment lasted two years or less. Caltrans used that exemption on the basis that each of the three projects would be completed within that two year window although the pit would be active up to 10 years.
While the first appeal cited a number of concerns, that was the issue that the IBLA used to remand Caltrans to go back and re-think the original Decision of Record. Caltrans withdrew from the exemption and took steps to comply with the visual standards, including painting the equipment towers green.
In response, Van Sant filed a second appeal, asking for a stay. The first appeal was filed in March, 2007; the decision was issued a year later. According to the IBLA procedures, unless an appellant files for a stay, bringing projects to a halt, decisions can take eight months or longer. Van Sant’s second appeal pushed the issue to the top of the IBLA’s agenda. Caltrans negotiated a settlement to avoid project delays. “Our intent was to quicken the process,” said Van Sant, “not to actually enforce a stay.”
According to Mettam, if the IBLA had issued a stay, “the time delay would have jeopardized the projects.”
Other outcomes of the negotiated settlement include possible closure of the Independence pit once Caltrans’ easement expires in 2016. The action requires a change in BLM’s resource management plan which is up for revision in 2009. BLM agreed to “identify closure as an issue for the planning process.” Caltrans also agreed “not to inhibit” the designation of U.S. 395 from the south edge of the Fort Independence Paiute Reservation to south of Lone Pine as a California Scenic Byway.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 13 September 2008 )
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