Push for river mining to start

Frustrated gravel miners and Alexander Valley property owners
urged county supervisors this week to push a stalled Russian River
mining project forward so work can get under way this summer.
“We need someone to take a leadership position and drive this,”
said Jeff Collins of Asti Winery regarding the Syar Mining Co.’s
plan to mine approximately six miles of gravel in the Russian River
between Geyserville and Healdsburg.
Syar won unanimous county Board of Supervisor approval of the
plan in December but since then an environmental lawsuit and the
gravel mining permit process that also involves state and federal
agencies has raised fear it might not get under way until next
year.
“I urge the board to do everything in its power to expedite the
skimming of gravel bars eight and nine” at the Geyserville Bridge,
said Chris Snyder, district representative for Operating Engineers
Local #3 whose union members have been squeezed hard by the current
building recession.
His industry is suffering 20 percent-plus unemployment rate,
said Snyder.
“In this economy every job counts,” said Snyder, who cited
bankruptcy, divorce and even suicides among his union’s membership
since the housing market tanked four years ago.
“These are terrible times,” said Snyder. “Sonoma County needs
your leadership,” said Snyder. The Syar mining project, estimated
to generate approximately $150 million, “is going to save the
bridge and it’s going to put people to work.”
Miners and property owners say the delay will accelerate
instream damage to the state Highway 128 Geyserville Bridge but
others, including Caltrans, say the bridge’s condition is a
separate issue that may be dealt with separately from instream
mining concerns.
Environmentalists and the Army Corps of Engineers have “serious
concerns” about the environmental damage of mining up to 350,000
tons of gravel a year in the Alexander Valley for the next 15
years, said Rue Furch, who read a statement Tuesday from Russian
Riverkeeper Executive Director Don McEnhill, whose organization has
sued to reduce the volume of gravel Syar can take out each
year.
Fourth District Supervisor Mike McGuire said the Geyserville
Bridge safety and the instream mining concerns are two separate
issues that are being addressed.
“I want to make sure all of us here are on the same page,” said
McGuire. Although the Board of Supervisors in December OK’d the
mining plan, Syar still needs a county streambed roiling permit,
which requires a four-fifths vote of the board. Only three board
members, McGuire, 5th District Supervisor and Board Chairman Efren
Carrillo and 1st District Supervisor David Rabbitt were present
this week, so the roiling permit will be voted on next week when
more board members are expected to be present, said McGuire.
Syar also was required to pay a county debt as a condition of
approval of the new mining project. The company paid the debt last
week, said McGuire.
Syar planned to remove most of the bar nine gravel deposit
upstream from the Geyserville Bridge this summer and excavate a
low-lying wetland area east of the bar to redirect the River away
from the western approach to the bridge where River damage is a
concern, said McGuire.
“The roiling permit is the final step in the county approval
process,” said McGuire, but a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit
and associated environmental habitat protection permits “are still
pending for Syar’s instream mining,” said McGuire.
Syar asked the Army to extend that permit public comment period
to the end of May (May 27) said McGuire and “Mining cannot
commence, according to the Army Corps, until those permits are
acquired.”
Mining may not start until even later, in July or August, when
the River is at its lowest level, he said.
This year’s mining will take four to six weeks and has to be
completed by October, said McGuire.
The condition of the Geyserville Bridge will be the focus this
week of a meeting among representatives of the Sonoma County Public
Works Department, the Permit and Resource Management Department,
state Senator Wes Chesbro’s office and Caltrans “to discuss the
condition of the new bridge,” said McGuire.
“What I can tell you is this,” said McGuire. “A senior engineer
from Caltrans looked for scouring” under the bridge but didn’t find
any.
The Army Corps, Caltrans and other agencies have been discussing
the issue of the western approach to the bridge for the past year,
said McGuire.
“That issue has yet to be completed,” he said.
“The final step in this process for the county is a roiling
permit, which will be on the consent agenda next Tuesday,” said
McGuire.