Supes approve gravel mining

Following a lengthy, and jam packed, public hearing Tuesday, the
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved a Final EIR and a Use
Permit for Syar Industries to remove up to 350,000 tons of gravel a
year for 15 years from the Russian River in the Lower Alexander
Valley.
The board also, after lengthy remarks from each supervisor,
congratulated county staff, various resources agencies and Syar
itself for successful “collaboration” in the application process
that began with scoping sessions in the Geyserville area back in
2006.
More than two dozen people spoke at the hearing, many of them in
favor of Syar and the mining proposal.
The project got vigorous support from local residents who blamed
built up gravel bars for land loss, erosion and damage to the Jim
Town Bridge linking Geyserville to the east side of the river
during major flood events.
As in recent hearings before the Sonoma County Planning
Commission, representatives of construction unions also supported
the project, citing the need for jobs in the current depressed
economy.
Critics of the plan, including representatives of the Russian
River Keeper, Sonoma County Conservation Action and Trout
Unlimited, either called the EIR “flawed” or incomplete.
Some area homeowners critical of the plan also voiced concerns
over potential traffic, air quality and noise impacts expected to
emanate from the mining project.
The Board of Supervisors, in conducting the straw vote,
meanwhile, decided to give final approval to the project as a
consent item at its December 7 meeting.
Fourth District Supervisor Paul Kelley, who made the motion to
accept the EIR, Syar use permit and changes to the Aggregate
Resources Management Plan – such as giving a 15-year permit instead
of the 10-year permit currently in the ARMS plan – praised not only
the project but the process which included input from several state
and federal resource agencies, including the California Department
of Fish & Game, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the
National Marine Fisheries Service in coming up with mitigation
measures for the project.
“This is a win, win, win, win situation,” Kelley said, saying it
was a win for farmers, a win for fisheries, a win for jobs and a
win for the county.
The project, which Syar officials said would commence “sometime
after April” assuming the final approval comes in December, calls
for an alteration in gravel mining such as using primarily
“horseshoe skimming” to protect some channels, riparian restoration
including planting some 11 acres of riparian forest in the first
six years of mining and connecting several tributaries to the main
river to enhance spawning potential.
The project, including the resource mitigation measures, would
be under the auspices of an Adaptive Management Strategy that would
be reviewed annually by a scientific review consultant from the
Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Department as well as
state and federal resource agencies.
The project will mine about 110 acres of gravel bar, one bar at
a time and up to four gravel bars a season, on property owned or
leased by Syar along a 6.5-mile long stretch of river between Gill
Creek and the Jim Town Bridge.
Among supporters of the project was Al Cadd, president of the
Russian River Property Owners Association and rancher Ray Pigoni,
both of whom have spoken repeatedly at hearings on the issue.
“This plan has the approval of all the agencies and works under
the county’s general plan,” said Cadd. “This is the very first plan
for fish habitat I’ve seen in regards to gravel mining in the
river.”
Pigoni, meanwhile, in response to criticism of the plan by some
speakers, said, “For one thing you never hear mentioned is people’s
homes flooded. I’m here to say that if Syar does step out of line,
we will be here to tell you. Otherwise, Syar are the only ones to
help us.”
Critics, in addition to Russian Riverkeeper Program Director Don
McEnhill, included former 4th District Supervisorial candidate,
Healdsburg forester Fred Euphrat, and a staff attorney for the
Oakland-based Earthjustice organization, Gregory Loarie.
Loarie, who said, “I grew up in the Alexander Valley” added that
his office considers the EIR “deeply flawed.”
Loarie said the EIR used pre-recession data to calculate demand
for river gravel in construction and failed to factor in climate
change on the river’s salmonid population in coming up with
mitigation for the project.
For his part, McEnhill said that while his group doesn’t oppose
all gravel mining in the Russian River the “flawed” document fails
to identify all impacts.
“The gravel amounts in the river are based on flawed data,” he
said. “A lot of the gravel is not from upriver but actually from
the erosion from nearby river banks. They will be selling local
landowners gravel.”
“For the first time in history,” he added, “we can support some
gravel mining but let’s take the time to take some additional
evaluation.”
The board’s action, meanwhile, follows a 4-1 approval by the
county planning commission in late October.