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News Home page Dear Buck,
9-13-99
Thank you very much for holding the August 20 meeting about Transit Mix, and taking public input from the "crazed" citizens. A few were emotional. but I found that the doctors, homeowners and community groups presented some very well thought out positions.
It is an embarrassment that the Southdown people would call local residents, who are fighting for their health, safety and home values, crazed and hysterical. The real hysterical people were the ones from Southdown, who just ignored the public’s comments and went on with their mantra. "you need a strip mine"
I think the classic line I heard was that "The water would never be returned to the river". They pump the water from underground river, they use it to wash the sand and gravel, and let it settle in desilting basins which soak back into the underground river. It doesn’t take a genus to figure it goes back into the river.
As to the need, Southdown's 10K Filed with the SEC on 8-6-99, states in part:
They have either lied to the SEC or to the BLM and LA County.
One issue I’d like you to address is why I haven’t been able to convince BLM to give us an electronic copy of the EIS for posting. From what BLM tells me, they claim that when they contracted the EIS to the developers’ company, the developers that paid the company and new refused to allow it's release in electronic form, making it inaccessible to the public.
I think BLM needs to put pressure on the engineering firm to release this document in electronic form, even at this late date, so that the public can have it available in case this project goes forward.. Having a few copies of a thousand page document at places that the public has limited access, and limited facilities, is not right. With the availability of the Internet and the fact that we are willing to place it online, totally without cost to anyone, makes the only reason to refuse to make it available electronically is they don’t want the public to read the document and be able to effectively comment.
We would like to see legislation if necessary, to require documents such as these contracted by BLM to be available always in electronic format and always released in that format so that the public can see what is going on. To keep it at a few difficult to reach locations, in a form that people have great difficulty commenting on, is just not the right way to run a government. It clearly indicates that Southdown, by literally ordering it’s consultant not to make it available, is attempting to thwart public input on this project.
To see our full page on Transit mix see http://www.vanguardnews.com/transit/. and My opposition to the project at http://www.vanguardnews.com/transit/DEIR%20comments.htm
Charles Brink Acton
Publisher of the Vanguard News.