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Liberty Quarry - Second lawsuit seeks to block environmental report

Aug, 07 2012

Liberty Quarry - Second lawsuit seeks to block environmental report

A massive environmental study justifying a gravel quarry planned for Temecula’s outskirts is the target of another lawsuit, this time from a grassroots group and a local conservation district.

The litigation filed Friday, Aug. 3, by Save Our Southwest Hills and the Elsinore-Murrieta-Anza Resource Conservation District seeks to overturn Riverside County’s certification of the report, an 8,500-page analysis of Liberty Quarry.

The 38-page lawsuit filed in Riverside County Superior Court makes similar arguments to the city of Temecula, which filed its own legal action July 26 to block the report.

In the latest suit, attorney Ray Johnson argues the county violated the state Environmental Quality Act by certifying the report even though the quarry itself was rejected by the Board of Supervisors.

The county also failed to ensure the independent and objective preparation of the report, and the report itself is a flawed, incomplete document that fails to adequately assess the quarry’s environmental effects, the suit alleges.

County spokesman Ray Smith said once the county is formally served with the lawsuit, the county’s lawyers “will review it and county will determine the best course on which to proceed.”

Quarry developer Granite Construction has agreed to pay all costs associated with defending the report in court.

The lawsuit comes as Granite has re-submitted a new quarry application that the company contends is a scaled-down version of the project. Supervisors July 31 asked county officials to prepare changes to county rules to make surface mines like the quarry eligible for fast-track approval, meaning they don’t have to go before the Planning Commission.

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