Growers Dig In Their Heels on Quarries : * Environment: They say dust and truck traffic harm their way of life. Proposed mines would almost double the current yearly limit of 7.5 million tons. : COUNTY REPORT. * Battle Over Mining

Just west of Fillmore, citrus rancher Keith Barnard is bracing for a legal battle that he thinks is necessary to preserve the rural lifestyle that he has enjoyed since boyhood.

Barnard grows oranges and avocados on the same land he did when he and his wife, Ruth, were married 40 years ago. But now he feels threatened by a proposal to dig a gravel mining pit in a nearby orange orchard.

He and 13 other area growers have set up a legal fund to fight the proposal, and he expects the battle to be a tough one.

“We’re playing hardball here, just as the mining people are,” he said.

To the south, Moorpark residents Pat and Tom Schleve complain that the morning air already reeks of diesel exhaust from the trucks that come and go at the Blue Star Ready Mix rock quarry, north of town.

The Schleves live in a house trailer, but they are building a new home just down the street from the quarry. They are frightened by a proposal to more than double the quarry’s size by adding 284 acres over the next 50 years.

“You take a big breath of air at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. and it’s all diesel fumes,” Pat Schleve said. “It’s just disgusting.”

Elsewhere in the county, there are other concerns about mines and gravel pits, either operating or proposed. In the small community of El Rio, north of Oxnard, one of the issues is whether mining operations may further contaminate ground water that is now unfit for drinking.

Gene and Evelyn Miller are longtime El Rio residents who have joined a local citizens group to fight the proposals to expand two companies’ mining operations by a total of 280 acres in and along the Santa Clara River.

But Evelyn Miller is pessimistic about their chances.

“You can’t fight big business,” she said. “We’ve tried before.”

Those conflicts are part of a larger battle being waged by residents throughout Ventura County as the result of an unprecedented number of proposals to dot the county’s landscape with either new or larger quarries and mines. Nineteen gravel mines and rock quarries already operate in the county. But county officials are faced with a record number of 10 proposals to create new mines and two more to expand quarries already in operation.

Together, the requests represent proposals to mine more material from Ventura County riverbeds, mountainsides and rocky flats than has ever been mined before. The new proposals alone call for removing more than 6 million tons of rock, sand and gravel a year.

That would almost double the current allowable excavation of about 7.5 million tons.

But just as mining proposals and existing mining have reached all-time peaks, the number of hurdles the operators must overcome has also increased dramatically.

Environmental regulations at both state and county levels are far more strict now than before. And organized opposition to new mines, nearly nonexistent in the past, is growing.

Gone are the days in Ventura County when mining companies wrote their own tickets to chop up the land with little concern about the damaged farm areas and river bottoms they left behind, county planners say.

Even as recently as the 1970s, in the early days of the environmental movement, mining permits were issued almost routinely and with far less consideration for the environmental impacts than today, said Judith Ward, a senior planner for Ventura County.

“The world is entirely different from what it was 20 years ago,” she said. “We’ve become much more sophisticated in our approach.”

People like the Barnards of Fillmore, the Schleves of Moorpark and the Millers of El Rio who might feel that their opposition to large mining operations is futile should be reassured, Ward said.

“If people think these permits are a fait accompli , they are wrong,” she said.

For the moment, the growing controversy over mining operations in the county is in an early stage. In the next two to three years, after millions of dollars’ worth of environmental studies are done and thousands of staff hours are spent evaluating permit requests, Ventura County supervisors will make decisions on just how much rock and sand will be unearthed, under what conditions and where.

Their decisions to grant or deny operating permits for 10- to 20-year stints will affect the environmental--and possibly economic--future of the county well into the next century, planning officials say.

Rock and gravel mines atop high water tables, such as those in the Santa Clara River Valley where the bulk of county mining operations are concentrated, can compromise the quality of underground water when the silt that is left over from mining seeps into the water, the planners say.

In addition, allowing mining to continue or expand in or near the dry beds of the Santa Clara and Ventura rivers could drive out species of birds and animals that are unique to the area, said Samuel Sweet, professor of biology at UC Santa Barbara.

“Where one small project might not hurt, the cumulative effects are serious,” Sweet said. “One bee sting doesn’t hurt, but it really hurts when you kick over the hive.”

In the face of the mounting opposition to more mines, the sand and gravel industry in the county has responded to increased environmental concerns by scaling back some projects and focusing more attention on ways to restore mining areas once mines are exhausted.

The choice confronting the county is not so simple as open space on the one hand and quarries on the other, the mining industry says. Its view is that more mines are a necessity if the county wants the roads, bridges, buildings and homes that will be part of future growth.

The cost of transportation makes local mines essential to local building projects, operators say. If material has to be brought from outside the county, it could drive up the cost of concrete and road materials by 100%, the industry estimates.

“About 40% of our product goes to public works projects,” said James P. Sandoval, president and majority owner of Blue Star Ready Mix, which is supplying material for the connector between California 118 and California 23. “The cost to the county to build roads could go up by 100% if we were not operating.”

As with other mining operations in Ventura County, Sandoval’s proposal to add 284 acres to his operation on Happy Camp Road, north of Moorpark, will undergo more scrutiny than it would have been subjected to in the past.

Because Sandoval’s firm is mining at an elevation of 1,700 feet on a 2,000-foot hill, he must outline in detail how he plans to carve up the top of the mountain while keeping the slopes stable and preventing erosion.

In addition, Sandoval will have to present reclamation plans to the county, now required for all mine permits, that map out a strategy to restore the land to a more natural state.

A law that went into effect this year requires the plans to give greater detail than in the past, and stipulates that mining and restoration be completed in phases. And for the first time state regulations prescribe that local governments assess fees on the operators to cover the cost of annual inspections.

“That way, the operator can factor in the cost of reclamation with the cost of operating rather than leave the land looking like a piece of junk,” said Robert Laughlin, manager of the industrial land-use section of the county Planning Division. “After they’re all done, who’s got the money then? It costs millions.”

Since the first county zoning ordinance was passed in 1947, there have been no regular inspections to enforce conditions of the permits, planners say. Only when people complain will inspectors check up on the operators, said Todd Collart, manager of the enforcement section of the county Planning Division.

The Schleves have complained about Moorpark’s Blue Star. The couple say the company has more than five times as many trucks on the road as it did five years ago when they began building their home.

Collart said the company’s operating permit, which expired five years ago while environmental studies were being completed, places no limits on the number of trucks or its operating hours. Blue Star has applied for renewal of the permit and expansion of the operation. County policy allows mining to continue while the permit is being processed.

And Sandoval said his company is careful to operate within the law.

“All I need is one accident or some inspector to come by and say that slope isn’t stable, and that would close me down,” he said. “We’re under too much scrutiny to screw up.”

In addition to expansion of the Moorpark quarry, one of the county’s most controversial mining proposals is an open-pit mine that Southern Pacific Milling wants to dig at Boulder Creek on 502 acres. The site is in an orchard on the former Rancho Sespe property near Fillmore.

S.P. Milling has modified its original permit request to include more protection for neighbors from dust. In addition, the company says it will recess the proposed 60-foot-high concrete plant into a 20-foot depression in an effort to blend into the countryside.

But the farmers aren’t willing to take chances on company promises. The excess dust created even after the control measures would harm the beneficial insects they use in place of pesticides to control harmful insects, they say. In addition, the dust could hurt crops and result in a 25% decrease in production, Barnard said.

“The noise would be horrendous as well,” he said. “They plan on building pits more than 200 feet deep.”

Barnard was among a group of farmers and area citizens who argued successfully two weeks ago before the state Mining and Geology Board in Sacramento that the S.P. Milling property did not warrant designation as an area of special significance for mining resources.

Their efforts were supported by the Fillmore City Council and the citizens group known as the Valley Advisory Committee. The Fillmore City Council, which also opposes the project, is asking the Board of Supervisors to prohibit mining in agricultural land that is also in a designated greenbelt area, as the Boulder Creek property is.

But S.P. Milling is not discouraged.

“We plan to mine in phases so there will never be more than 15 acres of land exposed at a time,” said Victor Westerberg, assistant production manager at S.P. Milling.

Westerberg also said the company’s plans to reclaim the entire 502 acres for a citrus orchard in 30 years show its commitment to preserving the environment.

“I see a much bigger impact on the county if we are not granted this permit,” Westerberg said.

S.P. Milling will have a chance to show its commitment to reclamation during the next two years as it closes down its operation on the Ventura River, said Mark Capelli, a biologist who volunteers his time with Friends of the Ventura River.

A year ago, S.P. Milling asked the county to renew a permit to excavate up to 250,000 tons a year from the riverbed at a plant just north of Ventura. But after weighing the amount of material left to mine against environmental regulations, the company backed away from its request.

In a meeting with Capelli’s group and county officials, S.P. Milling agreed to write a plan for restoration of the riverbed, rescind its request for a permit renewal and phase out operations by 1992 or 1993, on condition that it be allowed to operate until then without completing extensive environmental studies, Capelli said.

“We expect the restoration plan to be comprehensive and detailed,” he said. “There has been no other proposal like it for any other sand and gravel mining company.”

But S.P. Milling officials were less enthusiastic.

“It’s all part of the negotiations,” said Cecil Elliot, a retired S.P. Milling employee who now works as a consultant to the company. “We’re not committed to making a park out of it.”

One of the best examples of how land changed by mining operations can be successfully reclaimed, according to mining officials, is an abandoned CalMat Co. gravel pit in Saticoy that has been converted into a strawberry field.

“We won an award for that site,” said Gene Block, company vice president. “Reclamation is not only a necessary part of mining, but it’s what should be done.”

Block, whose company has mining operations in California, Arizona and New Mexico, said Ventura County regulations are among the strictest anywhere.

“The last permit we received had more than 60 conditions attached,” he said.

CalMat has permits to excavate on more than 850 acres in the Saticoy area. Its permits allow the company, one of the two largest in the county, to remove about 2 million tons of material each year.

CalMat wants to add 118 acres to its operation in the Saticoy area, just south of the Santa Clara River. S.P. Milling is also seeking a permit to expand its mines in the area to add 160 acres and allow removal of 750,000 tons a year.

A gravel pit that CalMat reclaimed and turned into a strawberry field contributes to El Rio’s drinking-water problems, the Millers assert. The couple and their citizens group say that the fertilizer applied to the strawberries is so close to the water table that the nitrates have leached out of the fertilizer and have tainted some El Rio wells, which have been shut down. County planners say that nitrates from fertilizers have contributed to the problem, but they question whether the strawberry field is more at fault than any other nearby field.

S.P. Milling has an abandoned pit in the Saticoy area that was carved 90 feet into the ground, so deep that it cut into underground pools.

The pit, dug decades ago, was not in violation of its permit, planners said. But future permits will place more limits on the depth of pits and ensure that the quality of water as well as other environmental concerns are not compromised, planner Ward said.

“We’re breaking new ground with these proposals,” Ward said. “We are trying to avoid the problems of the past.”

Sand and Gravel Mining in Ventura County * Rock and sand deposits predominantly follow the current or historical path of rivers, as moving water carries crumbling mountains toward the sea. 1. Schmidt Construction Acres: 177 Tons/Yr.: 40,000 Products: stone, rip rap Mine Type: rock quarry Status: Operating, up for permit renewal 2. S.P. Milling Acres: 153 Tons/Yr.: 50,000-250,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating, Up for permit renewal 3. Ventura Aggregates Acres: 75 Tons/Yr.: 0 Products: clay/shale Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating 4. Agricultural Land Services Inc. Acres: 180 Tons/Yr.: 150,000-240,000 Products: landfill cover material Mine Type: sand bar skimming Status: Operating 5. S.P. Milling Acres: 48 Tons/Yr.: 0 Products: concrete, asphalt Mine Type: plant only 6. S.P. Milling Acres: 400 Tons/Yr.: 1 million Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating 7. CalMat Acres: 495 Tons/Yr.: 1.6 million Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating 8. CalMat Acres: 241 Tons/Yr.: 290,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating 9. CalMat Acres: 142 Tons/Yr.: 0 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating 10. CalMat Acres: 118 Tons/Yr.: 185,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Proposed new mine 11. S.P. Milling Acres: 160 Tons/Yr.: 750,000 Products: landfill soil Mine Type: open pit Status: Proposed new mine 12. S.P. Milling Acres: 20 Tons/Yr.: 118,000 Products: soil, rock Mine Type: borrow pit Status: Operating 13. S.P. Milling Acres: 659 Tons/Yr.: 50,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: gravel bar Status: Operating 14. S.P. Milling Acres: 190 Tons/Yr.: 800,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating 15. S.P. Milling Acres: 261 Tons/Yr.: 1 million Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating 16. Granite Construction Acres: 280 Tons/Yr.: 115,333 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating, Up for permit renewal 17. Granite Construction Acres: 505 Tons/Yr.: 300,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Proposed new mine 18. S.P. Milling Acres: 502 Tons/Yr.: 1.3 million Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Proposed new mine 19. Sespe Rock Co. Acres: 355 Tons/Yr.: 400,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating, Proposed new mine, expansion 20. Sespe Rock Co. Acres: 1,740 Tons/Yr.: 505,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Proposed new mine 21. Ortega Quarry Acres: 160 Tons/Yr.: 250,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Proposed new mine 22. Best Rock Products Acres: 160 Tons/Yr.: 50,000 Products: decor. rock Mine Type: quarry Status: Operating 23. Best Rock Products Acres: 80 Tons/Yr.: 300,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating 24. Quality Rock Acres: 71 Tons/Yr.: 250,000 - 1 million Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Proposed new mine 25. Quality Rock Acres: 164 Tons/Yr.: 250,000-1 million Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating 26. Blue Star Acres: 284 Tons/Yr.: 1.6 million-2.4 million Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Proposed new mine 27. C.Z.S. Corp Acres: 1,117 Tons/Yr.: 1 million-1.5 million Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Operating, Proposed new mine, expansion 28. Tapo Rock & Sand Acres: 104 Tons/Yr.: 50,000-250,000 Products: sand, gravel Mine Type: open pit Status: Proposed new mine 29. A.J. Sanders Acres: 102 Tons/Yr.: 86,000 Products: stone, rip rap Mine Type: rock quarry Status: Up for permit renewal 30. Rancho Guadalasca Acres: 47 Tons/Yr.: 50,000-250,000 Products: rock, roadbase Mine Type: open pit Status: Proposed new mine Source: Ventura County Planning Department