Fears Over Mining Proposal Unfounded

Timothy Kelly’s letter of Dec. 15 suggests that there are “far-reaching environmental consequences” to the Board of Supervisors’ decision to allow additional rock, sand and gravel mining at the TMC quarry near Moorpark. If there are any regional consequences, those impacts significantly benefit rather than harm the environment.

The TMC site has been in full operation for nearly half a century. Unlike river mining projects, the TMC project, in an isolated canyon, has no discernible biological or hydrological impacts.

Public works and construction projects in Ventura County will be built regardless of whether there is a local source of material. If there is no local source of material, aggregate products will be trucked in from outside the county.

The air quality, traffic and fiscal implications of thousands of truckloads of material coming from outside the county are overwhelming. The local impact of allowing about 77 more vehicular round trips per day above the 1989 levels, including tarped asphalt trucks, is minimal.

In the case of the TMC project, the Board of Supervisors was able to greatly benefit county taxpayers and consumers while avoiding adverse environmental implications. The Board of Supervisors should be applauded for elevating the environment and the taxpayers above one citizen’s hysteria over tarped asphalt trucks.

GLEN M. REISER, Oxnard