CEMEX Looking into Santa Clarita Opportunities
Environmentally aware but enterprising enough to further its American operations, CEMEX has been fighting for its interests in Santa Clarita, California. In this city, millions of tons of sand and gravel are at stake.
CEMEX USA owns a lease from the Bureau of Land Management for the Soledad Canyon, which falls under the local county. By all accounts, the site is a treasure trove of sand and gravel reserves, estimated to reach 69 million tons. The lease potentially gives CEMEX the right to extract as much as 3.9 million tons of reserves yearly from the site for 21 years.
However, with the city government of Santa Clarita and environmentalists united in opposition, mining activity have slowed down. In fact, the Santa Clarita government has expended over $7 million to hamper the issuing of necessary permits to CEMEX.
Environmentalists are probably forgetting that CEMEX is on their side. Winner of many US Environmental Protection Agency awards, this company has driven positive environmental change wherever it has plants in the US.
Finally, in 2007, the city government played against type and decided to collaborate with the cement maker. Both are hopeful they could find a consensus in a longstanding impasse.
Stauncher opponents of CEMEX’s expansion in Santa Clarita have yet to convince the Bureau of Land Management to invalidate the company’s lease.
