Russian River gravel conflict strong as ever

<p>Even after a decade of slow boil, debate over mining high-quality construction rock out of Russian River terraces has lost none of its ability to generate heat.</p><p>During a 2½-hour hearing Tuesday that sounded much like reruns of arguments from the mid-1990s, environmentalists and river area residents squared off with gravel mining companies and construction workers.</p><p>The bout was prompted by a request by Syar Industries to pick up where it abruptly halted digging in 2006. County supervisors said they wanted more information on air and water quality testing before taking up the issue again on Aug. 19.</p><p>Although the county's Aggregate Resource Management plan remains in effect, all river terrace mining permits expired two years ago, no matter whether companies like Syar completed dredging operations on the low-lying pools alongside the river.</p><p>Syar officials said that because of a lawsuit settlement, permit approval delays and equipment and weather problems, it wasn't able to extract its permitted amount of gravel by the April 2006 deadline. The company says it wants a permit extension for nothing more than what was approved years ago.</p><p>"We recognize the time limit, and we did not make it on time," said David Spielberg, attorney for Syar. "It is like changing a zoning ordinance, which happens all the time."</p><p>Opponents, however, packed the supervisors' hearing room to complain that the ARM plan constituted the county's pledge to shift rock mining to area quarries to protect agriculture and to improve river water quality.</p><p>"Our water resources and our prime ag lands are far more important than gravel extraction," said Edwin Wilson, president of the Dry Creek Valley Association. He said his group supports the anti-mining effort by the Westside Association to Save Agriculture.</p><p>Marc Bommersbach, a coordinator of the Westside group, told supervisors that gravel brought by ship and barge from Canada has developed into an important source for concrete-grade gravel, making river gravel less of a priority even though quarry gravel hasn't been fully developed.</p><p>"I don't see that highway construction is coming to a halt even though there's been no gravel mining in two years," Bommersbach said.</p><p>Syar officials, however, argued that carbon emissions from rock transported by boat and truck are far greater than by Syar trucks traveling a few miles to job sites in northern Sonoma County.</p><p>The hearing also attracted dozens of construction workers who testified their businesses and their families depend on contracts that relied upon competitive job bids based on availability of local rock.</p><p>"We depend on Syar for our concrete," said Stephen Tonelli, ready-mix plant manager at Superior Supplies Inc., who added his company's three dozen employees work on Highway 101 construction contracts. "We can only be competitive if we can buy from local sources."</p><p>Supervisors offered little comment during the lengthy hearing, with the exception of west county Supervisor Mike Reilly, the board's staunchest opponent of river gravel mining.</p><p>"I've heard a lot about the promise of the ARM plan," he said. "We did not make a promise. We made a law, and that sets a very high bar for me."</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Bleys W. Rose at 521-5431 or bleys.rose@pressdemocrat.com.</p>