Gravel permit brings lawsuit

<p>Russian River activists and Healdsburg farmers and residents are joining a legal challenge to county approval of Syar Industries' plans to resume gravel mining in river terraces.</p><p>Although the Napa-based quarry company won approval in mid-September, a group including the Westside Association to Save Agriculture and Russian Riverkeeper filed suit in Superior Court last week to halt riverside mining because county studies failed to fully disclose adverse impacts of the mining projects on river water quality and surrounding ground-water quality.</p><p>Syar officials were not available for comment Tuesday.</p><p>The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, on a 3-2 vote, approved a three-year extension of Syar's permit to dredge along the river. Most of that work, however, will not begin until spring because rising river water in winter months makes extraction difficult.</p><p>During heated public hearings in July and September, county officials defended their environmental impact report that concluded most effects of renewed gravel mining could be mitigated.</p><p>Ultimately, the question of giving Syar more time amounted to a policy decision by the board.</p><p>Supervisors Paul Kelley, Tim Smith and Mike Kerns agreed that Syar should be allowed to take out the amount of gravel allowed under the original permit. Lawsuits and equipment problems forced the company to cease operations before the April 2006 permit expired.</p><p>Supervisors Valerie Brown and Mike Reilly, however, argued that the original 10-year limit on terrace mining permits should be followed and that no extension should be granted.</p><p>"The board's approval of the project violates the commitment previously made by the county to move to less environmentally harmful sources of gravel," the plaintiffs said in a prepared statement.</p><p>Opponents of riverside mining have long contended that other sources of construction rock are available, such as from quarries in the county, brought by barge from Canadian quarries and from sources in the eastern Sacramento Valley.</p><p>The lawsuit filed against the county and Syar calls for the court to halt mining operations until a new review is conducted.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer B.W. Rose at 521-5431 or bleys.rose@ pressdemocrat.com.</p>