Last month we received the great news that Lehigh Quarry operators were shutting down the kiln at the Lehigh cement plant and stopping all further mining. However, other parts of Lehigh’s operations at the site could continue for up to 20 years. This makes it vitally important for Santa Clara County to take action to officially shut down all Lehigh’s operations so environmental restoration can begin.

Lehigh’s Voluntary, Non-Binding Statement of Closure Calls for Caution

Throughout its decades-long history, Lehigh has racked up an egregious amount of legal violations in its operation of the largest active quarry in Santa Clara County in the foothills outside of Cupertino, including a massive cement plant. Fractured regulatory authority over Lehigh makes it hard to track the extent and nature of its legal violations, but County staff’s recent research showed that over 2,100 violations have occurred in the last decade alone, many of them serious. These legal violations at the cement plant, together with public citizen complaints, show that the plant’s dust, heavy traffic, noise, and air pollution unreasonably interfere with the local community’s quality of life, and constitute a “public nuisance.”

In November, before County staff were expected to report on potential further actions against Lehigh, the quarry owners issued the announcement that they were “permanently” closing the cement kiln, and abandoning a proposal to expand the quarry with a new pit. In addition, they would conduct no further mining, and would begin restoring quarry lands after they receive approval of a new reclamation plan.

While the announcement could be viewed as a major victory, Lehigh’s statements are voluntary and non-binding, so Lehigh could change them at any time. They are also full of loopholes. For example, as part of quarry operations, Lehigh retains massive stockpiles of previously quarried rock it plans to continue trucking through neighboring communities for up to 20 years instead of using the rock to fill massive pits on the site, something it is currently required to do. And, as part of the cement plant permit, there are other operations like cement storage and distribution that are not being shut down. The cement plant also has unresolved issues from decades of toxic uses onsite that likely contaminate the area.

Recent Decisions and Scrutiny Ratcheted Up Pressure to End Lehigh’s Environmental Damage

Lehigh’s statements of its plans capped a year of greatly needed scrutiny of its operations. Since 2021, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors has taken several actions to limit the environmental damage caused by Lehigh’s operations, by:

• sharing with Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District the management of a ridgeline easement that Lehigh violated for years
• requiring Lehigh to set aside more legally-required funding to pay for eventual environmental reclamation of the land it has decimated with its operations
• directing County staff to research potential acquisition of the property by the County and to consider legal options for closing the quarry and cement plant
• and just this month, directing the Planning Commission to consider whether Lehigh’s cement plant operation constitutes a public nuisance and should be shut down for that reason as well as for legal violations.

Supervisor Joe Simitian, who represents the area and surrounding communities, initiated these actions with the unanimous support of all Supervisors.

Continuing to Push for Shutdown, Environmental Reclamation, and Acquisition

Next it is up to the Planning Commission to consider whether the cement plant operation constitutes a public nuisance and should be shut down for that reason as well as for legal violations. Green Foothills will advocate for the Planning Commission to vote yes on that.

Green Foothills has also supported the Supervisors’ actions and will continue to advocate for shutting down the quarry and cement plant as a public nuisance and to stop it from removing quarried rock. In addition, there is no reason for Lehigh to delay reclamation, which should start immediately and be done to the highest environmental standards.

It will be a long-term effort to restore the land. Our goal is to reclaim, for nature, this moonscape of destroyed rock. Unfortunately it can never be what it once was, but it can be an environmentally valuable part of our landscape and community.