Drilling in the San Joaquin River? Here are CEMEX's plans

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A factual institution has plans to ramp up its accumulation by drilling hundreds of feet into the San Joaquin River - portion the caller lease connected the task would much than treble the company's existent output, the imaginable determination has sparked concerns from the river's advocates.

CEMEX's Rockfield Project includes 2 sites: the Quarry, southbound of Lost Lake Park, and the Plant, conscionable southbound of Ball Ranch.

Although mining astatine the Quarry has existed since 1913, the institution wants to alteration its method from mechanical digging of soil and gravel to blasting hard stone and crushing it into gravel - this would impact drilling 600 feet into the Earth.

The combined annual income of aggregate from some sites are estimated to summation the 1.4 metric tons (MT) allowed nether existent permits to 2 MT successful astir 5 years and up to 3 MT successful astir 10 years.

However, according to the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust, the task volition person important impacts connected the San Joaquin River and surrounding lands, presenting an existential menace to the river.

If passed, the Rockfield Expansion Project would widen CEMEX's mining operations for the adjacent century.

The timeline

In the archetypal 30 years, operations would proceed arsenic mean astatine the Plant Site; however, the existing asphalt works would beryllium replaced with a modern Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) plant.

At the Quarry, the hard stone deposit beneath the alluvial deposit presently being mined would besides beryllium mined, requiring drilling 600 feet into the ground. An aggregate processing works would besides beryllium added to the Quarry Site to wash, screen, crush, and benignant the hard stone mined.

After mining the remaining alluvial deposit astatine the Plant Site (approximately 85 feet deep), the ready-mix factual works and the hot-mix asphalt works would beryllium relocated to the Quarry Site.

When mining is implicit astatine the Plant Site (within the archetypal 30 years), reclamation would dwell of astir 122 acres of unfastened space, riparian, and unfastened h2o wildlife habitat. After 100 years, reclamation of the Quarry Site tin statesman and would effect successful astir 349 acres of unfastened space, riparian, and unfastened h2o wildlife habitat.

The remark period

Comments connected the Draft Environmental Impact Report are unfastened and volition beryllium accepted until March 10. Comments tin beryllium submitted by emailing Fresno County Senior Planner David Randall astatine drandall@fresnocountyca.gov.

The River Parkway Trust volition beryllium hosting CEMEX strategy meetings astatine the River Center to sermon the imaginable task connected Thursday astatine 5:30 p.m. and Friday astatine 3:30 p.m.