The proposed Cemex mine in Santa Clarita is scheduled to start operations sometime in 2008 if nothing is done to stop it before then.

What does it mean to Santa Clarita homeowners? Well, it means a lot more truck traffic along the 14 freeway corridor to haul those mega-tons of mined materials, as well as a sharp increase in pollutants in the mining area and the adjacent residential areas from the mining operation itself and measurable increases in pollutants in other areas within the Santa Clarita Valley as well.

The Stonecrest development in Canyon Country has been held out as a possibile bargaining chip in the "fight Cemex" battle, since it's the closest housing development to the mining area. The argument is that if the Stonecrest development was annexed to the City of Santa Clarita, then it would add ammunition to Santa Clarita's battle to stop the mega-mine from operating there in the first place since mines of this magnitude are generally not placed so close to existing residential neighborhoods. If left under Los Angeles County control, absolutely no action will be taken to protect Stonecrest or anyone else from the hazards of a mining operation of that size. 

I received a lengthy email from a Stonecrest resident recently saying that all others should "butt-out" of their affairs, and that the decision for annexation to the City of Santa Clarita is nobody's business but theirs. Well, I disagree with that, unless of course Stonecrest is offering us some sort of pollution magnet that will suck all the extra debris out of the air before it drifts into other areas of the Santa Clarita Valley.

The Cemex mining operation concerns all of us, not just the Stonecrest development. Of course Stonecrest has the most to lose with a dirty, noisy mining operation gearing up to become their newest neighbor, but the mining operations will certainly affect us all. If I owned property in the Stonecrest area, I'd be doing my best to unload that albatross before the proposed mining operation dumps their property values down the toilet.