Marin County Supervisors approve to quarry's environmental impa...

The real issue is the real estate developers who want the quarry closed and developed. Just how many racing BMW's and Mercedes will be spewing out greenhouse gases and exhaust fumes compared to the trucks currently using the road? How many more traffic lights on San Pedro Road will be necessary to handle the vehicles from 1000 more homes planned out there?

Personally I prefer the quarry to more development, housing, shops, marinas, etc etc.
I suggest you all look behind the forces against the quarry.
Nearby resident

The development plans for the Dutra property are well thought out and designed. If the County uses government powers to shut down their business - then more power to their development plans.

Course the little commies will whine and b-tch and moan about how it should be some commie community open space piece of sh-t for every non-tax paying little socialist to use at the private land owner's expense.

...but maybe in the fog the Mercedes will clip one of these little b-stards and send a karma message and give these little commies something to b-tch and whine about.

-lol

A local quarry means we do not import rocks and aggregate from Canada to the US. Barges and ships bringing in materials means more diesel fumes along the Washimgton, Oregon and California coast. The reasl solution is to not shift diesel pollution to the California coast where it endangers our coastal beauty and wildlife at a much higher level.

LA County has converted most of it's garbage trucks to Clean burning Natural gas with the assistance of T Boone Pickens' company Clean Energy Fuels Corp. Even Nanci Pelosi is an investort in this company. We can do the same here and provide the materials to build a new California. Let's get creative and stop the NIMBY's who call themselves Greenies.

FEdUP wrote:

Personally I prefer the quarry to more development, housing, shops, marinas, etc etc.
I suggest you all look behind the forces against the quarry.
Nearby resident

Bush and Cheney are behind it ... both for and against. Didn't you know? In Marin they're behind everything!

While I disagree with the vote of approval of the EIR on unresolved long term medical impacts, at least the citizens get a chance to next comment on the "merits of the project".
Contrast this process to Redwood Landfill's EIR hearings. While promised a merits hearing by the County Planning Commission, they were never held. Approved was an expansion EIR, written last century, without taking into consideration the "no project alternative" required by CEQA law. Issues not addressed were the state's Goal of Zero Waste, banning organics from the dump, and the reopening of Sonoma's Central Landfill where over 50% of the waste comes from.
Key to this permit will be oversight by the County's DPW and Environmental Health which I have no confidence in.
Bring on the merits hearings and let the public be heard.

I support Dutra for many reasons!

Dear, Point San Pedro Road Coalition. If you don't like it, maybe you should have done your research before you moved there. Duh. Hey, maybe next time you could move next to an airport and try to shut them down or limit the number of flights. You're just bunch of typical Marinite Whiners.

Homes n Marina wrote:

The development plans for the Dutra property are well thought out and designed. If the County uses government powers to shut down their business - then more power to their development plans.
Course the little commies will whine and b-tch and moan about how it should be some **** community open space piece of sh-t for every non-tax paying little socialist to use at the private land owner's expense.
...but maybe in the fog the Mercedes will clip one of these little b-stards and send a karma message and give these little commies something to b-tch and whine about.
-lol

Of course you wrote this tirade to cause intelligent people to be disgusted...and you suceeded. Perhaps you should re enroll in grade school and study a little more history before you show your lack of intelligence on matters that require decent discussion.

I remember when Susan Adams was campaigning for her seat she attracted alot of voter by saying "If I am elected I will make sure the Quary gets closed down". Everyone in that neighborhood overwhemingly voted for her due to her stance on the Quary. Now where is she with her votes and her promise to shut the quary down. Wake up people in Peacock Gap/Glenwood and in that part of San Rafael!!! See another fake and dishonest politician who took advantage of your sentiments to get herself elected....see that.

Wake up my fellow residents of San Rafael and do not fall for any of these political traps of our local politicians and SAY NO to measure G.

NO..NO..NO

Claims by quarry neighbors that dust from the quarry settles on their property requires that the wind must blow from east to west. If these claims are true, then the quarry dust would be the least of their worries given that the Richmond Chevron refinery is located a few miles east of the quarry.

As a 31 year resident of East San Rafael, I can tell you that it is rare to have the wind move that way as it is almost always moving west to east. I have never noticed any quarry dust on my property.

Gee, Ami, you've certainly done a lot better with grass-roots (or Astroturf) support in this forum this time around!

Bruce Baum- wrote:

While I disagree with the vote of approval of the EIR on unresolved long term medical impacts, at least the citizens get a chance to next comment on the "merits of the project".
Contrast this process to Redwood Landfill's EIR hearings. While promised a merits hearing by the County Planning Commission, they were never held. Approved was an expansion EIR, written last century, without taking into consideration the "no project alternative" required by CEQA law. Issues not addressed were the state's Goal of Zero Waste, banning organics from the dump, and the reopening of Sonoma's Central Landfill where over 50% of the waste comes from.
Key to this permit will be oversight by the County's DPW and Environmental Health
which I have no confidence in.
Bring on the merits hearings and let the public be heard.

Comparing a quarry to a landfill is apples to oranges. More specificity please.

Have you ever looked at the actual wind patterns in this area? Often, the wind comes in through the passes and Golden Gate and whip up San Pablo Bay, splitting in eddies and blowing from the Bay to the West (towards East San Rafael) and East (towards Richmond). So, in fact the wind does blow towards homes in the Peacock Gap/Glenwood area). Perhaps you live closer to San Rafael where teh patterns are different. I think even Loch Lomond is different. Folks living above San Pedro Rd. across from the quarry do get covered in dust. While I'm not sold that this is a health concern (or that diesel fumes are a health concern) I do not like the fact that the quarry was set to shut down due to depth restrictions, and now flip-flopping Supervisors are screwing their constituents for money. Not that this is anything new, but many folks bought in this area under the belief that the quarry was about to shut down and become a development. Personally I would rather the 1,000 cars to 250 double trailers.

Marin Conservative wrote:

Claims by quarry neighbors that dust from the quarry settles on their property requires that the wind must blow from east to west. If these claims are true, then the quarry dust would be the least of their worries given that the Richmond Chevron refinery is located a few miles east of the quarry.
As a 31 year resident of East San Rafael, I can tell you that it is rare to have the wind move that way as it is almost always moving west to east. I have never noticed any quarry dust on my property.

The quarry was there long before the homes were built. If you think the place is a hazzard. MOVE

Nail Biter wrote:

<quoted text>
Comparing a quarry to a landfill is apples to oranges. More specificity please.

1) The County is honoring the EIR process -- allowing a "Merits" hearing which wasn't conducted with the landfill's EIR
2) Both require "Conditional Land Use" permits. The county is Grandfathering in the old permits although there have been numerous changes in "Land Use".
3) Both are environmentally sensitive projects that have long term impacts on Marin's citizens.
4) Numerous other similar health issues including - air quality, water quality, noise, etc.

Please don't hide behind "Nail Biter" do you have a name? Do you understand the underlying issues and long term effects?

Randy wrote:

The quarry was there long before the homes were built. If you think the place is a hazzard. MOVE

and the families who live across petaluma wetlands should move too because the asphalt plant has been there?..or is about to be built there against the people's will?..Dutra has a terrible tract record not only in Ca but in other states as well.This is not a conservative vs liberal..rich vs poor issue which dutra would love to turn into. Where ever they exist or want to exist they have well deserved opposition from poor to middle class to rich. They are greedy and also are aware that no matter what laws they break they will be able to afford the fine/penalties they get. the supervisors in Marin and sonoma get kick backs one way or another from them or their sister companies...Dutra is not for the people or for its workers..they are for The Dutra family only. They will trample your rights for their profit with the help of the two faced politicians.nothing new here..

Records of Violations and Complaints for Dutra's Petaluma Asphalt Plant
See Press Democrat Article titled: PETALUMA QUARRY CITED FOR AIR QUALITY VIOLATION. Does it sound like a great idea to allow them to build a new larger asphalt plant now?

See Public Information Records Request from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Not only did the Dutra Group have complaints, they received several "Notice of Violations" had to pay fines and Aimi Dutra was mentioned in one of the reports as being aware of the complaint.

Three complaints received in the year 2000 were investigated and confirmed:

On October 23rd, 2000, they received a complaint of "Burnt Rubber."

On November 2nd, 2000, they received a complaint of "Gray Smoke."

On November 3rd, 2000, they received a complaint of "Burning Rubber."

Also from the BAAQMD a compilation of Notice of Violations:

On May 10th, 1999, Dutra Materials had one violation for Regulation 8, Rule 7, Section 311. They had an above ground gasoline tank that was required to have a submerged fill tube and a p/v valve and the facilities manager stated he had no idea he was required to have this equipment. A Notice of Violation was issued and a penalty was recommended to the BAAQMD via their inspector. The correct piece was not installed for 7 days. This is noted by the inspector in the report.

On May 21st, 2004, an inspection of Dutra records by a BAAQMD inspector discovered that the Dutra Materials Petaluma had failed to comply with their permit condition of 15 round trip barge trips per any 12 month period. According to facility records they had allowed 19 barge trips for the year. They were issued a Notice of Violation and the matter was referred to the BAAQMD's Legal Division to determine the applicable days of violations and recommended penalty. As a result Dutra submitted a permit condition increase. This shows me that if you give them a permit for a certain allowable use they will meet and potentially exceed it. And maybe without advising anyone.

On August 14th, 2000, a BAAQMD Inspector received notice of a possible violation of visible emissions at Dutra Materials asphalt batch in Petaluma. The notice was of white smoke and odor. The inspector arrived and observed emissions and began testing the emissions. The facility was determined to be in violation of regulations stating: "...a person shall not emit from any source for a period or periods aggregating more than three minutes in any hour, a visible emission which is as dark or darker than No. 1 on the Ringelmann Chart, or of such opacity as to obscure an observer's view to an equivalent or greater degree." See that attached picture that the inspector drew displaying his observations. A penalty was issued for this violation. In the Statements section of this report it says the following regarding Aimi Dutra's knowledge of this report: "The visible emission was determined to be white smoke. Two considerations regarding the cause of the smoke were reviewed. It may be that the asphalt "oil" is contaminated. Or it may be the smoke was caused by operator error in firing the plant. Both possibilities are being investigated. On follow up RI [Reporting Inspector] spoke with Aimi Dutra

Marin Conservative wrote:

Claims by quarry neighbors that dust from the quarry settles on their property requires that the wind must blow from east to west. If these claims are true, then the quarry dust would be the least of their worries given that the Richmond Chevron refinery is located a few miles east of the quarry.
As a 31 year resident of East San Rafael, I can tell you that it is rare to have the wind move that way as it is almost always moving west to east. I have never noticed any quarry dust on my property.

You live in Glenwood. You admitted that back in August. Just because you aren't effected doesn't mean others aren't. You can't speak for anyone on the eastern side of Peacock.

You are right the winds are predominantly out of the west in the Bay area ... however, as I sit in my office in downtown SF, I am watching the wind blow heavily from almost due north for the second day in a row.

I have sailed many times on the Bay with winds out of the south-west. The quarry is south-west of many homes in the area.

Predominant does not mean always.

HA!!!! That wasn't too tough ...

Per Intellicast's local weather data the wind was blowing from the south-west at 14 mph as recently as this past Monday afternoon !!

Stop spreading your foolish nonsense "Marin Conservative".

California grows by 400,000 people a year. Until this unsustainable growth is ended the quarries will be needed to build roads, build houses and build schools and build stripmalls.
First step is to recognize where this growth is coming from. It is NOT "natural" growth, but rather from immigrants and their offspring.
Second step is to rattle the cages of Bay Area Congressional reps to stem this endless tidal wave and permit a shot at a sustainable future for our kids.
Everything you need to know about immigration and what to do about it humorously told.
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
(Roy Beck and NumbersUSA are the "gumball" heroes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch...