San Rafael Rock Quarry
Marin IJ Article - August 23, 2006
San Rafael quarry denies complaints about after-hours operation
Richard Halstead
Residents who live near the San Rafael Rock Quarry are complaining the quarry is operating beyond its court-ordered hours - and the noise is keeping them up nights.
Not so, says Aimi Dutra, a spokeswoman for the Dutra Group, which operates the quarry.
"The quarry is in full compliance with the court order," Dutra said. "The quarry is doing its best to meet the needs of the state while minimizing its impact on its neighborhood."
Dutra says the quarry is playing a crucial role in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to repair 29 levee sites by the end of this year. In July, the Dutra Group requested permission from county supervisors to work around the clock at the quarry to supply the rock needed for the levee repairs. That request was denied.
Marin Superior Court Judge John Sutro imposed limits on the quarry's hours of operation in January 2004 after the county of Marin, the state attorney general's office and a neighborhood group sued the Dutra Group. The litigants alleged the business was operating the quarry illegally and creating a public nuisance by generating harmful dust, excessive noise and traffic congestion. The Dutra Group denies the claims.
Neighbors started phoning in complaints this past weekend, county Public Works Director Farhad Mansourian told county supervisors Tuesday.
"Some are hearing noise well past midnight, which we're going to look into," Mansourian said.
Neighbor Amanda Metcalf said, "They use bright, working lights that are unshielded late into the evening and early morning hours. They start up much earlier than 7 a.m. I have myself observed and written e-mails about their starting up at 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. with equipment sounds."
There have been multiple complaints, said Supervisor Susan Adams, who represents the region in which the quarry is situated.
"I had a phone call at my house after 11 last night from a member of the community who was still hearing the operation," Adams said. "What they're saying is that it sounds like they're still loading the barges - the rocks are dumping onto something - well after 10 p.m."
If the Dutra Group is violating its operating conditions, the county should "administer whatever consequences we have in our ability to administer," Adams said.
"I also want to bring our sheriff into this to help us," Adams said.
Dutra said the only activity going on at the quarry after 10 p.m. is maintenance work, which is authorized under the court order. She suspects that some of those who complained mistakenly believe that the court order prohibits barge loading after 10 p.m. over the weekend.
Metcalf disputes Dutra's claim that maintenance work is exempted from the court order. "They're cheating and attempting to fudge on the court order," she asserted.
Dutra said it is still too soon to tell if the quarry will be able to meet the state's deadline for supplying the 550,000 to 800,000 tons of rock that it requires. Dutra has said her company "will seek reconsideration or other relief" from the operating limits, if it appears that it can't.
In an emergency declaration issued in February, Schwarzenegger warned that a comprehensive failure of the Delta levee system would threaten the drinking water supply of 24 million residents, cause $35 billion to $40 billion in economic damage, threaten tens of thousands of homes and major roads, cause significant environmental damage and threaten the lives of Delta residents.
Last week, the Dutra Group announced that its dredging company had agreed to pay $735,000 in fines for having "leaked or dumped" 200,000 cubic yards of dredged material from its disposal vessels while en route to a designated deep ocean disposal site 55 miles offshore of San Francisco.