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June 1, 2005
Lots of things have changed in Tulare County in the last six years, including the attitudes of county supervisors toward mining in the aquifer.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously at its May 24 meeting to deny an appeal of the planning commission’s approval of a mining project three miles south of Woodlake. After 20 years of fighting for the new project located next to its current mining project, Kaweah River Rock Co. (KRRC) CEO John Alltucker could not contain his excitement after being defeated on an appeal in 1999.
“Hallelujah and praise the Lord,” Alltucker said outside the supervisors’ chambers.
Alltucker first applied for the permit 20 years ago. KRRC’s first attempt to secure a permit to mine 800 acres of the 815-acre Hannah Ranch property three miles south of Woodlake failed in a 3-2 vote in June 1999 after 13 years of hearings. District 5 Supervisor Jim Maples and former District 1 Supervisor Bill Sanders voted against the project citing worries about “a long term effect on the groundwater.”
This time, Maples said the smaller 280-acre mining site did not jeopardize the area’s groundwater.
“I voted against this last time because of the size and the issue of water,” Maples said. “Water is no longer an issue. It has been mitigated, mitigated and mitigated.”
District 4 Supervisor Steve Worthley said he felt the project would benefit the county’s water situation and was impressed with the endorsement the project received from the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District. Bruce George, general manager of the district, called the project “a model for mining in the aquifer.” KDWCD was formed under the Water Conservation Act of 1927. The law gives districts the authority “to appropriate, acquire, protect and conserve water and water rights for any useful purpose; to protect land or property from floods; to store and distribute surface waters to district lands; to replenish underground water ...”
Worthley said. “This is the agency in charge of protecting our groundwater. I commend the applicants for their perseverance.”
The appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of the project was made by Valley Citizens for Water, a group of about 300 county residents who have been fighting any new project at the site since 1985. Del Strange, spokesman for Valley Citizens for Water, said all of the county’s groundwater is affected by the decision. The project proposes to use a clay cut-off wall to prevent the project from contaminating the river. Strange said the “experimental” design will act as an underwater dam cutting off groundwater to county residents west of the mine. Strange said the mining site located near McKays Point, where the Kaweah River splits into the Lower Kaweah and St. Johns rivers, which supply most of Tulare County’s underground water.
“The water has been severed at the source,” he said. “The only people who do not use groundwater are farmers. And even they have to pump groundwater when surface water supplies are short.” He said Visalia already has 80 wells with four new scheduled to be drilled this year — more straws sucking groundwater to the surface.
“Drinkable water is shrinking in quantity while demand is increasing,” Strange said. “This project adds to the shrinkage.” Strange said if groundwater goes unreplenished for long periods of time, there will also be a danger of subsidence or sink holes. “The land can settle, and it isn’t like a balloon you can refill and bring the land back up. Once it compresses it never comes back.”
Strange said the decision will affect the more than 2,000 people who live near the mining project and surrounding communities, including Visalia. Julie Bigham, who along with husband, Doug, lives a mile west of the project, said the project will not only affect her water level, but also traffic in the area. She said she can no longer turn left onto Avenue 322 when returning from Visalia heading north on Highway 245 because of traffic must be redirected to accommodated the large trucks that haul sand and gravel from the project. “I’m sure our property values will go down,” she said. “We moved from the Bay Area to get away from all that traffic. The peace and quiet is gone.”
Strange and Bigham both said the final environmental impact report also did not adequately answer questions regarding the recharge system to put water back into the aquifer, the issue of financial restitution for impacted wells and flood plain issues.
Despite references from opponents that he had lingering questions regarding the project, District 3 Supervisor Phil Cox said that all of his questions had been answered and the county had responded to all comments made by the opponents.
“Just because you don’t agree with them doesn’t mean they haven’t been addressed,” Cox said.
KRRC general manager David Harrald said the decision “was the right one” and that the next challenge is to secure all of the necessary permits with various agencies to begin construction on an access road from Highway 245, probably sometime next year. Alltucker said he believed the main reason the project was successful was that the supervisors finally understood the benefits of the project to supply a growing county with aggregate for the next 30 years. “We wanted to build a project and avoid hurting anyone else,” Alltucker said. “I grew up here during the Great Depression with neighbors helping neighbors. I think this helped everyone.”
For information on Kaweah River Rock Company, contact Dave Harrald at 564-3302
or e-mail him at dharrald@kaweahriverrock.com.
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