No Environmental Studies Have Been Done at CEMEX Lyons
Op-Ed by Wylie Hobbs
The Impacts of CEMEX Lyons Have Not Been Studied
CEMEX has submitted an application for an additional 15 years of mining at their Dowe Flats Mine near the Town of Lyons. While much of the talk has centered around its cement plant just south of Highway 66, there are largely unaddressed concerns surrounding the mine as well.
During the Boulder County Planning Commission hearings last month, Planning Staff was asked by Commissioner Fitch to provide more information about the cumulative impact to public health with 15 more years of mining at Dowe Flats. After a two week break to gather more information, Planning Staff failed to provide anything meaningful on this point, and only included a half hearted attempt at a desktop review of macro level impact to address the concerns raised by Commissioner Fitch. These concerns are important, as understanding the full picture of environmental and public health impacts of an additional 15 years of mining are absolutely necessary in order for the Planning Commission to effectively determine whether or not this application meets the Special Review Criteria as dictated by Boulder County.
Requests for Full Environmental Impact Have Been Dismissed
Boulder County Planning Staff waved off future impact at Dowe Flats by saying the impact has already been done. But deeper digging, 15 years of it, WILL have more impact. Just take the water table for instance. There are residences in the area with water tables as shallow as 12 feet. Staff can’t assume that an additional 30 feet of digging won’t have an impact on the well water that nearby residents depend on. Many residents, I might add, who are among the most vulnerable in the extended Lyons community.
In addition to that, we are really talking about the impacts relative to the baseline. The baseline at Dowe Flats is not a huge pit and heavily mined land. Baseline is a reclamation process that is supposed to begin on October 1, 2022, to return Dowe Flats to its original “pasture-like state”. Boulder County Parks and Open Space already owns, or has purchase options on, 100% of the ~1600 acres at Dowe Flats. Giving CEMEX an additional 15 years of mining would delay the public’s use of that land by 18 years. Land our tax dollars have already been paying for over the past 25 years.
No Environmental Impact Study Was Done At Application
A full environmental impact study should have been completed when this application was filed. Absent that kind of detail, County Staff cannot approve this application. The Planning Commission ultimately came to the right decision with a unanimous 6-0 vote to reject CEMEX’s application, but struggled to get there using the County’s own policies. They ultimately leaned on the desire for a better understanding of the environmental and public health impacts, as well as concerns with the length of the requested additional time to mine, to get to their decision.
It is also worth noting that as part of the application feedback process, Boulder County Public Health provided a list of conditions and improvements they would like to see in order to protect public health should this application be approved. When Boulder County Planning Staff issued their draft recommendation, these requests were ignored in their entirety. When Planning Commissioner Goldfarb asked CEMEX directly if they would make BCPH’s suggested improvements during the September 1st hearing, CEMEX was non-committal, even after repeated requests.
CEMEX Has A Long History Of Environmental Violations
When reviewing CEMEX’s long history of environmental violations, there is a clear pattern that CEMEX pays the fines for their environmental violations rather than fixing the issues. Michael Clausen of CEMEX has said to me personally, several times, that the plant “would never do anything that would risk its permits”. I believe he is referencing the plant’s legal nonconforming status, and any improvements or accessories added would trigger a County review of the plant’s nonconforming status, thus risking its permits altogether. All that is to say, CEMEX very literally does the bare minimum required as it pertains to protecting public health. And the bare minimum is generally just paying the fine, not protecting public health at all.
It seems to me that Boulder County is prioritizing open space acquisitions above our County’s climate goals and protecting public health. To be frank, without doing ANY local research or impact studies before recommending approval of an additional 15 years of mining, how could they say they’re not? We need to demand more from our elected officials.
I recommend that CEMEX’s application to extend mining at Dowe Flats be REJECTED, and a NEW proposal is negotiated with the Town of Lyons at the table. 15 years is too long.
