Jan. 17—Having already been ravaged by fire and flood, residents of the tiny Mora County community of Cleveland now say they are being subjected to environmental threats from a gravel processing facility which has since sprung up in their village without, they say, proper permitting or review.
The state Environmental Improvement Board heard about eight hours of testimony at the Roundhouse Friday regarding the Rancho Escondido Quarry’s operations, permits — or lack thereof — and concerns about harm it could to the water and air in its area.
The testimony was part of a hearing on petitions challenging the New Mexico Environment Department’s approval of the operators’ relocation of an Air Quality Permit for the facility from Rio Rancho to Cleveland. Opponents of the gravel plant told the board the permitting process has been marked by “deception” and “confusion,” that public notice has been inadequate and that the operators of the facility — a local family with deep roots in the area — skirted regulatory processes by using a permit granted to a different company for a different location after their own application was denied.
The petitioners — longtime residents Rowan Stanland and Fion D Cleugh Sinclair and the Acequia de Alto Y Los Martinez, which runs along one side of the quarry — say the facility has been operating for about a year without a permit or business license from Mora County and without its environmental impacts having been thoroughly considered.
“My concern is the impact on our water and our air,” acequia commissioner Henry Sanchez said. “Our community is served by a water association, and from the hydrology report I read it seems that it would impact our wells, some sooner than others. And it seems to me I can protect myself from the plume of dust I see but not from particles I do not see.”
Elizabeth Blackwell — who said he lives “less than a mile from where the crusher is as the crow flies” on property inhabited by her family since 1929 — said the noise from the facility is “horrendous.” Stanland testified about visible dust plumes and the operations proximity to area businesses and homes.
Environment Department opposes petitioners
The board — which has the authority to reverse the approval — didn’t get through all the testimony and didn’t take action, instead planning to continue taking testimony next month.
The state Environment Department argued Friday and in written response to the petitions that many of the issues raised aren’t relevant, are based on misinterpretations of the law or aren’t within the purview of the Environmental Improvement Board to address.
“Petitioners raise no grounds on which the Environmental Improvement Board (“EIB”) could reasonably reverse the Department’s decision to approve a relocation,” New Mexico Environmental Department lawyers Chris Vigil and and Josh Hirsh wrote in the reply.
Asked to address residents concerns about the regulatory process, a spokesperson for the state agency pointed to the written response and hearing testimony but declined to elaborate.
“As this is technically a legal proceeding, it would be inappropriate for us to comment outside of that at this point,” spokesperson Drew Goretzka wrote.
Willie Olivas — who operates the quarry along with his brother Salomon Olivas — could not be reached for comment Friday after the hearing.
County issues cease-and-desist
More than 120 of Cleveland’s approximately 500 residents have signed a petition in opposition to the operation, according to evidence presented Friday.
Mora County issued a cease-and-desist letter to the facility in November citing it for operating without a business license. Opponents say the project also needs a conditional use permit, something not mentioned in the letter.
Interim Mora County Manager Joseph Weathers — who has been on the job for about three months — said in a phone interview Friday he didn’t know how long the facility had been operating without a permit, how the lack of a permit came to the county’s attention or whether the facility has ceased operations in response to the letter.
“I personally have not gone to the site,” he said. “As of this point we haven’t gone through the process of the public hearings and that so we are waiting to have that done, it’s scheduled for next week I believe.”
Opponents dominate hearing
The majority of Friday’s hearing consisted of testimony from opponents to the gravel operation, among them Acequia de Alto Y Los Martinez treasurer Ed Martinez, who testified the quarry’s owners had diverted the ditch through two culverts in order to build a road to the facility without asking the mayordomo of the irrigation system for permission.
At one point, Martinez said, the water stopped flowing through the culverts after a portion of earth between them had collapsed.
Martinez said he’s worried debris from the facility will contaminate the ditch and other water sources in the area.
“My concern is that if dust is being generated, or particulate of crushing and they fall in on the acequia, the acequia will actually carry the water downstream into the valley were we live,” he said.
He’s also concerned, Martinez said about the pit being created by the excavation of the gravel and what might happen if the area floods as it has in the past. He worries this could contaminate the drinking water. Martinez said he has raised the issue with the county multiple times and “they have been inactive in doing anything for us.”
John Bloch, an area resident who said he has Ph.D. in geochemistry, testified his research shows particulates released by the facility are likely thousands of times higher than allowable limits, a comment which the Environment Department’s attorney objected to as an unsubstantiated legal conclusion.
While most of the approximately dozen people who commented during the hearing spoke in opposition, three relatives of the Olivas family spoke in support of the gravel operation, saying they family is committed to following the correct processes and is also concerned about the environmental impacts.
“We are not here to take from anybody. We live in this community too,” said Gabrielle Olivas, noting the operation will create jobs and provide revenue for the county.