Editorial: Gravel pit expansion a bad idea

Friday, Dec. 4, 1998 | 11:51 a.m.

In many ways Boulder City is an anachronism when it is compared to the other bustling cities in Southern Nevada. No gambling is permitted in Boulder City, which has a population of a little more than 14,000. Earlier this year the small town installed just the second stoplight in its 38-year history -- and not every resident saw this as progress. The community also has the strictest growth ordinance around, allowing no more than 120 housing units to be built every year.

Yes, no one would ever mistake Boulder City for Las Vegas -- and that's just the way its residents want to keep it. So it is not too surprising, then, that Boulder City residents are upset by a plan of Bonanza Materials Inc. to increase by almost five times the amount currently mined in the company's granite quarry, bringing the annual total produced to more than 3.2 million tons. As the Sun's Lisa Snedeker reported Tuesday, some fear all this extra activity will turn the Eldorado Valley into a dust bowl, prompting worries about air quality and visibility in the valley.

Although the plant is located in the county, not Boulder City, the majority of the Eldorado Valley lies within the Boulder City city limits, creating the residents' concerns. Bonanza Materials said it needs to expand if its operations are going to be cost-effective. The company, which produces materials for concrete, asphalt and road base, employs more than 220 people. While John Price, a company vice president, acknowledged that most people would prefer the operation to be tucked away in a remote area, he said producing these materials nearby helps keep construction costs down. But it doesn't seem fair to make the residents of Boulder City suffer the adverse impacts of more mining activity just so their big-city neighbors to the north can have more growth and cheaper materials.

Mary Shope expressed her frustration with the proposed expansion during a Clark County Health District hearing on the plan. "To increase the volume (of production) to that of about five to six times more and increase the hours of operation is totally wrong for the community," Shope said. "Now they want really big mining in a residential neighborhood. They weren't here first."

Health district officials should be skeptical of the company's plan. The current proposal by Bonanza Materials is not reasonable and is incompatible with the quality of life Boulder City residents have come to enjoy. If the health district permits any expansion at all, it should be strictly monitored. The district should ensure that the pollution-control devices Bonanza Materials says it will install will indeed comply with air pollution regulations. And the district should require frequent testing of air quality to make certain the environment isn't harmed. The bottom line is that the environment of the Eldorado Valley shouldn't be spoiled so that residents of the Las Vegas Valley can get cheaper materials to pay for our explosive growth.