Editorial: Gravel mine move is worth studying

Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2002 | 10:16 a.m.

It's hard to imagine an operation more disruptive to neighborhoods than gravel mining. Constant blasting at the mine, coupled with thousands of noisy, tandem gravel trucks rolling through the streets spewing tiny rocks and belching voluminous amounts of exhaust, is hardly anyone's idea of home sweet home. That's why a plan by Rinker Materials, the biggest producer of gravel in Southern Nevada, is attractive at first glance. The company wants to move its operation at Buffalo Drive and Tropicana Avenue, right next to housing subdivisions, to a site that is now federally owned outside of Sloan, a tiny town about 15 miles south of Las Vegas.

The Bureau of Land Management is evaluating the company's proposal. In order to show the BLM that it has local support for the move, Rinker is asking for an endorsement from Clark County. First, however, the county would need to assess the impact the move would have on Sloan residents and analyze how the operation -- planned to be much larger than at Buffalo and Tropicana -- would affect the valley's dust levels. It should also determine what would become of the former mine. If no major obstacles are discovered during these assessments, our view is that the move would be for the good.

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