The Lehigh/Permanente Quarry - a short history

The earlier history before man's intervention... This web-page provides a short "recent history" of how the quarry came to exist and the consequences that accompanied its creation and further exploitation during the course of the 20th and 21st centuries - and brings us to the situation we find ourselves in today. But first a quick look at the prehistory that lead to this huge man-made scar on the Earth. Many eons ago, two tectonic plates crashed together as they shifted their position over the Earth's surface. The Pacific Plate pushed up against the North American Plate, causing a ridge of hills (or low mountains if you prefer) to rise and become what is known today as "The Coastal Range".Where the two plates met, they left a geologic crack in the Earth's crust known today as The San Andreas Fault. Around the end of the 19th Century, early European settlers discovered that contained in these upthrust hills created by the Pacific Plate, there lay hidden a wealth of valuable minerals. The first to be heavily exploited was the Mercury (Quicksilver) found near what became known as Almaden Mines near today's San Jose. This mineral was very important in the early days of Northern California for the refining of the Gold ore found in the Sierra foothills to the east. Then another valuable mineral was found in these upthrust hills. Slightly north of Almaden, Magnesium was discovered - useful as a lightweight metal in building advanced machines of war as well as a powerful weapon in its own right - as an incendiary material for bombs. And then as the agricultural valley grew further into an industrial metropolis stretching from North of San Francisco, around both sides of "The Bay", and south all the way to San Jose, yet another valuable mineral was found in the upthrust hills. This one was critical to the eventual development of the megalopolis that today covers the Bay Area. Out of this great hole in the ground came the limestone that made the cement that made the concrete that made the Highways, Highrises, Airports, Office Buildings and Factories. ... and the situation we find ourselves in today.

 

Where we are today...

Author:   Rhoda Fry

Santa Clara County (SCC) is in the process of determining the options it has for acquiring the 3,500-acre Lehigh Permanente Quarry and cement plant site to potentially convert it open space, park and housing uses. The property extends from the City of Cupertino, near Stevens Creek Reservoir, northwards through to the City of Palo Alto. A ridgeline adjacent to the 4,300-acre Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve, which shields most of the industrial operations from Los Altos Hills, cannot be quarried without modifying the 1972 Ridgeline Protection Easement Deed.

To protect that ridgeline, Los Altos Hills resident Jitze Couperus took aerial photos of the quarry over a decade-long period. Although SCC acknowledged his concerns of multiple landslides, including the loss of Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) land, there has been no enforcement of the deed. In 2019, Lehigh even proposed mining the protected ridgeline. Thankfully, in 2021, SCC decided that it would not allow modification of the ridgeline deed and that it would share enforcement of the deed with MROSD. A history of the site and its challenges follow.

History of Heavy Industrial Uses

In 1939, industrialist Henry J.Kaiser, known for building Liberty Ships during World War II, founded two companies at Permanente (Cupertino), the Permanente Metals Corporation (later named Kaiser Aluminum) and the Permanente Cement Company (later named Kaiser Cement Corp., Hanson Permanente Cement, Lehigh Hanson, Lehigh Southwest, etc.).

Permanente Metals Corporation (PMC) got its start with $22 million in federal credits to manufacture magnesium, a lightweight metal needed for the war effort. When PMC’s novel manufacturing process proved to be expensive and deadly, PMC changed course and manufactured incendiary magnesium bombs which accounted for 8% of the U.S. incendiary bomb production. Austrian factory manager and metallurgist Fritz Hansgirg also invented processes for the Manhattan Project that remain classified. It is believed that his inventions later became available to Russia’s nuclear program as he had worked in Korea before immigrating to the U.S. PMC manufactured phosphate fertilizer and an asbestos-containing construction material; subsequent asbestos-related lawsuits caused a bankruptcy filing in 2016.

After the war, PMC purchased an aluminum mill from the War Assets Administration, manufactured a variety of rolled aluminum products, and renamed itself Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation. In 1989, Kaiser Aluminum was fined for improper storage of hazardous materials and evaluated for Superfund status by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Shortly thereafter, the factory closed and the adjacent cement company purchased its land. In 1993, a suspicious fire razed many of its buildings.

In 1939, Kaiser also founded the Permanente Cement Company to provide cement to build the Shasta Dam, located nine miles northwest of Redding. To make cement, quarried limestone was mixed with other materials (mainly imported bauxite and iron ore) and calcinated in a giant kiln heated with natural gas to 2800°F. Over time, the plant switched to cheaper and dirtier fuels, first to coal, and in 2007 to petroleum coke (petcoke). In 1995, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) privately allowed the cement plant to burn over 100,000 used tires as fuel over a 45-day trial period. Public outcry over increased air pollution prevented further tire-burning. The EPA also evaluated the site for Superfund status.

Pollution

Series of Violations and Enforcements 2012: MROSD filed a lawsuit against Lehigh and the County for alleged land-use violations which resulted in concessions from Lehigh. 2013: Lehigh agreed to settle a 2011 Sierra Club lawsuit to repair Permanente Creek, a $10M project that environmentalists are eagerly awaiting. 2015: U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. EPA, and California Attorney General forced Lehigh to install a water-treatment plant to reduce selenium pollution. It is likely that this plant will need to continue operating well after the quarry has closed. 2015: The EPA fined Lehigh for failing to report hazardous materials. 2018: Lehigh constructed an illegal 40-foot wide road without proper erosion controls or tree-removal permits within the City of Cupertino and County jurisdictions, generating two Notices of Violation. 2019: The City of Cupertino demanded that the County stop illegal truck traffic between Lehigh and Stevens Creek Quarry. 2019: both the County and Water Boards issued Lehigh Notices of Violation for unauthorized discharges of mining-waste from the “Yeager Yard” landslide into the Permanente Creek, which leads to the San Francisco Bay Estuary. Seeps from the landslide contain mercury, nickel, and selenium. Additionally, Lehigh’s Reclamation Plan excludes repairing the landslide which could block the creek, creating a hazard to structures and residences downstream. Note that in 1983, the quarry-caused flooding evacuated Blach School, over 4 miles downstream. 2020: To resolve air pollution violations from the 1990s, the EPA finalized a consent decree requiring all Lehigh cement plants in the United States to install new pollution controls. In spite of these reductions, Permanente would remain one of California’s biggest sulfur and nitrogen polluters. 2020: Lehigh failed to notice an equipment malfunction and spilled 6 million gallons of chlorinated water into Permanente Creek. The Water Board levied a $50K fine. A different mechanical failure caused additional chlorinated water pollution at Permanente Creek in 2021. 2021: Lehigh’s parent company, HeidelbergCement of Germany, sold all of its west coast operations for $2.3B to Martin Marietta with the exception of its Permanente site. 2011: A disgruntled employee killed four people and injured seven, including a woman who was not affiliated with Lehigh; schoolchildren sheltered in-place during a massive manhunt. Lehigh’s labor-safety violations have dwarfed those of California’s seven other cement plants. From 2017 through 2019, Lehigh Cupertino $1.4M in proposed mining labor-safety fines were fifty times greater than those of Mitsubishi, which had more employees. In 2021, a former Lehigh manager was sentenced to a year in county jail for scheme with a Lehigh contractor that involved bribery, over $100,000 in kickbacks and a luxury trip to Italy; others have been indicted and are yet to be sentenced.

The Santa Clara County Cement Plant Use Permit, established in 1939, states that it would be “situated in an isolated position on the property in a Canyon not in close proximity to any community or dwelling,” with the assurance that it would “not be detrimental to health, safety, morals, comfort, convenience or welfare of persons residing or working in the neighborhood” and would generate “less dust than is contained in ordinary air.” Over time, more homes were built closer to the plant and residents became aware of its pollution.

In the early 2000s, Los Altos Hills resident Bill Almon (1932– 2016) became alarmed by air pollution from the quarry and cement plant when he could only clean his dusty car with vinegar. He founded a grass-roots organization QuarryNo, testified at the meetings held at Town Hall, other cities, SCC, BAAQMD, and the Water Board. He was instrumental in creating a repository of documents (funded by Los Altos and Los Altos Hills) called the South Bay Quarry Library
( southbayquarrylibrary.org ). He championed San Francisco Estuary Institute studies that proved that the cement plant caused elevated mercury levels nearby and as far as 30 miles away.

Evidently, BAAQMD estimated mercury emissions by using the U.S. average mercury in lime-stone rather than the high-levels of mercury known to exist in this region (e.g., New Almaden Quicksilver Mines in San Jose which was the largest mercury mine in the U.S.).

Almon compelled BAAQMD to conduct quarry bore-testing which confirmed his suspicion of under-reported mercury emissions.

In 2005, although BAAQMD estimated 219 pounds of mercury pollution, actual emissions were shown to be nearly six times that amount at 1,284 pounds. In 2015, the EPA adopted new standards that would restrict Lehigh’s maximum mercury emissions to 88 pounds per year with any excesses resulting in fines. According to California Air Resources Board data, Lehigh has been a top ten polluter for Sulfur Oxides, Hydrochloric Acid, Particulate Matter, Nitrogen Oxides, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and Hexavalent Chromium.^♣

^♣ (A true story involving contamination by this latter carcinogenic chemical, coming from a cement plant near the southern California town of Hinkley, was the subject of the award-winning movie “Erin Brockovich” starring Julia Roberts.)

Quarry operations created dust and ground and surface-water pollution. Lehigh’s consultants have reported arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, mercury, PCBs, selenium and vanadium in the soils. In 2013, Lehigh agreed to settle a Sierra Club lawsuit to repair Permanente Creek which leads to the San Francisco Bay Estuary. Environmentalists are still eagerly waiting for this $10M project to begin.

In 2015, U.S.Department of Justice, EPA, and the California Attorney General forced Lehigh to install a water-treatment plant to reduce selenium pollution. In 2019 the cement kiln over-heated, causing at least $1.7M in damages and in 2020, Lehigh stopped operating its kiln and quarry-blasting. In 2021, Lehigh’s parent company, Heidelberg Cement of Germany, sold all of its U.S. west coast operations to Martin Marietta for $2.3B with the exception of its Permanente site.

County Seeks Transparency and Considers Enforcement of the 1939 Use Permit

Since January 2022, SCC has been working on a list of all noticed violations of permits, laws, statutes, regulations, ordinances, consent decrees or other court actions involving the Lehigh Cement Plant and Quarry over the past ten years. This list, expected to be available summer 2022, is intended to provide transparency and will uncover whether Lehigh is in compliance across the spectrum of their operations as assessed by all entities with regulatory authority. Specifically, SCC could invoke a condition of the 1939 Use Permit in which “a violation of... any other provision of the law or ordinance shall constitute cause for the Board of Supervisors to suspend the Use Permit of said plant.

County Acquisition Process

As required under the California Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA), Lehigh has earmarked funds to reclaim the quarry land toward a secondary beneficial use, such as open space. In 2021, the County determined that Lehigh’s Financial Assurance Cost Estimate (FACE) of $60M was too low and is awaiting a revised cost estimate for quarry reclamation. Additionally, Lehigh has excluded a massive landslide above Permanente Creek, which is a hazard to downstream homes, from its Reclamation Plan’ s scope of work. And there is no plan in place for removing the industrial complex and abating any hazardous materials. Fortunately much of the land is suitable for open space as it is pristine and supports a number of special-status plant and animal species. As to future land-uses, heavy industry is not permitted in the site’s Hillside and Agricultural zoning districts. SCC has considered that new housing could help offset its acquisition costs. Determining the net value of the land along with public engagement informing its ultimate use, will be a long complex process.

The Author... Rhoda Fry, community advocate, is a resident of Cupertino. She has been an appointed member of the City of Cupertino Environmental Review Committee and recipient of Cupertino’s 2022 CREST (Cupertino Recognizes Extra Steps Taken) award.