We need your help preventing the mine in Parley’s Canyon, again.
There has been a lull in updates on the proposed mine and gravel pit in Parley’s Canyon while we awaited the Utah Division of Air Quality’s (DAQ) decision on the permit. The company, Granite Construction, has now submitted a new permit application.
The new application seems to be for a strategically small enough area to dodge challenges on Utah’s far too loose air quality standards. Make no mistake, even this smaller mine will be an unacceptable new source of dust and pollution, a huge, destructive scar in the most beautiful part of lower Parley’s Canyon, and destroy wildlife and critical watershed. But Granite will likely use this smaller permit as a phase 1 strategy to expand to their original 634 acres and beyond by exploiting a bill that the legislature passed last year making that strategy much easier to succeed.
This change in the process is a slap in the face to the thousand citizens who took the time and effort to be involved in the process with official comments.
In response to this, UPHE has requested a public hearing. We’re challenging the usual strategy of inconvenient times, days and locations of the hearing. Please stay tuned and ready for action. If this hearing request is approved we will need all hands on deck to show widespread opposition to the mine proposal.
Granite Construction has a documented history of numerous violations related to air and water regulations, including issues with fugitive dust and non-compliance with environmental standards. Granite claims they have nobly addressed the concerns of the community that will suffer the greatest impact. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are now trying a back door approach to getting what they applied for three years ago, wholesale destruction of the north side of lower Parley’s Canyon. Such desecration of the Wasatch Mountains should be intolerable to every Utah resident.