Geneva Rock Point of the Mountain

Geneva Rock has come to the Draper City Council with numerous attempts to get approval to expand their gravel mine at the Point of the Mountain.  If approved, this would expose Draper and much of Salt Lake and Utah Counties to a significant source of dust pollution for the next several decades. We summarize our case against the expansion in a letter we sent to the Draper City Council.

Recent Updates:

UPHE’s Sept 2022 comments to DOGM on proposed POM expansion.

Health Affects

UPHE has worked for several years on educating the public on the dangers of fugitive dust coming from Geneva Rock, Kennecott and all our gravel pits. Continual dust from Geneva’s operations are potentially some of the most dangerous dust particles in our airshed in terms of negatively affecting lung function. Fugitive dust is composed of harmful particulate matter and often heavy metals including uranium and arsenic.  Crystalline silica present in this dust can cause chronic, irreversible lung disease and lead to lung cancer.

We Need Monitors

We need consistent air quality monitoring along the fence lines of these gravel, rock and sand mining operations. Unfortunately, there are no air monitors in the area and the state doesn’t require them. Therefore, no one knows exactly what is contained in this huge mountain removal project.

Background Information

In the early 2000’s Geneva Rock was told by the Division of Oil Gas and Mining (DOGM) that they had escalated their practices moving from sand and gravel collection to hard rock mining without the proper state reclamation contract. A reclamation contract has been required for mining activity since before Draper City was incorporated, which was never filed. They filed the Notice of Intent and reclamation in 2009 after the fact and without the proper conditional use permit from Draper City.

In 2006, when the economy boomed and orders exceeded their approved permitted capacity, they ignored the rules again. Genevahad to pay the state $1.7 million in fines for air quality violations. The report cited several permit breaches at other Geneva sites as well. Unfortunately, staff resources makes it difficult for the Air Quality Board to check on Geneva Rock and this  may mean that they will continue to do business while ignoring the rules.

(Article about 2006 violation and $1.7 million fine)

In 2015, the issue gained notoriety when Geneva applied for a permit from Draper City to expand their operations by 189 acres. That October, widespread citizen protest throughout Draper, with the help of UPHE, resulted in Geneva pulling their expansion permit application.

In August 2016, KUTV did a story on Draper resident’s appealing the decision to allow Geneva mining to continue their operations. Click here for the story.

In early 2018, it was reported to the Division of Oil Gas and Mining (DOGM), that Geneva had escalated their practices and contravened zoned borders without approval. Geneva had to pay a fine from DOGM for going over the line several acres on Radio Tower Mountain. Another determination is still being argued for a larger improperly zoned area that Geneva has mined with claims they were “grandfathered in” and their escalation to hard rock mining without a conditional use permit.

In November of 2018, angry residents worked with Draper City to shut down a request by Geneva Rock to double their operations.  Research by the residents revealed that Geneva had already mined a 40 acre square without permission.  The response from Geneva was that area had been “grandfathered in.” Another 3 acre parcel, the Radio Tower Mountain, outside the approved mining area, had also been illegally mined despite being zoned agricultural.  Geneva admitted going beyond their approved area and paid a penalty fine to DOGM for their error.

Draper City has approved expansion of activities including blasting without proper zoning permit process, but residents are appealing. This fall Geneva Rock will ask to expand their operations into the mountains above the pit. Carcinogenic silica dust, laden with heavy metals, gets airborne at this windy gap in the valley, traveling for miles along the Wasatch Front affecting over 2 million residents.

New research by Draper residents now raises questions about the legality of the entire Geneva Rock operation.  Geneva sent a 170-page document to Draper City asking to confirm their legal rights and retroactively approve what they were already doing.  This document tries to answer a 2008 request from the Division of Oil Gas and Mining on Geneva “zoning issues” with the city, specifically expanding into new areas not zoned for mining and expanded use.  The question of expanded use covers the entire open pit mine which is now conducting mining instead of just sand and gravel collection.  The difference is defined by DOGM, being collecting from the surface versus using explosives to mine consolidated material and bedrock.  This activity requires a conditional use permit from Draper City, something Geneva has never been granted.  This time the answer from Geneva was “no city official ever told us we could not mine our entire property.”  There’s a big difference between not hearing “no” and obtaining the proper legal permission.

Priority Issues