Another political storm is brewing.

I just received a direct-mail piece from Granite Construction Materials about the proposed "Liberty Quarry" project. This Quarry is to occupy a 311 acre site adjacent to Riverside County's southern border at I-15 and Rainbow Valley Boulevard, near to Temeku Golf Course.

My first impulse was to think: "Temecula, not my problem." but a question nagged in the back of my mind, "Why did I receive a mailer in Murrieta?" Those closest to the site of the proposed quarry are naturally going to be infected with a bad case of the NIMBY's, so why are they hitting Murrieta?

Murrieta where housing tracts sprout like weeds?

I think I am beginning to see a connection.

On Granite Corporation's side, much of the construction materials (concrete and gravel) are traveling through Temecula and Murrieta on the I-15 from Corona and Lake Elsinore. With the cost of diesel fuel topping $3 a gallon in some places, the ability to economically transport their merchandise around Riverside and North San Diego Counties is quickly becoming a catastrophe for suppliers to the development industry, especially the low profit to weight concrete industry. The Granite Corporation expect to remove five million tons of material per year from this new quarry, and their mailer neatly summarizes why this quarry is necessary for the continued well-being of southwest Riverside County; (1) No quarry threatens dwindling construction material resources (or Granite financial resources?), (2) It endangers transportation improvements, (3) Delays school construction (with Murrieta Unified, who could tell?), (4) Increases Freeway Congestion, and there is also the nebulous, catch-all, miscellaneous category: (5) "Lack of suitable alternatives".

On the other hand, the things that this dusty, loud, and permanent quarry will bring to the area are: (1) Decreased truck traffic, (are they going to get rid of their 2000+ trucks?), (2) Jobs and economic benefits, [the flyer claims that a quarryperson will make $94,000 a year, other estimates put that amount at $53,795 (2003)], (3) Local resources for our schools and roads (It's for the children!), (4) Long-term supply of resources, (digging a giant hole in the ground will "conserve our natural resources"), and finally, that the area located immediately adjacent to the I-15 and the Riverside/San Diego county line is the (5) "Ideal Location".

On the Environmental side, San Diego State has an ecological reserve immediately downstream from the quarry site. Along this unspoiled five mile stretch of the Santa Margarita River, there are approx. $42 million in ongoing experiments that will be compromised or destroyed. The hole that this quarry will eventually occupy, say, in 30 years time, is to be a mile long and 1,000 feet deep (155 acres). The Granite Corporation has promised that noise and diesel emissions from the heavy equipment required to blast, scrape, and process hard rock into tract home foundations will be minimal. So I would like to know, how stupid do they think we are? Dennis Hollingsworth and Ray Haynes (don't forget to vote for whoever runs against him) have both heartily endorsed this project, that should tell you something.

So how stupid are we? Well, Bush is in the White House for another four, so perhaps that well hasn't run dry just yet.