Building materials company says it is dropping plan for Sloan Hills quarry

One of the companies eyeing plans for a gravel quarry at Sloan Hills in the south Las Vegas Valley is no longer pursuing the controversial project.

An official with Cemex Construction Materials said the company was responding to protests that were mounted by residents of housing developments within a few miles of the proposed mining operation.

"Currently Cemex Construction Materials Pacific is committed to not pursuing Sloan Hills and is working diligently with the (Bureau of Land Management) to pursue other sites" for its mining, Stephen T. Wild, the company's Southern Nevada district manager, wrote in a June 5 letter to Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak.

The battle on the local scene was picked up in Congress, where lawmakers, including Sens. Harry Reid and Dean Heller of Nevada, had introduced bills to block the project.

"I have heard from thousands of Clark County residents who strongly oppose the Sloan Hills gravel pit," Reid said Tuesday. "I share their concerns and am pleased Cemex is no longer pursuing their application for this ill-conceived project."

Heller called the company's decision "welcome news."

"Mining in a residential area could lead to deterioration in air quality and place an additional burden on community infrastructure, resources, and possibly public safety," according to a statement released by the senator Tuesday.

Cemex was one of two companies that had applied with the BLM for licenses to extract high-quality construction aggregates off the 640-acre federal tract. The agency was performing environmental studies of the proposal.

"I don't think the project's dead, but this is certainly a giant step in the right direction," Sisolak said Tuesday.

The commissioner said Cemex's withdrawal shows what a group of residents can achieve when they work tirelessly at the grass-roots level.

"People say you can't move a mountain, but you can move a gravel pit," he said.

Service Rock Products, which has corporate offices in Southern Nevada, also had applied with the BLM for a license to excavate the site.

A source said its application remains active, and it was not clear what effect a decision by Cemex not to proceed would have on the overall plan.

Mike Ford, a consultant to Service Rock, said the company abandoned its interests in prospective sites in Henderson in 2001 after city officials objected and the BLM announced in 2007 that it would start assessing the Sloan Hills site.

"We don't want to be in the untenable position of finding yet another alternate site only to be faced with future objection," he said Tuesday.

Ford said he has been meeting quietly with BLM officials on the company's behalf for the past two years to find another site.

"We would hope that the delegation and others who oppose this site would earnestly work with the Bureau of Land Management and Service Rock to find a suitable, alternative site," he said.

Kirsten Cannon, a spokeswoman for the BLM, said the agency has not received notification of Cemex's decision to pull out of the project.

She said the agency is proceeding with the environmental studies.

"Our goal is to have a decision and complete the environmental impact statement by the end of this year," she said.

If the BLM decides to allow mining at the site, Cannon said, there is no guarantee that either Cemex or Service Rock would be the winning bidder.

Proposals have called for an open pit mining operation that would transport millions of tons of sand and rock over a 20-year period. That provoked a protest campaign by residents of Sun City Anthem and other developments within a few miles of the site. Homeowners complained the industrial operation would generate noise and dust pollution, and truck traffic at all hours.

Rich Miller, founder of Sun City Anthem Democrats, has helped organize rallies and petition drives in opposition to the Sloan Hills mining proposals. He said he was pleased to hear that Cemex had decided to pull out.

"I think it's a very important step in the right direction," he said. "I think the entire situation was an unfortunate one and a disaster."

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760. Follow him on Twitter @STetreaultDC. Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.