Quarry Issued Permit Revocation Notice
By Logan Hall
Larry Mosler’s rock quarry north of Ojai may have been dealt a fatal blow this month as county and Mosler representatives are gearing up for a public hearing on Nov. 17 regarding his mining operation. Decisions made during the hearing could potentially shut down the mine, located up Maricopa Highway, if county officials implement their staff’s recommendations.
According to Brian Baca, the county’s manager of commercial and industrial permits, Mosler has had many chances to fix problems that the county and the California State Mining and Geology Board mandated that Mosler fix in order to continue to run the mine.
“You have to have three things to operate a mine in California,” said Baca, who is also a certified engineering geologist. “You need a permit issued by the lead agency, which is the county in this case. You also have to have an approved reclamation plan, and financial assurance that a reclamation plan could be implemented. Mosler has none of those things.”
Baca says that Mosler and his attorney have refused to post financial assurance. Reclamation plans detail the way a mine owner will restore a mining site and are provided by the owner and are approved by governing agencies. A certain amount of money must be set aside to cover the reclamation in the event that a miner decides to shut down his business and leave the area.
“Financial assurance is required to keep the taxpayers safe,” said Baca. “If Mosler decided to leave town tomorrow, we would need the money he has set aside in order to reclaim the land. Mosler and his attorney have refused to post financial assurance mandated by the State Mining and Reclamation act.”
Mosler’s attorney, Derek Cole, claims the county is being unreasonable and is asking Mosler to set aside too much money.
The county has stipulated that Mosler’s mine will require 285,000 cubic yards of fill material to restore the site, in the event that the mine is closed, said Baca. In order to financially cover a potential reclamation process, the fill material would need to be included in the cost of a financial assurance. Cole says this creates a major issue for Mosler.
“The county is saying that Mosler will have to account for the fill material,” said Cole. “Mosler has to come up with $3 million to put into an irrevocable account. That’s not the kind of money that a small miner has lying around. If successful, what county staff is trying to do will bankrupt the Moslers. If the miner goes bankrupt, then they can’t pay for the reclamation. That’s the reality of it.”
Cole says that he has submitted a proposal from Mosler that will address the county’s concerns without the potential need to truck in 285,000 cubic yards of material mandated by the state and county, should the mine be closed. Cole and Mosler’s proposal outlines how the grooming of the upper portion of the mined area and a plan to vegetate the entire site will improve stability of the site to a safe level.
Mosler hired geological firm Advanced Geotechnical Services to put his proposal together. AGS reports that Mosler’s proposal would greatly improve the safety of the mine. “… if the recommendations presented are integrated into the financial assurance cost estimate restoration plan, the safety factor of the quarry will be improved.”
Baca, however, says that the proposal doesn’t cut it when it comes to the state’s reclamation requirements. “What Mosler’s attorney has proposed doesn’t address the reclamation plan,” he said.
The entire issue is set to be reviewed by the county’s Planning Commission Nov. 17, which will then make a decision to be approved by the county Board of Supervisors. “Any decision made requires a final action by the Board of Supervisors,” said Baca. He also said that Mosler would have the opportunity to appeal to the board if the Planning Commission decides to revoke Mosler’s permit. Mosler would be required to cease operations if the Board of Supervisors decides to revoke the permit.
In a Ventura County Star report, Mosler placed the blame on County Supervisor Steve Bennett, saying that the local Stop the Trucks! Coalition is pressuring Bennett, who is in turn pressuring the Planning Commission.
Bennett is quick to point out that he has no personal opinion on the matter. “I can’t express an opinion or take a position publicly and still represent the citizens,” said Bennett. “If I want to be there to represent the citizens of Ojai when the decision comes to the board, I can’t express any opinion about the Mosler mine at this time.”
Baca says that despite the issue’s complexity, the bottom line is simple. “If a mine can’t operate in accordance with the law,” he said, “the mine can’t operate.”
The Nov. 17 planning meeting is slated for 8:30 a.m. at the Ventura County Government Center, on the first floor of the Hall of Administration building.
Mr. Mossler is required to get permits to remove rocks from the creek. He was told that he couldn’t remove the rocks without them, a process he diligently pursued and that took six months.
The mine has been there 70 years and now Mosler is responsible for ‘reclamation’. I’ve hiked those hills. How much reclamation does it take to put in sagebrush? If I believed in the duplicity of government I might think they were attempting to take control of an infrastructure asset.
Talk to Mr. Mosler. Visit the Quarry. Mr. Mosler is being railroaded by people w/ $ an connections. If you want to know where the problem truly lies, look at who’s behind the attack on Mr. Mosler.
The pesky, pesky laws. They should be thrown out! I’m sick of paying taxes, being told I can’t shoot my guns off in the air whenever I want. I’m tired at stopping at stop signs when no one else is even near me in a car! I want to just dump my trash by the side of the road or in someone else’s dumpster because I’m sick and tired of paying for trash service. Tired of being told I can’t smoke in restaurants!
Let’s take Larry, he should be exempt from following the law because like me he’s a nice and interesting guy and Steve Bennett and Brian Baca are (probably liberal) upholders of the law! We need a revolution in this country.
Yeah Mosler is a nice guy and the quarry is a private business, but if the mountain does come down and blocks the creek and cause flooding problems and wipes out houses and kills people then everyone will jump on the bandwagon (like in La Conchita) and blame the county and then we the taxpayers will get stuck with the bill!
Is there any connection between Brian Baca and Sherrif Lee Baca? Baca’s claims sound very simular to Lee’s claims with his corruption case.
They are making Mosler sound like a incopetant elitest non conformist. Yet from what I have read and heard, Mosler has complied with every enviromental conceern. I may be wrong, but I smell something …Just not right???
Sorry for the misspells
I wish the county would stop harassing Larry Mosler. He should not be be required to comply with any local, state, or federal laws. I just love him so much.
If you look at the quarry, it seems to actually prevent that mountainside from sliding and blocking the creek.
If that happens, there goes the Steelhead. Also how long and how much evironmental impact, the amount of trucks needed to haul the debris, and the access to the road?
Remember the side above Beaver creek campground? And how long it took to clear and more fuel having to be burned so people could get from place to place.
I think Bennet has a destructive streak in him and allot of his plans set us up for disaster.
Again! I call shenanigans!
The quarry has provided jobs for local people
Well, up goes the price and availability of gravel.
Isn’t the purpose of a quarry mine is to remove rock? Then what do you fill it back with?
I call shenanigans
If what the county says is correct all mines would shut down, there are no mines capable of putting up $3million of spare money into a trust. Steve Bennett is a known no growth, anti-business, pro-regulation supporter. Give me one example of where Steve
Bennett helped any business or developer (NOT!). Steve probably dreams of situations where there is no more gravel, so no more roads, and everything can return to dirt paths and we can go back to riding horses and using candles instead of electricity. How does he keep getting re-elected and re-elected to office. Why do the incumbents have a shoe in for re-election?