CUPERTINO, Calif. – Sierra Club's successful lawsuit against Lehigh Southwest Cement Company will begin to show on-the-ground results as the company officially breaks ground on the Permanente Creek restoration project July 22. The project will remove thousands of tons of toxic mine waste that were dumped from Lehigh’s quarry into Permanente Creek upstream of Cupertino. Required by a federal court order signed by both Sierra Club and Lehigh, the company must restore 3.5 miles of the mining-ravaged watershed by 2030. The project had a price tag of $10 million in 2013, and is likely to cost double that amount today.
“This long-overdue restoration project will finally address the decades of toxic pollution that residents have been forced to live with,” said Mike Ferreira, chair of Sierra Club’s Loma Prieta Chapter. “Clean water, a place for our kids to play and fish and a healthy habitat for local wildlife is all we want. It’s a big relief that these things are finally within reach.”
Sierra Club filed its lawsuit against the cement company in 2011, citing illegally high discharges of selenium, nickel and other toxic metals from its quarry into Permanente Creek, which flows into the San Francisco Bay. In 2015, EPA and the state of California followed up Sierra Club's action by assessing a $2,550,000 civil penalty against Lehigh for the water pollution violations uncovered by Sierra Club.
The creek provides important habitat for the rainbow trout, as well as for the California red-legged frogs, a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. It is also used for hiking, fishing and other recreation.
“Thanks to the literal decades of involvement by Sierra Club members and the public, this once-favored spot for fishing and family outings will finally be clean again,” continued Ferreira. “We’ll continue the work to protect our backyard and the Bay Area as a whole from polluters."
Heidelberg Materials and Santa Clara County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga will host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the restoration project the morning of July 22 in Cupertino.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.