CC 01-15-2019 Oral CommunicationsURGENT MESSAGE
To: Citizens of Santa Clara County, Cities in the Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area
From: Cathy Helgerson -E-mail address : Cathyhelger@gmail.com
Regarding: Lehigh Hansen -Heidelberg Cement & Quarry and the Stevens Creek Quarry
The City of Cupertino held a citizens meeting to publically discuss the illegal dirt and gravel road that the Lehigh Hansen -Heidelberg Cement
and Quarry decided to build destroying 20 trees between Lehigh and the Stevens Creek Quarry property. The road was built on some Lehigh
property under the unincorporated land that falls under Santa Clara County jurisdiction and some of the road was built in the incorporated land
area which falls under the jurisdiction of the City of Cupertino they did this without any permission or permits. Lehigh it seems hoped to build
this road so as to transport polluted overburden rock from their quarry and polluted waste from the WMSA and the Cement Plant without
anyone objecting or even knowing this was all taking place. I complained to Santa Clara County that they never seem to site Lehigh who is
always out of compliance for polluting the Air, Water and Soil and right after that they decided to issue an NOV -Notice of Violation with a
cease and desist order against Lehigh and demand that they stop using this road. Lehigh had already started to transport polluted overburden
rock on this illegal road and deliver it to the Stevens Creek Quarry. It then seemed that the Stevens Creek Quarry would be processing this
overburden rock on their land and storing it there. Lehigh then decided because they could not use this illegal road to then transport this
polluted overburden rock to Stevens Creek Quarry using heavy duty trucks to take their polluted overburden rock over on public roads Stevens
Creek Blvd. and the Steven Canyon Road causing all kinds of traffic problems, dust and major disturbances and the public became terribly upset
and wanted Lehigh to stop . Lehigh had for decades processed their own rock at their site with their own equipment which is still available so
now the question is why are they transporting their polluted overburden rock to the Steven Cre ek Quarry? It is becoming more and more
evident that the State Regional Water Quality ~ontrol ·Enforcement Division had told Lehigh that they have to get rid of this polluted
overburden rock and any other waste product that Lehigh had on site in order to stop polluting. The Steven Creek Quarry is next door from
Lehigh and it seems to be the ideal spot to dispose of their polluted waste and polluted overburden rock . The real problem is that it is not the
best place and the State Regional Water Quality Enforcement Department is conducting an investigatio n of the Stevens Creek Quarry and the
Lehigh Hansen Quarry and land . I do not believe that Lehigh is selling this polluted overburden rock to the Steven Creek Quarry Company but
both Lehigh and the Stevens Creek Quarry have been instructed by the State Regional Water Quality Control board and the EPA Region 9 to
take care of this pollution or suffer a Super Fund Site cleanup set up by the EPA. There is no money exchanged by either party both sites have
strong issues regarding pollution. How will the City of Cupertino and Santa Clara County deal with this lack of real enforcement the public asks
that Lehigh stop using the public roads? The illegal road issue needs to be addressed and Lehigh has applied for a permit for another road they
want to build on their property which seems an impossible road to build . The road will destroyed trees, displace and kill many animals and birds
all over again in the process and also hold many of the comings and goings of Lehigh in secrete. They have also filed an amendment requesting
the road be added to the Reclamation Plan and Santa Clara County has yet to approve any of this. This road should not be added to the
Reclamation plan and it should be listed as a private road on Lehigh land and a separate permit should be submitted to Santa Clara County for
review. Lehigh is still allowed to use the public roads, and the Sheriffs Department is supposed to monitor the traffic trying to control the
trucks and traffic congestion problems which now seem impossible. The dust is also a problem and Lehigh is not keeping the dust down on the
roads the Bay Area Air Quality Control Department is not controlling the dust and pollution and they are not even able to handle all of the
complaints coming in to their office about all the pollution coming from the Lehigh Southwest Cement Plant and Quarry an the Steven Creek
Quarry .
I am very concerned not only about this illegal road but also another real problem that has been and is taking place at the Lehigh Hansen -
Heidelberg Cement and Quarry which dates goes back to a EPA Superfund Site Department's Preliminary Assessment Report that was
conducted in 2012, in which I personally requested that the EPA conduct an investigation to determine if Lehigh qualified for a Superfund Site
Cleanup . I had been told by the State Regional Water Quality Control Department that all of the water at Lehigh was polluted . The EPA decided
not to issue a Superfund cleanup and I wa s never really sure why at the time but I know now what they decided to do. The Stevens Creek
Quarry had a Preliminary Assessment Report conducted at the same time in 2012 and I was told not enough people lived in the area around the
Stevens Creek Quarry to qualify them for a Superfund Cleanup . I wanted to bring this up because I wanted to tell you what I think happened
behind closed doors. The EPA I believe decided to let Lehigh Hansen Company, Santa Clara County and the State Regional Water Quality Control
Board work out a plan to do their own clean up or risk an EPA Superfund Site takeover and Cleanup. This happening has taken the State
Regional Water Quality Control all these years to finally do what they were supposed to do years ago and the public should wonder where was
the EPA all this time and why did they not put pressure on them . It seems that compliance is something that is stalled and extended to these
polluters and the public suffers.
Lehigh 's quarry pit has or is running out of Limestone and they will probably soon apply for a permit to mine a new pit they tried to apply for a
permit before but a Santa Clara County board member told them to pull the request back and no one was really sure why. I believe that the
reason was that they needed to clean up the pollution at Lehigh and the Steven Creek Quarry. The pit is still being mined so I have been told by
Santa Clara County and they have taken Limestone and overburden put it at the top of the quarry it can be seen from the Stevens Creek
Boulevard they are destroying the foothill scenic view and I have found out that what I am viewing is the outside shell of the quarry a hollowed
shell covered with dirt. Lehigh has allowed the water from the cement plant, ponds and groundwater to also flow back into the pit which in
turn Santa Clara County says all of th is will be pumped out and sent to their new Lehigh Wastewater Treatment Plant to be cleaned but it will
never be cleaned down to zero pollution. The Lehigh quarry has extraction wells all around and they have pit seep data report that they issue
with all kinds of metals and pollution levels that need to be reviewed the public needs to know what kind of pollution they are subjected to and
what is being done to control it if it can be controlled. I believe that Lehigh has mined way down past the water table for a reason and that is to
bring up the polluted water from the aquifer below this water is then pumped out and sent to ponds nearby which Lehigh will then pump up
and send to the Lehigh Wastewater Treatment Plant. The water will be released down the Permanente Creek which Lehigh has destroyed and
now has to have a reconstruction build in order to correct the creek and flow. The excu se they give for not clean i ng the water comp letely is that
the aquatic life cannot live if the water is to clean and so they are blending it with some other water I am not really sure how or what kind of
water:T wisf1tom-e11tio-n a-gain water being-pumped out of the Lehigh quarFy pit-has a report-issued by Lehigh that states theQuarry_e.it Seep
Date September 2017 with all of the information about the Metals and pollution and ug/L's which no one really knows if the information is true
or not they monitor themselves . The term seepage is a quantity seeping from and I believe that the aquifer polluted water is being allowed to
seep into the quarry pit to be removed by the extraction wells and then carried up to the Lehigh Hansen Wastewater Treatment Plant for
treatment.
I would like to now give you a view of what is really going on with Lehigh ·Hansen -Heidelberg Cement and Quarry with regards to the pollution
and the quarry pit which has been mined down to the aquifer/water table/water shed under the Silicon Valley for years I have mentioned that
Lehigh and the Steven Creek Quarry were polluting the Aquifer, the Stevens Creek Reservoir next to the Stevens Creek Quarry, the creeks and
wells polluting the public's drinking water. Lehigh Hansen -Heidelberg Cement and Quarry, Santa Clara County, State Regional Water Quality
Control Department, Santa Clara Valley Water District, City of Cupertino, EPA Region 9, EPA Superfund Department, California Water Service
Company, San Jose Water Service Company, Bay Area Air Quality Control, State Mining and Geology Board, State Conservation Department,
Office of Mine Reclamation and State Fish and Game are all aware of the situation. The Lehigh quarry has been mined way below the water
table and Santa Clara County says that is alright but they do not even know how far down the aquifer is. Lehigh and the Steven Creek Quarry
have polluted the aquifer, and this water is being pulled up by the extraction wells inside around the quarry pit and then it is piped out to the
Lehigh ponds which is pumped up to the Lehigh Waste Water Treatment Plant. They are also cleaning some of the ponds with a smaller
treatment unit up at the north end of Lehigh. The aquifer is supported by many Reservoirs including the Steven Creek Reservoir which has been
polluted by the Stevens Creek Quarry from the processing of their recycled concrete and more and now overburden from the Lehigh Hansen
Quarry. I also believe that these other Reservoirs in the Silicon Valley are also polluted and contain Mercury and other pollution which is
released into the aquifer. The treated water from the Lehigh Hansen Wastewater Treatment Plant will be released into the Permanente Creek .
The rainwater/groundwater flows over the chopped up concrete which Steven Creek Quarry has piled up and created a massive mountain right
next to the road and right where the grinding machinery is there is a massive pile of ground up concrete and I suspect the Lehigh's overburden
is now being ground up and held there as well. Lehigh has been allowed to release this polluted water which is stored from a tank under the
weigh in trailer because of a permit. This water is then piped over the road by the weigh in trailer via what looks like a fire hose to a small little
pond next to the inside fence, which then releases this polluted water under the Steven Canyon road and it soon ends up in the Stevens Creek
Reservoir. I found this"all out because I was up at the Steven Creek Quarry at 6:00 AM one morning and witnessed what they were doing and
was told by a worker that they had a permit to release this water into the Steven Creek Reservoir. The Steven Creek Reservoir and the other
Reservoirs deliver water to our aquifer and these reservoirs are polluted with Mercury and other pollutants which the Santa Clara Valley Water
District seems to think the pollution levels are acceptable . They have failed to clean up this pollution the pollution levels are not acceptab le .
The gray dust at the bottom and all around the Steven Creek Reservoir is known as the bath tub ring and now I have named it the toilet bowl
ring because the Steven Creek Quarry has been using this Reservoir as their own toilet. Santa Clara Valley Water District manages 10 reservoirs
and receives money from the water companies to supply water which leads me to believe they are not going to tell anyone what is really going
on . The reservoirs are polluted and people are not able to eat the fish in the reservoirs because of the Mercury pollution it seems that everyone
is aware of this problem but no one will clean up this mess . The public has been totally held in the dark for decades all these years while this
deception goes on .
The levels set by the agencies regarding pollution contaminants are always set high enough to allow companies to conduct their business unless
of course you have something like a lead contaminant which is set very low because it is proven to be a very serious pollutant and so it is held
at a very low level. The EPA does not regulate all of the many types of contaminants we are subjected to which have a very serious cumulative
effect that is overlooked by the agencies complete ly . This contamination by the pollution from Lehigh Hansen Cement and Quarry and the
Stevens Creek Quarry of the Air, Water and Soil continually cumulates in our bodies and causes all kinds of disease, health issues and death but
it seems that companies like the Lehigh Hansen Cement and Quarry and the Steven Creek Quarry can operate and pollute as long as they get
the required permits . The agencies in charge are giving them permits, and it seems that all they need is a permit to pollute, the public needs to
wake up to the destruction that is taking place in our communities and demand that the agencies use full enforcement even to the point of
closing down the Leh igh Hansen Cement and Quarry and the Steven Creek Quarry . I cannot stress this enough Lehigh will soon try to apply for
another permit to mine a new mine for limestone which they will destroy 30 thousand trees and 600 acres of land killing and displacing animals
and birds the land will never be reclaimed by any means to the beautiful way it was. They will be the public's worst nightmare living each day
with Air, Water and Soil pollution from these polluters will make it impossible for the people to live in the Silicon Valley and the SF Bay Area
there needs to be a stop to this terrible tragedy.
I took a trip up to the Steven Creek Reservoir on 1/09/2019, and noticed it has just been closed and the water has seriously been lowered and
released down through the recharge pond behind the 7 /11 store this water then goes down to the aquifer below and becomes eventually our
drinking water. I viewed signs at the Reservoir stating no fishing or swimming, orange cones and rope block the entrance and the park next to
the reservoir is also closed. I believe this is due to the aquifer clean up by Lehigh this water is being pulled up through the quarry pit by the
extraction wells to be eventually cleaned by the Lehigh Waste Water Plant. There is so much water coming up that I have heard they may have
to use the Cupertino Sanitation Lines that go down to the Santa Clara/San Jose Wastewater Treatment Plant to be treated. I had asked the
Cupertino Sanitation Board to use the Cupertino lines instead of the Lehigh Hansen Wastewater Treatment Plant but they refused. This may
have saved Lehigh some of the S million dollars that they spent to build the Lehigh Hansen Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Santa Clara/San
Jose Wastewater Treatment Plant could have charged Lehigh to process their polluted water and in turn then used that money to upgrade their
own facility that needs work.
The road that Lehigh is trying to build and has applied for a permit with Santa Clara County should not be allowed to be built and they should
also not be able to use the illegal road that they did build. There should not be any transport of any kind of rock or overburden sent from Lehigh
to the Steven Creek Quarry for processing for any reason.
I hope I have stirred up your thinking and that the public will take the next step and contact your community representatives and agencies
today to demand justice our lives and our children's lives depend on it. It is time to set up meetings to discuss what comes next and how do we
the public must also take responsibility for what is happening and make the changes necessary to keep from any further pollution destroying
our land. I may have repeated myself on this urgent message but that is to make a stronger effort regarding the issues .
Thanks,
California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund
1260 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94103
hi@carlaef.org
January 15 1 2018
City of Cupertino
10300 Torre Avenue
Cupertino, CA
Re: Cupertino 1s obligations under the Housing Accountability Act
Dear Cupertino City Council, and City Attorney,
CaRLA
The California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund ( CaRLA) submits
this letter to inform the incoming Cupertino City Council that they have an obligation
to abide by all relevant state housing laws when evaluating the proposal to develop
housing at the Vallco site, including the Housing Accountability Act, as amended by
SB-167 (GC 65589.5). CaRLA is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation whose mission is to
restore a legal environment in which California builds housing equal to its needs,
which we pursue through public impact litigation and providing educational programs
to California city officials and their staff. We point to our recent lawsuit victories in
Dublin, Sausalito, Berkeley, and Lafayette as evidence of our efficacy; each city
attempted an unlawful denial of housing and was swiftly punished.
We understand that the City of Cupertino is involved in a lawsuit regarding the
SB35 Vallco project approval as brought by an organization named Friends of Better
Cupertino. SB35 requires that any project submitted under its auspices shall be
approved or denied according to a ministerial process. As such, this council has
limited options to lawfully deny the project, including through any possible
settlement agreement with the Friends of Better Cupertino organization. It is of the
utmost importance that the majority of the Cupertino City Council understand the
implications of any such denial, including the possibility of violating the Housing
Accountability Act. Violation of the Housing Accountability Act includes a $10 1 000 fine
levied against the city for each unit of housing denied contra the HAA. The SB35
project includes 2,405 units of housing which would translate to a $24,050,000 fine,
should a judge find that the city has failed to execute its statutory obligation to rectify
any unlawful denial. Additionally, should a judge find that the city acted in bad faith,
the $24,050,000 fine may be quadrupled. As the Vallco project has already received its
approval vis a vis SB35 1 a post-hoc rejection would amount to a revocation of a
granted right which is almost certain to be viewed as an action taken in bad faith.
We also understand that a majority of council members have extensive ties to
that same Friends of Better Cupertino organization, including direct involvement with
its founding. There is nothing unusual or suspicious about elected politicians being
involved with political organizations who engage in lobbying with those same
politicians. However, it is notable that that same majority has not yet publicly recused
themselves from closed session meetings regarding the Friends of Better Cupertino
lawsuit. This raises questions as to whether or not the city's litigation privileges have
fallen into the hands of a party opponent. It is further notable that the City Council is
rescinding their code of ethics in the midst of what may be considered an apparent
conflict of interest.
While no one project will solve the regional housing crisis, the proposed Valko
development is the kind of housing Cupertino needs to mitigate displacement, provide
shelter for its growing population, and arrest unsustainable housing price
appreciation. Denial of housing by exclusionary suburbs such as Cupertino results in
modern day redlining, as such denials directly regulate where renters may and may
not live; our impact litigation works to undermine these harmful actions and expand
access to the wealth of opportunity that is currently only available to Cupertino
residents capable of affording multi-million dollar mansions. We and another
housing advocacy organizations are carefully watching Cupertino's actions, especially
in light of the last election campaign. You may learn more about CaRLA and request an
educational workshop for your staff at www.carlaef.org.
Sincerely,
California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund -hi@carlaef.org
1260 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Victoria Fierce
Co-Executive Director
California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund
California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund -hi@carlaef.org
1260 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103