Steelhead in Santa Clara: Loma Prieta Chapter Wins Legal Clean-Water Victory

Aerial view of the western end of Lehigh Southwest Cement's Permanente Quarry in Cupertino, Ca. The run-off channel at the top of the slope, which flows north into Hale Creek and Permanente Creek, can be clearly seen. Photo courtesy of Jeff Couperus.

By Rachele Huennekens

Nothing fishy about it: last week, the Sierra Club's Loma Prieta Chapter negotiated a milestone agreement for clean water and healthy fish habitat in Santa Clara County, California. 

The Sierra Club reached a multi-million dollar legal settlement with two California-based subsidiaries of Lehigh Heidelburg Cement Group, Lehigh Southwest Cement Co. and Hanson Permanente Cement, Inc., that will curb selenium pollution and restore a waterway called Permanente Creek for fish and wildlife.

Permanente Creek flows for 13 miles through the hills above Cupertino, California, into the San Francisco Bay, and is habitat for red-legged frogs, deer, birds and other wildlife. Steelhead trout -- a popular species with anglers -- once made Permanente Creek their home.

Yet tests by the Sierra Club and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board had revealed levels of selenium more than ten times the allowable standard in Permanente Creek and Rancho San Antonio County Park, downstream from Lehigh's quarry pit discharges. At elevated levels, selenium is a toxic pollutant that can cause reproductive failure and deformities in fish and other forms of aquatic life. California and federal regulators have listed Permanente Creek as an "impaired water body."

"Today's settlement is a great victory for this beleaguered creek," said Loma Prieta Chapter Chair Melissa Hippard. "The Sierra Club looks forward to working with Lehigh to make the water safe again for fish and wildlife, and for Santa Clara County residents to enjoy."

Sierra Club attorney Reed Zars taking a water sample from Pond 13. Photo courtesy of Reed Zars.

After an intense period of litigation, followed by months of negotiation. Sierra Club attorneys Reed Zars and George Hays filed a consent decree with the United State District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, requiring the Lehigh cement companies to cut their discharges of selenium and other toxic water pollutants into Permanente Creek within the next two and a half years, and to restore approximately 3.5 miles of Permanente Creek degraded by quarry mining overburden and wastes. As part of its restoration, the company will provide for fish migration by constructing step pools, removing mining-related sediments and stabilizing landslide-prone hillsides. 

"We commend Lehigh for taking the high road and agreeing to restore Permanente Creek," said Zars.

The clean-up comes with a big price tag: the Santa Clara County Planning Department estimated that selenium reduction technology for Lehigh's quarry pit discharge will cost $31-127 million, and Lehigh estimates that the stream restoration work will cost $10-12 million.

The settlement between Lehigh and the Sierra Club awaits federal court approval, after a 45-day review and comment period by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

As Loma Prieta Chapter members celebrate their victory, they look forward to the next opportunity to restore and protect watersheds in the southern San Francisco Bay Area.

More Than 1,000 Turn Out to Speak Against Keystone XL

Last week in Grand Island, Nebraska, despite terrible snowy weather, more than 1,000 people showed up for the State Department Keystone XL hearing.

People lined up at 7am to get on the testimony list and attendees estimated that fewer than 20 spoke in favor of the massive proposed dirty tar sands pipeline. Sierra Club and allies received RSVPs from 18 states! People affected by the 2010 tar sands spill in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and by the recent tar sands spill in Arkansas also showed up to speak.

Marching for the Mountains

On Valentine's Day, an estimated 1,500 Kentuckains showed their love for their mountains by marching and rallying on the steps of the State Capitol in Frankfort to celebrate I Love Mountains Day.

The annual event is led by the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC), with support from the Sierra Club's Cumberland Chapter and a host of other groups including the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, Interfaith Power and Light, and the Louisville Climate Action Network, among many others.

The Sierra Club and KFTC have been working hand-in-hand for years to end the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining in eastern Kentucky.

"The Sierra Club has been supporting this event for many years, and we mobilized a lot of our members to go," says Louisville-based Sierra Club organizer Thomas Pearce. "It's always an empowering day. People who love our sacred mountains come together in greater and greater numbers every year and send a strong message to the Kentucky state government that we want them to protect our mountains and our water, and stand up for a better quality of life for the people of Appalachia."

Drew Foley, chair of the Greater Louisville Sierra Club, and his wife Jayne were among the ralliers. That's the Foleys, at left above and below, holding the Sierra Club banner on the capitol steps.

"This is the third year we've done the march, and it's always a great experience," Drew says. "We gather at a bridge over the Kentucky River and then walk about half a mile up the hill to the capitol. There's chanting, signing, people are carrying signs, banners, American flags, valentines for the governor—it's fun. But it's for a serious purpose; outlawing mountaintop removal and protecting Kentucky's streams."