Granite Construction, a California firm, is eager to strip mine the north slope of Grandeur Peak in lower Parley’s Canyon. The scar would be a mile wide and rise a half mile into the air, changing the character of Parley’s Canyon forever. To make it happen, Granite must first win a court case that seeks to overturn Salt Lake County’s regulation prohibiting new mines in its Parley’s Canyon watershed.
Last week, Representative Corey Snider (R-Paradise) introduced HB355 — a bill that would eliminate the basis of Salt Lake County’s legal defense. Legislation tailored to change the outcome of a private lawsuit is an abuse of the state’s legislative powers. This abuse is compounded because it requires the dismantling of gravel mining regulation statewide.
Last winter, Rep. Snider introduced HB502 . Initially, it exempted new gravel mines from local government control. He suggested that this was needed to rescue Utah’s construction industry from a looming gravel shortage. Heated opposition from at-risk communities and their local governments caused Rep. Snider to pare back HB 502 to require only a study of whether Utah’s urban areas face a gravel shortage, how gravel mining should be regulated and by what level of government…