Last spring, gravel miners promoted legislation (HB 502) that would have barred local governments from regulating gravel pits if they were located at least 1,000 feet from residential neighborhoods and 500 feet from highways and railways. The bill’s main proponent and beneficiary was Granite Construction, a California-based supplier of “industrial aggregates” (sand and gravel).
Granite insists on digging a vast (634-acre) open-pit limestone mine in the heart of the Wasatch, removing essentially all of the northeast flank of Grandview Peak that overlooks I-80 in Parley’s Canyon and carving pit walls so steep (70%) that they can never be revegetated. In the next legislative session, the Legislature is expected to hear proposals for regulatory immunity for all gravel mines. That would green light gravel mining on another 1,300 privately held acres abutting I-80 as it descends into the valley. Developing all of these eligible gravel mines would disfigure mountains and canyons on both the east (Granite) and west sides (Kennecott) of Salt Lake Valley.