Home       Updates       Contacts       Action Items       Links       Photos
 

  #3   What we don't want.
The destruction of existing terrain to build more houses by using mining as a cheap and
unhealthy way to destroy a natural neighborhood landmark for profit.

The Twin Knolls hills are composed of granite.
Leveling these hills without using mining would cost a fortune, but leasing to a mining company
for an uneeded aggregate mine will level the land and make a profit, and when the mine is done
the land is flat and ready for many more homes than could be built on the existing hillside.

Our suburban Phoenix neighborhood has existed for over 50 years, yet we are powerless to stop this.

The Arizona mining industry has lobbied for extremely pro-mining laws in our State Legislature and
the legislature has passed these laws without including any safeguards to prevent this from happening.

The result is an urban mine starting up in the middle of a neighborhood and there's nothing
the neighborhood can do to stop it.
One legislator, John Fillmore, has been actively opposing this mine.
The mining industry is silent. They will not compromise their position of power for one neighborhood.

The land owner, John Oertle, has shown no interest in communicating with us at all.
He has ignored many attempts to talk to him about this, including attempts by John Fillmore.
We would like to offer him the opportunity to create a preserve in his name but we can't get him
to talk to us.

Below are two views of the mine site - before and after profiles.
These are taken from the official reclamation plan for the mine and show how completely
the hills will be removed. The existing grade line shows the hills as they are now and the
proposed grade line shows what will remain when the mine is done.

Our site banner GIF is based on the profile looking north.