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II I I fl I III I AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION Of Mines, Quarries, and Zoning Quandaries By fim Schwab Mining--it's not just a rural land use. It never was. The earth's wealth is mined where it is found. Particularly in the case of low- value materials used in construction, such as gravel and stone, a mining operation's proximity to urban markets gives it a distinct cost advantage. Urban expansion, however, has often brought that construction to a quaro,'s doorstep, setting the stage for land-use fights over classic issues of locally.unwanted land uses~noise, blasting vibrations, truck traffic, fugitive dust, and water pollution. Without effective local land-use regulations addressing the opera- tions of extractive industries, communities can face bitter battles as neighbors and mine owners face off. Some aspects of mining and quarrying are, of course, subject to state and federal regulation. Most of those standards pertain to engineering and environmental requirements and nor to locational issues, which are still largely in the domain oflocat government. Sometimes, too, there are gaps in both policy and enforcement at those levels, and citizens will then turn, as Santa Fe County principal planner Judy McGowan notes, "to the level of govern- ment most accessible." This issue of Zonh~g News examines three case studies from across the country to review the use of essential tools, such as special use permits and conditional uses, for local land-use regulation of extractive industries. Santa Fe County, New Mexico Unti} this spring, New Mexico was one of only two states that had no statutes regulating hard-rock mining. Now Arizona is all alone. Bur when a major mining controvert, exploded in Santa Fe County three years ago, the New Mexico legislature was showing no signs of seriously contemplating state-level regulation. Santa Fe County had to confront the issue on its own. Santa Fe County encompasses the state capital of New Mexico and a good deal of arid, mountainous countryside in the outlying areas, some of which have attracted large-lot exurban development. Mining companies, however, still own the mineral rights beneath much of the land. It is not uncommon in mineral-rich parts of the nation to find surface rights to land severed legally from the rights to extract minerals from beneath the surface. LAC Minerals, a Canadian company, owns the mineral rights to 58,000 acres on the Lone Mountain Ranch in the Ortiz Mountains outside Santa Fe. Several years ago, it leased those rights to the Pegasus Gold Corporation and allowed that firm to share ownership of the operation. A condition to the deal, according to McGowan, specified that Pegasus had to spend $25 million to develop the gold mine within an agreed period. Pegasus already had indicated to the Office of the State Engineer within the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Depart- ment (EID) that it would develop a gold mine. Due to the lack of state hard-rock mining regulations, Pegasus needed only two permits related to water use to begin mining. Pegasus could have proceeded with full development of its mine despite the growing concerns of its rural neighbors, who feared the mining process would impair their water rights. McGowan says the company also was proceeding with a reclamation of a prior mining Thi~ General Account- lng Office adaptation · ora diagram prepared by a contractorj3r U.S. Forest Service training illustrates the cyanide heap leach process planned fbr the LAC Minerah gold mine in Santa Fe County. The process separates pure goldJTom irs ore and is generally used fbr low- grade ore. A previous operation j~om the early 1980s has leaked cyanide j%m tailings and contaminated some groundwater in the area.