Duarte files suit against Vulcan Materials, Azusa

Lawsuit filed as part of bid to thwart Azusa Rock Quarry mining plan.

{reg} Duarte city officials filed a lawsuit against Azusa and a mining operator in an attempt to stop the recently approved Azusa Rock Quarry mining plan. The lawsuit alleges that the environmental report prepared by the company was flawed and inadequate, and that Azusa officials violated the Brown Act when they did not put on the agenda a vote to reconsider the mining plan after it was initially turned down.

An article by the Pasadena Star News reports that, Azusa denied the accusations saying that the vote was within the law due to a clause that allows for "urgent" need votes. The Azusa council approved the company's plan to expand its quarry closer to Duarte. While the plan was originally rejected it was later allowed over the protest of Duarte officials due to consideration on the economic benefits of the project. The article reports that Duarte officials set aside $700,000 two years ago in preparation to fight Vulcan's plan and has spent about $200,000 of that thus far. {/reg]