I live in a house near the plant that my family has been in my family for 3 generations, and personally I feel that the plant is an important part of Cupertino. One of the big pushers trying to close the plant is a developer who has already screwed many of my neighbors over, contributed to the destruction of the natural beauty of cupertino by replacing many of the houses here with with large two story mansions, leaving families with out a backyard. Many of the houses he builds sell well over a million dollars, and if the plant closes what will happen is that he and other developers will develop the land turning it into an unsettling scar to cupertino. The population increase just from the development will put a strain on Cupertino's already crowded schools, and as Cupertino prides itself with some of the best schools in the country it may not be after it is developed. As far as the smell people are complaining about it is NOT the plant, it is the skunks. When you live near the hill you will often smell skunks and not the plant. Others have complained about the trucks, they do not drive at night, it is not a constant stream of trucks, but more of a trickle during the day. And the trucks do not pose a safety hazard, off the top of my head I can remember a first grader killed in a parking lot by his shuttle driver, a grandmother killed, a pedestrian in a crosswalk being hit, and a severe accident nearly killing a mother and her son; none of those accidents involved truck drivers and if the land is developed the number of accidents will increase greatly. And with my experience with dropping my kids of at school many of the other drivers drive extremely recklessly and have a hard time letting my son ride his bike to school because of these drivers, and although he has to go along the truck route I feel safe about him doing so.

If you are concerned about the environmental quality near the Kaiser Lehigh facility, express your concerns to BAAQMD Jack Broadbent at 415-749-5052

We moved to Monta Vista area for a year now. First I found out white dusty things if I leave windows over night in the town house we rented earlier without knowing where they were from. Then I got so annoyed by the night foul smelling air after we moved into a single family house closer to the hill. Finally I decided to check it on the internet. Guess what, I'm sure I found out my answer, this cement factory so close to home in cup. a new resident

We need to control the factory. Who knows what they are doing up in our mountain.

I am a very concerned citizen of Cupertino and am now in the process of circulating a petition to close Lehigh Permanente Quarry and Cement Factory. I have been getting many people to sign my petition people that have children who are very upset about the pollution. The Bay Area Air Qual. is no help and have and are looking the other way the dust is everywhere and they think we are so stupid we don't notice. We are breathing in this Mercury infested dust not to mention the coal that they are burning to fule their facility. Again do they think we are so stupid we do not know what that is doing to our lungs and bodies. I have been walking on foot to each home to make sure that people know what is really going on and asking them to sign my petition and attend the next meeting with Santa Clara Counties planning office. The Planning office has not set a date as yet. I have asked them to contact the community as a whole to make sure that everyone is aware of the meeting. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the environmental impact on the citizens of Cupertino. The EPA is going to monitor Chromium 6 at the Stevens Creek School and I heard that the Bay Area Air Qual. Control wants to do the study for a whole year. I am very concerned that in the meantime Santa Clara County will go ahead with the Reclamatin Plan and allow another 25 years of more contamination. I hope that if anyone is reading this comment will contact the Santa Clara County Planning office and voice your objections to this expansion and also state you want the Cement Factory to close. My husband and I both have had cancer and also live next door to Apple Computers R & D Manufacturing Facility that is polluting the whole area. Apple is cooking it's resin molds in their 4 thermotron ovens and the pollution is going all over. I suppose by now you can see that my family is getting it from both ends. The whole valley is in danger from this pollution and it does not take much to check on the web and research these chemical and metals to see what is hurting us. We are all being lied to and this has to stop the time is now to make our voices heard please attend a meeting as soon as you hear there is one. Write the Santa Clara County and ask them to close the Quarry and Cement Factory down. Thanks

I've lived in Cupertino for 12 years and wasn't really aware of its existence until I moved to within sight of the Hanson plant 7 years ago. I suspect the extent and impacts of its operations are really only known to those who go out of their way to find out although the recent SF Chronicle article and a rise in community activism following Hanson's proposed expansion plan will hopefully increase awareness and local opposition. I suspect many folks would rather protect their home's values than risk adverse publicity about the local air quality..or otherwise put their heads in the sand. There are mornings when my car is covered with a fine layer of white dust that's not easily removed. All signs suggest that the various public agencies (Santa Clara County, EPA, BAAQMD) have been at least lax in their oversight, and it's frustrating that the City of Cupertino, on the grounds that the plant is on unincorporated land, is not acting to protect the public health of city residents.

I live near by the facility. Now that I am going to deliver twin girls in 2 weeks, I am really concerned about the mercury level in the air in Cupertino, especially after I read the article at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/23/BA4511U0D7.DTL&tsp=1. Where can I find this data? I called the City of Cupertino and they referred me to Bay Area Air Quality Management District. However, I couldn't get through the district either through the 415-771-6000 nor the email route. I'd really like to find out whether there are data collected on the health impact to the people of Cupertino by this cement kiln... Please Help!