PETITION: Protect The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, End The Destructive Beach Sand Mining Operation in Marina, California.

The unique dunes, beaches, and underwater formations of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) continue to be threatened by an unsustainable rate of coastal erosion, which scientific studies link to the Lapis Lustre sand mine operated by CEMEX in the City of Marina, California.

Evidence indicates that the CEMEX Plant, including operating predecessors, violated the Coastal Act of 1976 by undertaking Coastal Zone development without securing the proper Coastal Development Permits (CDP) or a vested rights determination (Reference Pub. Res. Code § 30103, 30160(a), 30600(a) , 30601(1), 30607, 30608, 30610(d), Monterey Sand Co. v. California Coastal Comm., 191 Cal.App.3d 169, 176. (“Monterey Sand Co.”), 14 Cal. Code of Regs. §§ 13200-13205, 13207; Billings v. California Coastal Com. (1980) 103 Cal App 3d 729, Urban Renewal Agency v. California Coastal Zone Conservation Com. (1975) 15 Cal. 3d 577). Additionally, even if CEMEX has a vested rights determination, the corporation's current mining operation is no longer exempt given that they are exceeding the scope of a pre-Coastal Act activity agreement.

Since CEMEX’s purchase of the property in 2005, the mine has been recorded to extract between 159,000 and 300,000 cubic yards of sand per year from a man-made dredge pond above Mean High Water (MHW). The annual average sand extraction is documented to be well above 200,000 cubic yards, which is more than twice the allotted amount of sand initially mined prior to the Coastal Act.

Sand is a precious resource, vital to the integrity of our coastline. The MBNMS is already home to the highest natural erosion rate along the entire 840 mile coast of California. To make matters worse, it is estimated that the CEMEX Plant is directly responsible for up to 75% (≈ 2 feet or 8 acres per year) of the annual shoreline erosion occurring along the Southern Monterey Bay.

This man-made erosion comes with embedded environmental, economic, and social costs. In 2012, the Center for the Blue Economy estimated that the recreational value of lost beach area caused by the CEMEX Plant is valued at more than $1,104,804 annually, a figure that does not calculate non-market costs or current day appreciation.

To resolve this issue, we again respectfully request that the California Coastal Commission (CCC) completes its investigation surrounding the CEMEX Plant in Marina, California. To our knowledge, a CCC investigation of the operation has been underway since at least 2009 and was quoted to revisit the issue in December of 2015. Still, no action has been taken.

Following the CCC’s prompt investigation, we respectfully ask that the Commission take the appropriate measures to issue a notice of violation and cease and a desist order (Coastal Act Section 30809) to CLOSE the last active beach sand mining operation in the United States. The message would ring clear that the CCC stands with a strong community of concerned citizens, policymakers, and scientists to continue its dedicated purpose of protecting the ecological integrity of the MBNMS.