The San Bernardino County Land Use Services Department has extended the public comment period for a proposed mining operation in Lone Pine Canyon, located four miles southeast of Wrightwood along Lone Pine Canyon Road. Following pressure from many local residents who attended the Wrightwood Fire Safe Council meeting on Tuesday, April 21, the county agreed to move the deadline for public comments from April 22 to the new extended date of May 8.
The meeting drew a large and passionate crowd to the Wrightwood Community Building as residents questioned San Bernardino County officials about a proposed limestone mining operation. County representatives in attendance included Paul Gonzales, Planning Chief of Land Use Services; Dan Walsh, Chief Engineering Geologist; Derek Newland, planner for the proposed project; and Thomas Bustamante, Assistant Director of Land Use Services.
No representatives from Grand Lone Pine Canyon Enterprises, LLC were present. The company is the current applicant for the proposed mining project and is seeking to reinstate mining rights for an existing limestone mine in Lone Pine Canyon that has operated intermittently since 1924.
Representatives from the county’s Land Use Services Department explained the planning process and heard public concerns regarding the project, which is expected to go before the Planning Commission in the coming months, possibly as early as the end of June.
Thomas Bustamante, Assistant Director of Land Use Services, told attendees that no final decision has been made and emphasized that officials came to listen to the community, saying, “We care to hear your voices. We care to hear your concerns. If there’s a way that we can help to message your concerns to the Planning Commissioners, that’s what we’re here to do,”
County officials said the applicant has asserted vested mining rights, allowing the proposal for a 285-acre mining project located on a 420-acre site along Lone Pine Canyon Road to move forward through the required processes and environmental reviews.
“My job is to review the application to make sure it’s complete, to make sure it’s within California state law and county policy, county ordinance. I have done that. I have reviewed their slope stability analysis, their geologic report, and deemed it complete and approved it,” said Dan Walsh, Chief Engineering Geologist. “So now we’re moving forward and we’re creating the environmental document that will need to be presented to the Planning Commission. And that’s where you guys came in is we had published that to the state clearinghouse. And so once it’s published to the clearinghouse, it’s public, public domain, and it’s for public review. Anybody can pick that up and review it. So we’re going through the process.”
However, many residents said they were caught off guard by the proposal and frustrated by what they described as inadequate public notice. The public comment period for the environmental review began on March 20 and was originally scheduled to end April 22, yet several residents said they had only learned of the project days before the April 21 meeting and questioned why the community had not been directly informed earlier in the process.
Derek Newland, the county planner assigned to the project, explained that notices were mailed to surrounding property owners in Lone Pine Canyon and sent electronically to designated agencies, including the Wrightwood Community Services District, which was in the process of changing managers at the time.
Residents then raised a wide range of concerns, including blasting near the San Andreas Fault, air quality, asbestos exposure, possible archaeological and Native American tribal disturbances, traffic congestion, emergency evacuation routes, lowered property values, and the impact of heavy trucks and equipment using Lone Pine Canyon Road.
One resident warned that allowing industrial truck traffic on a road already damaged by storms could create public safety and infrastructure risks.
“Lone Pine Canyon Road has a posted 10,000 pound limit. It just reopened April 16th after failing due to rain alone. If the county attempts to grant an exception to these safety limitations solely to enrich a commercial mining operation when the public has been previously and strictly prohibited from such use, this constitutes arbitrary and capricious enforcement and a gross abuse of discretion,” stated Andrew Ferm, an engineer and resident of Wrightwood. “You cannot bypass this by simply removing the weight limits either. Unless you fully redesign and reconstruct this road to support industrial traffic, any approval creates a massive taxpayer liability.”
County officials responded that technical studies, including geologic and environmental reviews, are part of the approval process and that all written comments submitted by the public would become part of the official record for the Planning Commission to review.
In response to repeated requests from residents, county officials also announced they would extend the environmental comment deadline to May 8, giving the public additional time to review the county’s 68-page initial study and environmental checklist form.
The public can view the environmental document online at the San Bernardino County Land Use Services website. Public comments must be submitted before Friday, May 8th by emailing [email protected]. All comments must also include Project No. MRP-2025-00002.
For many in attendance, the extension was seen as an important first step, and residents have already begun to mobilize against the proposed mine. A petition to stop the Lone Pine Canyon Quarry has been circulating online and already has over 2,500 signatures.
A community-led group called the Lone Pine Canyon Protection Alliance also organized a local town hall public meeting on Thursday, April 30, at the Wrightwood Place on Highway 2 to discuss next steps in protecting the mountain community, including ways in which residents can contact their government representatives about this issue, including County Supervisors, Senators, and Congress. To learn more about the organization and how to help stop the Lone Pine Canyon Quarry, visit their website at www.lonepinecanyonprotectionalliance.org
