According to The Signal, by the end of next week Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon may introduce legislation that could end the years-long struggle over a proposed sand and gravel mine in Soledad Canyon. Santa Clarita City Manager Ken Pulskamp said Thursday while it is not 100 percent firm, by May 12 McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, plans to introduce a bill that would provide Cemex Inc. with land and resources swap. "That’s not necessarily a hard date," said Scott Wilk, spokesman for McKeon and added it may be introduced at a later date. The Mexico-based Cemex intends to extract 78 million tons of sand and gravel over 20 years to produce 56.1 million tons of concrete aggregate from the site located east of Highway 14, near the intersection of Soledad Canyon and Agua Dulce Canyon roads. Pulskamp described the legislation as such: If approved, it would essentially give Cemex other mining resources in exchange for the company mining elsewhere. Wilk, however, said "I would not call it a land swap." McKeon’s spokesman, James Jeffrey, said he could neither confirm nor deny if the congressman plans to introduce legislation regarding Cemex. So, here's the question of the day: If the Cemex threat is removed, is there any incentive on the part of the City of Santa Clarita or the residents of the Stonecrest development to continue the campaign for the annexation of Stonecrest into the City? From the City's point of view, it would certainly expand its scope, but then there are no significant retail dollars to be had in that area that would aid the City financially. From the Stonecrest point of view, they'd have to decide for themselves whether being under City Rule or County Rule would be best for their area in the long run. | 
