McKeon to introduce a bill in Congress today to cancel Cemex's lease.

Although Rep. Buck McKeon admits that the chance of passing the bill are small, he stated that he would introduce a bill in Congress today to cancel Cemex’s lease to mine 56.1 million tons of sand and gravel in Soledad Canyon. This bill would also seek to limit any future mining at the site to historic levels of 300,000 tons a year.

The City of Santa Clarita has reportedly spent $6 million battling this project. "We held off introducing the bill, trying to work out a solution between the city and Cemex," McKeon said.

If the bill is passed, mining leases signed between Cemex and the Bureau of Land Management in 1990 would be canceled and the company would be reimbursed for its "expenses and their troubles," McKeon said.

"The bill is controversial. It sets a precedent the BLM would not want to see established," says McKeon. "While I think it has a very slim chance of passing, that doesn’t mean I don’t give it my best effort," he said. "It might help in furthering some negotiation between the city and Cemex."

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