I have a better name for Liberty Quarry

Along with thousands of Fallbrook and Temecula residents, I am staunchly opposed to Granite Construction’s plan to blast a giant pit mine deep into the hills above the Temecula Valley, just up the road from my home in Rainbow.

Granite Construction Corporation had the calculated gall to name this proposed monstrosity the “Liberty Quarry.” I ask, Liberty to do what? Liberty to add thousands of gravel-spilling, smoke and ember-spewing trucks onto the I-15 where we all drive every day? Liberty to add crystal silica and diesel and soot particles to our air? Liberty to blast away into our property values as they blast away into our hills?

I have several suggestions that would be more accurate than “Liberty” for this quarry. How about “Avarice Quarry,” because it’s really about how this corporation wants to make millions of dollars at the expense of our health? Or perhaps “Devastation Quarry,” because that’s what will happen to the beautiful hillsides that frame southwestern Temecula?

Or “Decimation Quarry,” because that is what will happen to our already eroded property values in the area? Or what about “Cacophony Quarry,” as the peaceful quality of life for residents nearby will be destroyed? Or maybe “Ruination Quarry,” to accurately describe what will happen to the research projects that have been conducted at SDSU’s Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve for decades?

This company’s planned blasting site, gravel pit, asphalt plant, cement plant and diesel truck convoys, have nothing to do with liberty and everything to do with avarice and greed.