CEMEX extracts about 200,000 yds3 of sand from this back beach pond every year. Captions and Photograph courtesy of: © Gary Griggs
Excerpts;
For the Cemex sand mine in Marina, and for those calling for it to be shut down, the hourglass may almost be out of sand.
About 50 coastal advocates descended on the Aug. 10 California Coastal Commission meeting in Scotts Valley, urging the agency to expedite its effort to shut the mine down. They held signs reading “cease and desist” and “take a stand, save our sand.”
Their urgency comes five months after commission staff sent a notice of intent letter to Cemex on March 17, informing the company the commission plans to shut the mine down for violating six different sections of the California Coastal Act. That letter came after a roughly six-year investigation by the Coastal Commission into the mine, which is the only remaining coastal sand mine in the U.S., and has been widely cited by scientists as the primary reason southern Monterey Bay has the highest coastal erosion rate in the state…
Read Full Article, Monterey County Weekly (08-18-2016)
Castles made of sand, Santa Cruz Waves (06-23-2016)
How to Steal a Beach, Atlas Obscura (07-18-2016)
In Northern California’s Monterey Bay, a peculiar thing happens every time there’s a storm. The California Coastal Commission says that a mining operation has been illegally taking precious sand for years…
Cemex mine reflects human hunger for sand, California; Monterey County Now(01-14-2016)
The disappearance of the beach reflects an alarming reality: Southern Monterey Bay, Marina in particular, has the highest coastal erosion rate in the state of California. For more than 20 years, scientists have speculated about the sand mine’s contribution to that erosion rate, and a 2008 study concluded it was the primary cause. The Cemex mine in Marina is the only remaining coastal sand mine in the entire United States. Which leads to new questions…
Monterey Bay, California: Beach Sand Mining from a National Marine Sanctuary; By Gary Griggs (09-01-2014)
The 30-mile long, continuous sandy shoreline around Monterey Bay is the most visited stretch of shoreline on the central coast. Yet, it holds the dubious distinction of being the only active beach sand mining operation along the entire United States shoreline. To make matters even worse, it all takes place along the shoreline of a protected National Marine Sanctuary. Something is seriously wrong with this picture…
Sand, Rarer Than One Thinks: A UNEP report (GEA-March 2014)
Despite the colossal quantities of sand and gravel being used, our increasing dependence on them and the significant impact that their extraction has on the environment, this issue has been mostly ignored by policy makers and remains largely unknown by the general public.
In March 2014 The United Nations released its first Report about sand mining. “Sand Wars” film documentary by Denis Delestrac – first broadcasted on the european Arte Channel, May 28th, 2013, where it became the highest rated documentary for 2013 – expressly inspired the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to publish this 2014-Global Environmental Alert.
Sand Wars, An Investigation Documentary, By Mutlti-Awards Winner Filmmaker Denis Delestrac (©-2013)
Sand Thieves Are Eroding World’s Beaches For Castles Of Cash, by Martine Valo, Le Monde (09-2013)
The pillaging of sand is a growing practice in the world. This is because it represents 80% of the composition of concrete that it is the object of such greed…
