The construction industry earned an important victory Feb. 10 when a federal appeals court upheld a consent decree that will allow aggregate mining operations to commence at a southern California mining site. Aggregate is the principal ingredient in concrete - a key material used on transportation improvement and other construction projects across America.

The Portland Cement Association, American Concrete Pavement Association, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association and the American Road & Transportation Builders Association submitted a "friend of the court" brief in late 2004.

The litigation involved a project which began in 1990 when — with the approval of the Bureau of Land Management — CEMEX Inc. purchased the federal government's rights to sand and gravel operations in the Soledad Canyon area of Los Angeles. Despite extensive and multi-year environmental reviews, local officials continued to file numerous legal challenges to delay the project from moving forward.

In 2002, CEMEX filed suit against Los Angeles County. The U.S. Justice Department intervened on CEMEX's side nine months later, arguing the county's delay in approving the project interfered with the federal government's program for the sale of federally-owned mineral materials.

After more than a year of mediation, the parties reached an agreement. Following multiple objections by the city of Santa Clarita, which had been granted intervenor status in the case — the District Court May 20, 2004, approved the decree and entered the judgment. Santa Clarita officials appealed the ruling to the ninth circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected their arguments last week.

In the legal brief, the construction associations underscored the importance of consent decrees in resolving litigation in environmental matters and highlighted the economic importance of ensuring reasonable access to domestically-available building materials such as sand, gravel and other products. The groups also argued that the federal law which the consent decree is based upon preempted any further delays of CEMEX's project at the state and county level.