Coastal erosion, Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California. Photo source: ©© Chris Smart
Excerpts;
Environmentalists are suing the state in an effort to reduce sand mining inside San Francisco Bay that they contend is shrinking a popular beach and habitat for an endangered bird.
The San Francisco Baykeeper contends the State Lands Commission didn’t adequately protect Ocean Beach last June when it renewed leases allowing a company to scoop up sand off the Bay bottom near Alcatraz Island.
Baykeeper’s motion seeking a big reduction in sand mining limits was filed this week in San Francisco Superior Court…
Read Full Article, East Bay Times (01-31-2017)
Sand Mining in SF Bay Dealt Blow by State Appeals Court, SF Examiner (11-18-2015)
A California appeals court has ruled that sand in the San Francisco Bay must be considered a public trust resource, potentially challenging the practice of mining for sand in the Bay that’s in turn used in construction projects. Wednesday’s ruling in the lawsuit between San Francisco Baykeeper and the California State Lands Commission in the California 1st District Court of Appeal is considered a major victory by environmental advocates who have argued sand mining contributes to erosion at Ocean Beach and threatens the Bay’s ecosystem.
BCDC Approves Sand Mining Permit in San Francisco Bay, Mercury News (04-23-2015)
San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) unanimously approved a 10-year mining permit for sand removal from San Francisco Bay, and from two other areas near Suisun. The amount of sand the permit requests is 15 times greater than the annual amount of sand that comes into the bay from the delta…
San Francisco Bay Sand Mining Alarms Conservationists, San Francisco Gate (12-16-2012)
Dredge mining of shoals near Angel and Alcatraz islands and throughout Suisun Bay is robbing the bay of sand that keeps San Francisco’s Ocean Beach from eroding, according to new research by the U.S. Geological Survey…
Why S.F. is Moving 42,000 Tons of Sand Down Ocean Beach, San Francisco Gate (12-06-2014)
Monterey Bay, California: Beach Sand Mining from a National Marine Sanctuary; By Gary Griggs
Marina: Nation’s last coastal sand mine might be shut down by Coastal Commission; Mercury News (12-07-2016)
The US nation’s last remaining coastal sand mine may face closure. The California Coastal Commission has put Marina’s Lapis sand mine on notice after a nearly six-year investigation into multiple violations of the state’s Coastal Act…
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 is the second most consumed natural resource, after water. The construction-building industry is by far the largest consumer of this finite resource.
Concrete is made with cement, water, sand and gravel.The traditional building of one average-sized house requires 200 tons of sand; a hospital requires 3,000 tons of sand; each kilometer of highway built requires 30,000 tons of sand… A nuclear plant, a staggering 12 million tons of sand…
