After hundreds of people showed up regarding a Mexican mining company’s request to dig deeper along the San Joaquin River, Fresno supervisors decided the best approach to host the likely scores of attendees would be for a special meeting.

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors will meet Nov. 12 to hear Cemex’s plan to dig down at their current location, board chair Garry Bredefeld told GV Wire Friday.

That date aligns with a Fresno City Council meeting.

Bredefeld said given the attention the proposal has gotten, a special meeting would best accommodate the importance of the issue.

“There are a lot of people who are going to be attending,” Bredefeld said. “We wanted to give it the full attention that it deserves, and not have it get lost in the agenda with a whole bunch of other issues.”

Public Comment Will Have to Be Limited, Not Sure How: Bredefeld

At the Oct. 8 meeting, attendees spoke for nearly four hours — mostly in opposition, though many workers spoke in favor of the project and the livelihood it creates. Members of the public packed the board chamber and filled up the halls.

The county went so far as to open up a separate room for people to sit and listen as they prepared to speak.

Bredefeld said public comment would likely need to be limited, though he had not yet determined how those restrictions would be implemented. Supervisors could reduce the time allotted to each speaker from three minutes to two minutes or impose a 15-minute limit on public comment for individual agenda items, as they have occasionally done in the past.

“I haven’t decided really, the best way to go,” Bredefeld said. “I obviously want to have as many people be able to speak as possible. We’ll see which course of action is the best.”

Cemex Agrees to Reduced Time, Dig Depth

Years of renewal delays put Cemex’s operations at the Rockfield site along the river on a tight countdown clock, with its permit expiring in July 2025.

At the planning commission meeting, the company relented to a reduced version of the plan it had been working on since at least 2023. Attorney Pat Mitchell said that while the company preferred a 100-year permit and the ability to dig down to 600 feet, it accepted the staff-recommended alternative of 63 years and 300 feet. Currently, dig pits reach depths of about 100 feet in some areas, according to the company.

While Cemex has been mining aggregate at the Rockfield site for decades, the plan to add blasting and dig three times as deep drew vocal opposition.

The company said that given how long operations have occurred at the site, the additional environmental impact would not be much greater. Additionally, it stressed the importance of having ample aggregate supplies for building homes, businesses, and roads.

Opponents, however, said blasting would drastically change the ecosystem, affecting both wildlife and nearby residents. They also pointed to California studies reporting that the region has adequate aggregate supplies for the next 50 years.

The company disputed those studies, saying they underestimate the need for aggregate and that, due to transportation costs, the material has to remain hyperlocal.

In the end, a 3-3 split among commissioners meant the Cemex plan failed, requiring the company to appeal to move forward.