FRESNO, Calif. – A controversial mine proposal that could impact California’s second-longest river north of Fresno for the next century will be decided this week by a local government body whose majority won’t be in office in two months.
More than six years after multinational mining company CEMEX applied for permits to blast and drill a 600-foot deep gravel pit at its existing operation near the San Joaquin River, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors will render a decision Thursday during a special meeting at the Hall of Records.
Of the five county supervisors, only two – Garry Bredefeld and Luis Chavez – will remain on the board in 2027 and beyond. The other three are headed for the exit door.
Supervisors Nathan Magsig and Brian Pacheco were elected to state office during the November midterms and will be sworn in Dec. 7 per the state constitution. The third member of the lame-duck majority, Supervisor Buddy Mendes, is retiring.
The decision whether to allow CEMEX to expand its Rockfield operation in the middle of the San Joaquin River Parkway is arguably the most impactful environmental issue faced by the Board of Supervisors in more than a decade.
But there are questions about whether three supervisors who won't face the ramifications of their votes should weigh in on this major decision. Some of the supervisors say it's their job.
“Whether it’s CEMEX or the Friant Ranch project, most issues that come before our board have pretty significant gravity attached to them,” Magsig said. “So I think it’s very appropriate that this board continues to operate until members assume their new roles in the state legislature or they fully retire and new members come in.”
Chavez agreed, though the supervisor for much of central and south Fresno said he was “good” with either the current board or the next one having the voting responsibility – despite the fact that, starting next year, he and Bredefeld will be the longest-tenured board members having just been elected in 2024.
“It’s been in the works for years now,” Chavez said. “I think this board started it, minus me and Garry, and should finish it.”
The executive director of Fresno Building Healthy Communities, a nonprofit that has pushed for expanded access to parks and increased parks funding, expressed the opposite view.
Sandra Celedon criticized the vote’s scheduling as “not a good form of governance.”
“This is a multi-generational decision that should not be made lightly,” Celedon added, “and it shouldn't be made by an outgoing Board of Supervisors that is not going to be accountable to the people."
Why are supervisors deciding on the CEMEX mine this week?
That timeline for the vote on the CEMEX mine was set by an Oct. 8 technical denial by the Fresno County Planning Commission.
While the company seeks to blast and drill 600 feet into hard rock near the San Joaquin River for the next 100 years, county staff instead recommended a 300-foot deep pit and a 67-year permit.
The planning commission voted 3-3 on the staff-recommended alternative, which was one of several identified by an environmental report about the project.
But CEMEX immediately appealed the planning commission’s decision, which locked in a window for the Board of Supervisors to take up the matter.
One question that remains unanswered is why the planning commission hearing was scheduled in early October – less than two weeks after the California Environmental Quality Act website on Sept. 25 published the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the CEMEX Rockfield Quarry Modification Project.
The final EIR is 2,345 pages, not including hundreds of additional pages contained in 17 appendixes. In addition, multiple sections of the document underwent significant revisions after the draft EIR was published and circulated in 2025.
County staff, including director of public works and planning Steven White, did not respond to an email asking why the planning commission hearing was scheduled in a manner that allowed the public so little time to review the final environmental report, and what sway CEMEX had over that decision.
Among those with suspicions is Sharon Weaver, executive director of the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust.
“I am concerned that CEMEX is pushing for this to go forward right now because they know that they have the [board] votes. That’s what I would guess,” Weaver said during an Oct. 2 public forum at the nonprofit’s event barn. “Does that mean the deck is stacked against us? It might be, but that doesn't mean it’s not impossible to change their minds.”
Reached this week, Weaver said she is hopeful the Board of Supervisors will listen to the community’s concerns and deny the project.
Public opposed to CEMEX project
Public sentiment has been opposed to the blast mine from the outset.
Of the 204 comments from residents received by county staff in response to the draft EIR, 168 were opposed. As were 62 of the 77 people who spoke during public comment during the Oct. 8 meeting. The 15 who spoke in support of the project were all CEMEX employees, labor representatives and business advocates.
Magsig, an outgoing board member who will represent District 12 in the California State Senate, said he has not made up his mind.
“It is not appropriate for me to make a determination on this project until I hear all the facts and listen to all the testimony – and that's exactly what I’m going to be doing,” Magsig said.
“I’m a free-market capitalist, but I also believe that [with] projects that have impacts, those impacts need to be mitigated to the fullest extent possible,” Magsig added. “And some projects are not appropriate. Just because there’s going to be benefits of the project, [those] don’t outweigh the impacts to the environment or the community.”
Garry Bredefeld is arguably the board member in the trickiest spot.
Bredefeld represents north Fresno. If he votes to approve the project, his constituents will feel the brunt of the traffic impacts from the increased number of truck trips hauling gravel on Friant Road. Not to mention all the chipped windshields.
In addition, Bredefeld is a board member of the San Joaquin River Conservancy, the state agency responsible for establishing a 22-mile mile recreation and riparian corridor between Friant Dam and Highway 99.
Would Bredefeld vote to approve a 100-year permit for a blast mine in the middle of a river parkway for which he is a key decision-maker?
He did not return messages seeking comment.
