US: Demolition has started at the Permanente cement plant near Cupertino, a site that repeatedly ‘ran afoul’ of environmental regulations before it officially closed three years ago, according to Mountain View Voice news. Heidelberg Materials North America, owner of the cement plant through its subsidiary Lehigh Southwest Cement, recently announced that it secured the necessary permits and a contractor to move forward with demolition. The plan is to remove approximately 40 structures on a 50-hectare site, according to a press release. This is only a small portion of the larger 1416-hectare site that includes Permanente quarry, also owned by Heidelberg Materials.
“Since we formally announced the permanent closure of the cement kiln in 2022, we have prioritised listening to residents, businesses and other local stakeholders so we could gather input and feedback on how the site could provide value to the community in the long-term,” Heidelberg Materials executive David Perkins said. “The commencement of demolition marks a significant step forward in this process.”
In the past 15 years, there have been multiple lawsuits filed against the quarry for discharging toxic metals and violating water, air and noise pollution standards, including from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the state of California. Santa Clara County also found a variety of violations at the cement plant and issued more than 2000 citations from 2012 to 2021. In 2021, a proposal to mine the Permanente Ridge was reportedly ‘the final straw’, according to Joe Simitian, who sat on the county Board of Supervisors. He said that it would have eliminated ‘something like 8 hectares of undisturbed space,’ protected by a nearly 50 year old agreement. In 2020, the plant’s operations were paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic, before permanently closing in 2023 amid continued county pressure. Excavation at the quarry was also halted that same year. In an effort to rehabilitate the area, county officials broke ground on the Permanente Creek Restoration Project in mid-2025 to remove toxic mine waste and restore miles of watershed in Cupertino.
“The community is very excited about moving forward with the demolition, the reclamation and restoration of the land there,” supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga said. “Heidelberg has been very, very communicative and collaborative with the community, letting us know what they’re doing and taking a lot of input.”
The plan to restore the entire 1416-hectare area to its natural habitat will not happen anytime soon, however. The process is expected to take 40 years to complete. “It took us more than 100 years to get to this point,” Simitian said. “It’s going to take a little while to restore and reclaim the site. That’s the hard truth.”
