Historic Photos

Aerial Photos

BACKGROUND: Head south on I-680 from Pleasanton to Fremont and the view opens onto the Sunol Valley. Looking north one sees the SF Water Temple, built at the turn of the last century and recently restored at the behest and with the support of locals by SFPUC. Behind the Temple you see towering cliffs skirted by the Alameda Creek which drains the valley and fed by two reservoirs. Pacific Coast Steelhead originally resident in this Creek may soon return with the partial removal of the Sunol and Niles Dams. From the north edge of the freeway to the Temple is a 242 acre field of prime agricultural land which in the past has been used to grow walnuts, chives, grapes and gladioli. A stones throw from this is the Sunol Glen School and the hamlet of Sunol. Looking south of I-680 is a surface mine which has devastated the south end of the valley. More than half of our valley has succumbed to mining since Alameda County has seen fit to grant permits to operators without EIRs. In 1995 Alameda County granted yet another permit allowing Mission Valley Rock Co. to leap across the freeway and mine this prime land next to our town to a depth of 240 feet. For the next 45 years, residents must deal with the noise, dust, siltation of the creek and the utter devastation of this bucolic area.

Since 1991, Save Our Sunol, a non-profit grass roots community group has been opposing this ill-conceived project. SOS has been joined by the Sierra Club and nearly every other environmental group and many state and local agencies in airing concerns regarding a seriously flawed EIR. In 2000, voters approved Alameda County's open space initiative, Measure D, which disallows new quarries in unincorporated areas without a vote of the electorate. SOS is embroiled in new litigation to see the policies of measure D enforced.