But today, the state's passion for protecting its own back yard from the dust, noise and scars of mining and its penchant for building homes over rich reserves is beginning to shift the pain of producing those natural resources to other landscapes and cultures.Excuse me but don't we live in the age of importation of everything except jobs? We export our jobs and import everything else. What else is new Sacramento Bee? Where have you been for the last decade? When people mine for minerals, someone in that area makes a lot of money. People are employed there. The region experiences an influx of money. Duh! Anotherwords, that one person you found with a dusty balcony is balanced by a number of other people who can afford to put food on the table or perhaps buy a second car, maybe even take a vacation this year for the first time in a decade.
One of my first clues to the mindset of the person writing this article is highlighted in red above. Sprawl is the latest catch-phrase of the rabid environmentalist.
Perhaps this nitwit can figure out why we have such a demand for new homes in California. I'll give you a clue, citizens are leaving the state in record numbers.
From a related article (
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20030130-9999_1n30sand.html}: "...a joint venture called Petreos del Pacifico... The company was formed in 2001 by a well-established Baja California construction company, Amaya Curiel, and British-based Hanson Aggregates, which has offices in San Diego... ...General Manager Roberto Curiel Ortega said Petreos del Pacifico has invested close to $40 million to develop the infrastructure for sand and rock mining, including a port facility at Ensenada and barges to carry the material to California..."
Presumably this company was providing jobs to an area that otherwise wouldn't offer much opportunity? The thing that is so striking about Mexico is how rich it is in possibilities and how resistant the leadership is to those very things which would allow the country to prosper.