Cemex drops plans for Vegas-area gravel operations

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that one of the companies eyeing plans for a gravel operation at Sloan Hills in the south Las Vegas Valley is no longer pursuing the controversial project.

Stephen Wild, Cemex‘s Southern Nevada district manager, wrote to the Clark County commissioner that the company is not pursing Sloan Hills but is looking into other mining sites.

According to the report, Cemex officials said the company was responding to protests that were mounted by residents of housing developments within a few miles of the proposed operation. Congressional lawmakers, including Sens. Harry Reid and Dean Heller of Nevada, had introduced bills to block the project.

The report says Cemex was one of two companies that had applied for licenses to extract aggregates from the site. Service Rock Products, which has corporate offices in Southern Nevada, also applied, and its application is reportedly still active.