A Santa Clara County judge has ordered a San Jose-based construction company to stop dumping hazardous waste on protected agricultural land in rural Almaden Valley, county officials announced Monday.
“All too often, we see that companies and people use protected agricultural land — land that is environmentally sensitive and important — for inappropriate industrial uses,” said Tony LoPresti, the chief assistant county counsel for Santa Clara County. “This case is not unique. But it’s a particularly egregious example of that.”
Though the area was zoned for agriculture, the investigation found United Concrete Cutting was using it for concrete waste processing, recycling, and “a general dumping ground for corrosive concrete waste,” according to the county’s court filing.