Granite Construction Files To Block Shareholder Resolution

(MENAFN- EIN Presswire)

Artist's rendering of Granite Construction's proposed Parleys Canyon Quarry- 2 miles from Salt Lake City

Investors raise concerns that proposed project in scenic Utah canyon presents serious business risks.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, UNITED STATES, April 8, 2024 /EINPresswire / -- Granite Construction Files with SEC to Exclude Shareholder Proposal Challenging Parleys Canyon Project in Utah

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) has filed a motion with the Securities and Exchange Commission to exclude from their annual meeting a shareholder resolution that questions the business risks of pursuing a proposed 635-acre open pit limestone quarry in Utah's scenic Parleys Canyon. Parleys is the greenbelt gateway between Salt Lake City and Park City- the site of Utah's Olympic ski venues as well as the Sundance Film Festival. According to Granite's SEC filings , the proposal was submitted on January 3, 2024 to the California-based company on behalf of a Lead Filer shareholder named the Woodcock Foundation along with other shareholders.

The shareholders have raised questions of whether Granite has satisfied their own corporate goals for sustainability and social responsibility in a substantive way as they pursue development of an open pit mine in Parleys. Granite's Board of Directors responded by quickly issuing a report claiming to have complied with their“Core Values” with regards to the project. These goals, as stated in Granite's public documents, include protecting water resources, reducing air emissions, enhancing biodiversity, and engaging meaningfully in communities where they operate. The shareholder resolution contends that these commitments“are not upheld in practice” and that Granite's failure to do so puts shareholders at risk.

Granite has not responded to the 1400 comments from the community opposing their recent air quality permit application. Nor have they disclosed whether the water they need for dust suppression will be diverted from flowing to the shrinking Great Salt Lake or how the industrial impacts on wildlife habitat and scenic views will be minimized.

In the Board report, Granite contends that they have kept their commitment to“engage meaningfully in the communities where we work” in Utah because they have complied with permitting requirements, hosted a website about the quarry, and encouraged their local employees to participate in community projects. But Granite has never responded to public statements opposing the project by Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Millcreek City, the Central Wasatch Commission, the President of Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the [Olympic] Games, and in a recent editorial in the LDS Church-owned Deseret News.

When the proposed project precipitated a review of the applicable local land use ordinance, Granite did not participate during any of the three public hearings held by Salt Lake County. They refused a request to meet with local non-profit organizations and have not publicly responded to a petition with over 27,000 signatures opposing the project sent to Utah's Governor. According to campaign contribution reports filed with Utah's Lieutenant Governor, Granite has spent over $20,000 on state legislative campaigns since 2019 and is affiliated with the Critical Infrastructure Materials Coalition that has promoted legislation to weaken statutes that establish local land use authority and restrict vested mining rights. ( )

As reported in Patch, in 2012, Granite engaged in a seven-year battle over a similar gravel pit project with the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians and other residents of Riverside County in California- a fight Granite eventually lost ( ). Over the past 30 years, they have been cited for over 40 environmental and workplace safety violations. They also agreed to an $8 million settlement in 2015 for charges of using a shell company to create the appearance of complying with the federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program ( ); and paid $12 million in SEC fines in 2022 to settle charges of financial fraud (#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20Granite%20restated%20its,to%20settle%20the%20SEC's%20charges ).

Sam Dunham
SaveParleys
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