RIVERSIDE - Riverside County supervisors today unanimously approved the appointments of five people to a committee that will review how environmental impact reports are prepared and return with recommendations on what can be done to make the process more transparent.

Each supervisor nominated a resident from his district to serve on the FAIRSCORE committee. The individuals were chosen based on their experience with environmental studies for real estate projects.

Supervisor Kevin Jeffries selected Matthew Fagan to represent the first district; Supervisor John Tavaglione chose Matthew Webb to represent the second; Supervisor Jeff Stone appointed Larry Markham to represent the third; Chairman John Benoit chose Marvin Roos to represent the fourth; and Supervisor Marion Ashley selected Joel Morse to represent the fifth.

Biographical information on the committee members was not available. They're expected to meet four or five times over the next several months and will report their findings to the board in 90 days, according to county Transportation and Land Management Agency Director Juan Perez.

Stone proposed FAIRSCORE -- "Facilitate Accredited Impartial Required Studies Competently Ordered by Riverside County Entities" -- in November, saying there needed to be more Advertisement

[ The Tutoring Center ] meticulous vetting of companies that handle EIRs.

The supervisor hit on the idea following a series of public hearings last year concerning the proposed Liberty Quarry, a 414-acre aggregate mine off of Interstate 15, just inside the Temecula Valley.

The project triggered heated public debate and verbal skirmishes on the board.

Stone, with the overwhelming support of Temecula Valley residents, contested the proposed mine based on a slew of objections, including an EIR that the supervisor and mine opponents said failed to account for a number of potential health threats -- most importantly the amount of silica dust created by the project that residents would inhale.

The EIR, done to meet state compliance standards spelled out in the California Environmental Quality Act, was the product of a contractor hired directly by Watsonville-based Granite Construction Inc., the owner of the proposed strip mine.

On Nov. 15, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians announced that it was purchasing the space on which the quarry was proposed, ending the project for good.

Stone said he hoped FAIRSCORE would allay future concerns about the legitimacy and objectivity of vendors who complete environmental assessments.