The citizens group opposing Teichert Inc.'s 71 million-ton mining project near Lincoln hasn't decided whether it will appeal a new court ruling letting the aggregate company proceed.

"We are very disappointed," said Ther-ese Adams of Western Placer Citizens for an Agricultural and Rural Environment. "We're waiting to meet with our attorney to determine what, if anything, we're going to do."

The state 3rd District Court of Appeals' decision Nov. 9 overturned Placer Superior Court Judge James W. Luther's ruling that put a halt to the project two years ago. Luther held that the final environmental impact report violated California laws because it did not describe the project's revised phasing and inadequately analyzed its effect on the availability of a long-term water supply.

Luther's ruling was in response to a 2003 petition by the citizens group asking the court to stop Teichert from moving forward on the mine until a new environemental study could be completed. The appellate court, however, decided that revisions to the project were not significant enough to require a new environmental document. The higher court also ruled that the environmental analysis proved there would be a sufficient source of water for the project.

The Teichert mining proposal went through eight years of environmental review.

"We are thrilled that this brings to an end more than three years of litigation and unnecessary delays," Teichert pro-ject manager Troy Reimche said. "It obviously caused us to lose a tremendous amount of time and significant additional cost to get us to this point of the project."

Reimche said Teichert has to wait to see if the citizens group files an appeal before the company can begin work on the project. WPCARE has until Dec. 19 to file an appeal, said Valerie Flood, an attorney for the county counsel's office.

Flood said the environmental analysis was exhaustive.

"It was a good EIR that took a long time to complete," Flood said. "It was one of those situations that if this EIR didn't pass muster, it might cause you to wonder what would.

"I respect a citizens group testing the validity of these kinds of things, but this really was a thorough process."

The Placer County Board of Supervisors in February 2003 approved Teichert's proposal to mine and process sand, gravel and granite from 945 acres located four miles north of Lincoln.