Temecula could make a last-ditch effort to ask a commission to reconsider its vote that denied the city's bid to annex the quarry site.

Meanwhile, Riverside County planners are inching closer to releasing a lengthy environmental study of Liberty Quarry, a major step in the approval process for the 414-acre quarry just outside the city limits.

The Temecula City Council on Tuesday will contemplate asking the Riverside Local Agency Formation Commission to revisit its June 4 vote rejecting the city's proposal to annex almost 5,000 acres to its southwest, including the quarry site. The fee for an application to reconsider costs about $1,750, according to a city staff report.

The commission has the power to approve or deny annexations. On Thursday, the commission is expected to formalize its 5-2 decision, which followed a 10-hour public hearing in Riverside attended by hundreds of quarry supporters and opponents.

Critics say the quarry will pollute the air, choke local roads with truck traffic, harm an ecological reserve and sever a key wildlife corridor. Liberty Quarry's developer, Granite Construction, and others say critics' fears are baseless and the quarry will provide a regional economic boost.

Temecula officials hoped to enact zoning on the land that would prohibit open-pit mining, which would make it next to impossible for the quarry to be built.

After the commission's decision is formalized, a 30-day window opens for anyone to ask the commission to reconsider its vote, which leaves the quarry's fate to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

Requests to reconsider must be based on new information that was not available during the June 4 hearing, said commission Executive Officer George Spiliotis. Those making the request must fill out an application and pay a fee, he said. Commissioners would then decide whether to revisit the annexation at a later meeting.

The commission consists of Russell Kitahara, of the Coachella Valley Water District board; county Supervisors Bob Buster and John Tavaglione; Hemet City Council member Robin Lowe; La Quinta City Council member Terry Henderson; Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District board member Phil Williams; and Banning resident Stephen Tomanelli. Tavaglione and Buster voted against the motion to deny annexation.

While it's rare the commission reverses itself, Spiliotis said it has happened. A few years ago, the commission approved an annexation bid by Desert Hot Springs, but the county and another agency asked the commission to reconsider and the annexation was denied, Spiliotis said.

Assuming the commission doesn't change course, the county's draft environmental impact report on the quarry becomes all the more important.

The report, required by state law, will examine the quarry's environmental effects, ways to lessen them and alternatives to the quarry. The report has been in the works for more than two years.

County Planning Director Ron Goldman said each county department gets to review the report and suggest revisions. Granite must provide the data on which the report is based and pay for county staff time spent reviewing the report.

The report could be released in the next month, Goldman said. The public will have 45 days to comment on the report once it's released, and the final draft must address those comments.

Once the final report is complete, the quarry plan goes to the county Planning Commission before going to the Board of Supervisors for a vote.

Goldman said the attempted annexation will have no bearing on the report. The city's own environmental impact report for the annexation warned that surface mining could have dire consequences for the region.

Ray Johnson, a Temecula-based environmental attorney and quarry opponent, has his doubts about the county's report.

"Having seen some of the documents Granite has prepared thus far, they're self-serving documents that don't bear scrutiny," he said.

In an e-mail, Granite spokeswoman Karie Reuther wrote that while the company is disappointed with how long it's taken for the report, "(the) county has been very careful in its analysis and review. We expect the study to be very comprehensive and detailed."