Rosemont Mine EIS

[Jeffshadows]

For those following what's shaping up for the Santa Ritas by way of the mining operation that wants to come to town, the Forest Service is planning on preparing an Environmental Impact Statement and wants your input. The project notice of intent is available on the FS website and I've also attached it to this posting:

rosemont-noi-02282008.pdf

USFS - Rosemont Mine Notice of Intent

(44.97 KiB) Downloaded 217 times

I can't make any of the meetings, but I wish I could because we need as many people like us there as possible to show that opposition to the mine will not pass away with the contingent of retired folks in Green Valley that are championing the cause. No offense meant in what I just said, because I've heard that their new strategy is to wait a few more years until the "Political climate might be more favorable" (What else could they mean by that statement?) I know this is a heated topic, and I'm not advocating bad behavior or fanaticism; I just think we are a community that needs to be heard on these issues, once in a while...

Anyway, for those who can get out there, here's the meeting schedule:
1. March 18, 2008, Pima Community College Desert Vista Campus, 5901 South Calle Santa Cruz, Tucson, Arizona. 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
2. March 19, 2008, Canoa Hills Recreation Center, 3660 South Camino del Sol, Green Valley, Arizona, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
3. March 20, 2008, Patagonia Union High School, Highway 82, Patagonia, Arizona, 6:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m

The FS is planning another meeting for the Vail area; date, time, and location TBD. If you can't make it please take a few minutes and do like I did - send your comments on the proposal in by one of these channels:
• Mail comments to Team Leader, Rosemont Copper Project, Coronado National Forest, 300 W. Congress St., Tucson, Arizona 85701
• FAX comments to (520) 388–8305, ATTN: Rosemont Team Leader
• Or email to comments-southwestern-coronado@fs.fed.us

If you feel the mine is a good idea and have come up with a novel solution to the groundwater issue (among other things) you should comment, as well. This is a democracy, after all!

[FOTG]

@chumley
I almost said something similar...I care, but a tad to long for casual skimming..lol After all, I am trying to teach school here...

[azbackpackr]

OK I guess what I pasted on here was not what I saw on Friends of the Santa Ritas. It's very simple. The EPA has found that the mine will cause irreparable damage to the water supply of Southern Arizona. If they do not approve the permit, the mine can't go through. Furthermore, the parent company's stocks are very low and they do not have much capital at this time. So, they could just go belly-up, and we'd all be happy...

Now, is there hope for Oak Flat?

[Sredfield]

I'm sure there are more shoes to fall.

[big_load]

I thought this news was HUGE. But no one cares? Or are you waiting to see what happens next?

Waiting to see what happens next. I don't think this is the end of it.

[CannondaleKid]

Now, is there hope for Oak Flat?

Last I heard the bills in both House and Senate passed earlier this year, no thanks to John McCain/Matt Salmon/et al. So I believe it's a done deal.

[Sredfield]

Court rescinds Rosemont’s state air quality control permit

Posted on March 6, 2015

A Maricopa County (AZ) Superior Court judge today rescinded the state air quality control permit for Toronto-based Hudbay Mineral’s proposed Rosemont copper project in Arizona.

Judge Crane McClennen reversed the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s (AzDEQ) January 2013 decision to issue the air pollution permit for the proposed mile-wide, half-mile deep open pit copper mine planned for the Santa Rita Mountains on the Coronado National Forest southeast of Tucson.

“This Court concludes there was not substantial evidence to support the action of the AzDEQ, and the action of the AzDEQ was contrary to law, was arbitrary and capricious, and was an abuse of discretion,” the ruling states.

The ruling sends Rosemont’s air quality permit back to AzDEQ “for further consideration using the proper criteria.”
McClennen ruled in favor of an appeal filed by the Tucson-based citizen’s group Save the Scenic Santa Ritas that argued that the proposed mine would violate national air pollution standards. SSSR also presented evidence that demonstrated Rosemont’s air pollution model was flawed and understated the potential for air pollution from mining operations.
“This Court concludes the authorities and arguments provided by SSSR are well-taken, and this Court adopts those authorities and arguments in support of its decision,” the ruling states.

SSSR’s appeal overcame substantial legal hurdles that favored upholding AzDEQ’s decision to issue the air permit. In reviewing an agency’s decision pursuant to the (Arizona) Administrative Review Act, the superior court must affirm the agency action unless it is “not supported by substantial evidence, is contrary to law, is arbitrary and capricious or is an abuse of discretion.”

The court’s decision delivers a major setback to Hudbay’s plans to construct the $1.5 billion copper mine. A second lawsuit challenging the Rosemont air quality permit is also pending in Pima County Superior Court.

SSSR’s request for attorneys’ fees was deferred until expected appeals and subsequent rulings from higher courts are issued.
“Because it is likely this matter will be appealed to the Arizona Court of Appeals with possible review by the Arizona Supreme Court, this Court considers it more appropriate to wait until the further appeals process has run its course before considering the issue of attorneys’ fee,” McClennen ruled.

The decision marks another major twist in Rosemont’s effort to secure the air quality control permit. The permit issue has bounced around for more than three years between the state and Pima County governments since the mining company applied for it, the Arizona Daily Star reported in January.

Rosemont sharply criticized SSSR when it filed the law suit challenging the air permit. Rosemont Copper vice president Kathy Arnold told the Arizona Daily Star in June 2014 that the suit was another request for legal review filed by a group that has appealed and lost on other issues.

“We are confident that this will be rejected after review,” Arnold, Rosemont’s vice president of environmental and regulatory affairs, told the newspaper.

[Sredfield]

Could it be true!

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news ... -2916.html

For Immediate Release, February 29, 2016

Contact: Randy Serraglio, (520) 784-1504, rserraglio@biologicaldiversity.org

Construction of Controversial Rosemont Copper Mine Delayed Indefinitely

TUCSON, Ariz.— Hudbay Minerals Inc. has announced a construction delay for its proposed Rosemont Copper Mine in the Santa Rita mountains near Tucson. With the global copper industry in free-fall and copper prices at historic lows, company officials could not establish a timetable for the controversial project. A number of permits remain outstanding for Rosemont, which has generated vigorous opposition from local communities in southern Arizona and threatens harm to a dozen imperiled species, including America’s only known wild jaguar, known as El Jefe.

“After years of misleading its investors with rosy projections for this project, the company has finally admitted the mine won’t be built anytime soon,” said Randy Serraglio, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “But the truth is that this project should never be built. The tremendous damage that the Rosemont Mine threatens to our air, water, wildlife and beautiful landscapes is simply too great, no matter how hard the company tries to obscure it.”

The Rosemont project would blast a mile-wide, 3,000-foot-deep open pit in the heart of the home territory of the beloved jaguar El Jefe and destroy thousands of acres of the public land where he roams with 800-foot-high piles of toxic mine waste.

“El Jefe should not have to sacrifice his future for a pile of copper,” said Serraglio. “Mining companies all over the world are cutting billions of dollars from their operating costs, laying off tens of thousands of workers and stockpiling massive amounts of unsold copper. There’s simply no justification for this incredibly destructive mine.”

“It’s high time that our federal agencies acknowledge the writing on the wall and deny the permits needed to construct this mine,” said Serraglio. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Coronado National Forest and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers all have ample scientific and legal basis to stop this atrocity from blighting our land. We already have copper mines all over Arizona, and we’ve got the polluted air, contaminated water, and ghost towns to prove it. But we only have one jaguar. His home should be protected.”

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

[chumley]

That's great news!

I think it's asinine that this press release frames this whole debate around protecting one friggen jaguar. And I absolutely love the fact that El Jefe is roaming the Ritas now. But people who argue for the importance of mining scoff at the logic of stopping a project based on a single living jaguar. It can be argued so much more effectively than that.

Which gives me an idea! Can we relocate the Salt River Horses to Oak Flat!? :GB:

[big_load]

I doubt wildlife impact was a real factor. It wouldn't have stopped them if there was money to be made. The pause is most likely a purely economic decision, and the corresponding lack of wildlife impact is a PR bonus. After appropriate expressions of regret, they'll kill the jaguar when copper prices go back up.

[Sredfield]

Hudbay's reasoning reminds me of a similar battle in Wyoming years ago. Louisiana Pacific was trying to get a saw mill opened in Dubois, and someone was fighting it. Alan Simpson, a Republican (back when that meant something identifiable), held a hearing of sorts, and when LP argued their good intentions for the local economy, he so eloquently said, in effect, "Bull$hit, you will close this operation for a three cent/board foot drop in timber prices."

So all the whoo raaah about doing good economically is just spin, it is, as always, all about dollars.

[SAMBA]

There was at least one other attempt to mine the same area as the proposed Rosemont Mine back in the '90s. And as much as I'd like to believe that effort was quashed over public concerns, the reality for that venture was the same faced by the current Rosemont Mine, the price of copper tanked.

[SAMBA]

Which gives me an idea! Can we relocate the Salt River Horses to Oak Flat!?

That's why Joe B invented the HAZ Events Page. As the James Earl Jones character said in "Field of Dreams" , "If you post it, they will come".

[FOTG]

@chumley
Don't be so cynical, maybe sometimes it is just about the critters and not the money :roll:

In a totally unrelated story, LA is considering a 55 million dollar bridge to protect a population of 12-15 mountain lions

it’s an essential stage of a 13-year study that’s building a case for the construction of a wildlife bridge over a 10-lane freeway, a $55 million project that looks like the last hope for L.A.’s lions

Despite the price tag, the project is widely supported

[LindaAnn]

Why on earth would a wildlife bridge spanning 10 lanes cost $55million? That must be one special bridge.

[chumley]

@lindaagm
There's probably a required $50 million environmental study as part of the cost!

[FOTG]

@lindaagm
I did not want to completely hijack the Rosemont mine forum, but an interesting read, the supporters of the bridge seem to be pretty good at PR and promoting the bridge, they have made a certain mountain lion the face of the campaign to further tug at the hearts of the public...funny thing from article, they said the department of tranportation and fish and game are all on board, as to the importance of the bridge, however neither can answer the question of where the money is going to come from

[LindaAnn]

@chumley That's about what I was guessing.

I'm by no means an environmentalist (yes, the oil industry pays my bills), but I do think that wildlife/nature should be protected within reason and when the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. It seems like the mine thing is really all about economics, when the price goes up, that jaguar will suddenly be a little less important. But, $55mil for a handful of mountain lions is just ridiculous. And the constant barrage of attaching a sweet cuddly animal face to every cause the greenies support tends to make me tune them all out, causing me to probably ignore the ones that really do matter.

[rcorfman]

Why on earth would a wildlife bridge spanning 10 lanes cost $55million? That must be one special bridge.

Maybe it will be like the bridge in Thunderbird "Conservation" Park in Glendale. It's total overkill and must have cost a bunch.

[flagscott]

Some answers on the Malibu bridge (FWIW, I'm an ecologist):

Where's the money coming from?

The project, estimated to have a $50 million price tag, is being funded by contributions and with grants already earmarked for wildlife conservation. Officials stress that no taxpayer money is being used for the project and that the freeway will not be closed during construction.

A grant from the State Coastal Conservancy paved the way for environmental review, which is now underway. The National Wildlife Federation is spearheading the fundraising campaign.
- See more at: http://www.malibusurfsidenews.com/wildl ... de-acclaim

Why bother? (from the same article)

The bridge is described as the last chance for the area’s top predators—coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions—but it’s the lions that have captured the nation’s imagination and helped propel the issue onto the national stage.

Basically, thanks to the freeways, the Santa Monica Mountains are an island completely separated from the other mountain ranges aroujnd LA. What happens to predators and other animals on small islands? They go extinct sooner or later because of lack of genetic diversity. So, hopefully, connecting the Malibu populations to the "mainland" will help them to persist.

And it's not just predators:

While the big cats have become the poster children for the project, the genetic isolation caused by the freeway is also impacting many other species.

According to National Park Service senior ecologist Seth Riley, scientists are increasingly seeing significant effects of that isolation on the genetic diversity of smaller animals, including species that are widely abundant, like fence lizards, and a ubiquitous small bird, called a wrentit.

[chumley]

and a ubiquitous small bird, called a wrentit.

Let's build a bridge so a bird can get across a freeway!