HikeArizona.COM

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:
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!

chumley wrote:

flagscott wrote:and a ubiquitous small bird, called a wrentit.

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

Ha! You're thinking ravens and eagles. Wrentits are skulkers that stay near the ground and down in the bushes. With wrentits, crossing a big freeway is probably kind of like that old video game Frogger (except no extra lives if you don't make it!).

A bridge to help restore some of the natural wildlife flow in the area seems perfectly reasonable. $50 mil for that bridge seems ridiculous.

And I'm guessing taxpayers have already been paying for it. The State Coastal Conservancy, which paid for some environmental study for this, is a CA govt agency with a $53mil annual operating budget. That money didn't come from lemonade stands.

lindaagm wrote:A bridge to help restore some of the natural wildlife flow in the area seems perfectly reasonable. $50 mil for that bridge seems ridiculous.

And I'm guessing taxpayers have already been paying for it. The State Coastal Conservancy, which paid for some environmental study for this, is a CA govt agency with a $53mil annual operating budget. That money didn't come from lemonade stands.

Bridges are expensive. I recently saw an estimate for a new railroad overpass somewhere in AZ: $55 million also.

And if you are an Arizona taxpayer, you've already been paying for wildlife crossings: $11 million for elk underpasses on 260. In '06, Tucson voters approved $45 million for wildlife crossings in their area, which they've been gradually spending.

According to the Coastal Conservancy web site, the vast majority of their funding comes from bond issues approved by voters. If Californians are unhappy with how their money is being spent, they should stop voting for it!

[Sorry for the off-topic stuff here...back to Rosemont. Great news about the delay!]

@chumley
Don't be a dodo. :whistle:

Sredfield wrote:The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members

For real? Almost a million members? That's got to be a typo.

The U.S. Wildlife Service has Signed Off on ALL of the "Sensitive" Wildlife, in favor of the Rosemont Mine.... http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news ... -2016.html

http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/arizona ... Signed.pdf

Forest Service gives crucial OK to Rosemont Mine (Santa Rita Mountains)

http://tucson.com/news...

Here's the News Release from the Forest Service:

The attached information may be of interest to you. Please note this is a decision on the environmental analysis of the project. It is not a permit to begin operations. The process of approving a Mine Plan of Operations must be completed before operations begin on Coronado National Forest lands. Mine Plan of Operations approval is not needed for operations on the company’s privately-owned land.
 
Issuance of the Final Record of Decision on the Rosemont Copper Project
 
Tucson, AZ (June 7, 2017) – For Immediate Release. Coronado National Forest Supervisor Kerwin Dewberry has signed the final Record of Decision (ROD) for the Rosemont Copper Project.  The ROD outlines Supervisor Dewberry’s decision to select the Barrel Alternative and approve the Mine Plan of Operations once amended, and to amend the 1986 Coronado National Forest Plan by creating a new management area around the mine site.
 
The Rosemont Copper Project Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and draft (ROD) were released on December 13, 2013.  The objection period began on Wednesday, January 1, 2014 and closed on Friday, February 14, 2014.
 
The proposed project would be conducted on an estimated 5,431 acres of combined private lands, National Forest System lands, and lands administered by the Arizona State Land Department.  Proposed activities include an open pit mine and associated processing and disposal facilities approximately 30 miles south of the city of Tucson, Arizona.  The operation would produce copper, molybdenum and silver concentrates.
 
The final ROD is available online at the project website: http://www.rosemonteis.us.  The documents are also available for review at the Coronado National Forest Supervisor’s Office, 300 W. Congress, in a public reading room. Documents may be checked out from local public libraries in and around Tucson (locations provided on the project website). 
 
Additional information can be obtained by contacting: Sarah Elizabeth Baxter, Coronado National Forest, 300 W. Congress, Tucson, Arizona (520) 388-8348, sbaxter@fs.fed.us.

A federal judge stopped the planned Rosemont Mine in a ruling Wednesday evening, halting plans to start building the $1.9 billion project in August.

U.S. District Judge James Soto’s ruling in Tucson overturned the U.S. Forest Service’s 2017 decision approving the mine and its 2013 final environmental impact statement clearing the way for that approval.

His ruling, if it survives appeals to higher courts, would drive a stake into longstanding federal policies that say the Forest Service virtually can never say “no” to a mine if it would otherwise meet federal laws.

https://tucson.com/news/local/federal-j ... f0a82.html

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It heads for the 9th district court of appeals in San Francisco, recognized to be the most liberal of the federal appellate courts, so on the surface it would seem unlikely to be overturned there. After that would be an appeal to the Supreme Court, which could be denied, leaving the lower rulings in place, or be heard and decided upon, where it could probably go either way. (*I am not a legal expert by any means. My opinion is based on internet hearsay and social media click-bait slactivism.)

"In his 37-page decision, Soto hammered almost exclusively at the Forest Service’s approval of Hudbay’s plan to dump mine waste rock and tailings from its 955-acre pit onto 2,447 acres of nearby public land on the Santa Ritas’ eastern slopes."

So no environmental concerns, just a land claim concern. I don't know anything about laws regarding mining claims and land use. <shrug> Maybe a lawyer on HAZ can give a short description?