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| Car Camping | 0.20 Miles |
12 AEG |
| | Car Camping | 0.20 Miles | | | |
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| partners | | Got to spend a lazy weekend car camping at Oak Flat for this year's Boulder Comp. I didn't win anything. 
Got to spend a good deal of time talking to the folks fighting the oak flat land swap / mine thing etc. including some very cool new 3d models of how the mine will affect the area.
They were collecting signatures to support Rep Grijalva's bill to repeal the land swap, though it was more or less agreed that this is never going to happen.
An encouraging thing I learned is that assuming the land swap is finalized, the next fight is where the tailings will go. This is proposed to be west of Superior, north of Picketpost and the arboretum. Unlike the soon-to-be private land that the mine will be on, the tailings are planned to be on forest land. Ultimately, the mining company doesn't want to own the land the tailings go on because then they will be liable for anything that happens there, whereas if it's forest land and the FS approves it, any bad results will be the responsibility of the feds.
So if the FS can prevent the tailings plan through delays, environmental reviews, or flat out denial, this would force the mine to choose a new site for tailings. Which wouldn't stop things, but would make it significantly more expensive for them. Which ultimately could stop things. (Because profit is important here).
In any case, it seems like the location of the tailings is the next fight and is one that can delay the whole mine for a long time. Or that's how it was explained to me as a layman camper with a beer in my hand.
After that we all had a pleasant evening of fire, music, food, beverage, and canine love. My first time at Oak Flat. Hopefully it'll be there next time I feel like it's somewhere I'd like to spend a night. |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
