The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Water Quality Division has released a public notice of Rosemont Copper's Aquifer Protection Permit - (APP) #106100

Comments are due by Friday, Feb. 3rd, 2012

Public Notice: http://www.azdeq.gov/download/calendar/122011pn1.pdf
Draft Permit: http://www.azdeq.gov/download/calendar/122011dp1.pdf
Draft Fact Sheet:http://www.azdeq.gov/download/calendar/122011dfs1.pdf
Contact:

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Water Quality Division – Groundwater Section
Attn: Richard Mendolia
1110 W. Washington St., Mail Code: 5415B-3
Phoenix, Arizona 85007(602) 771-4374

Rosemont Copper Proposed Air Quality Permit

The Pima County Department of Environmental Quality has announced that the 90-day public comment period for the Rosemont Copper Proposed Air Quality Permit officially began on August 30, 2011 and will end on November 28, 2011. Written comments can be submitted throughout the comment period and oral comments can be made at a formal public hearing. Details can be found at http://www.deq.pima.gov.

Latest news - The Pima County Department of Environmental Quality denied this permit!

Help change the rules around how mining companies dump their waste into waters of the US!

This week is a CALL-IN WEEK (August 8-12) to the White House, EPA, and Army Corps of Engineers (organized by Earthworks) urging them to close two loopholes that allow mining companies to freely dispose of their waste in rivers, streams, wetlands and lakes. Check out this fact sheet for more information on this issue.

We are urging everyone to make these calls this week:

White House: (202) 456-1111

Army Corps of Engineers: (415) 503-6517

EPA: (202) 272-0167

For more information and to send automated emails to the White House, ACE and the EPA, visit EARTHWORKS action page:

NO MORE DUMPING MINE WASTE IN OUR WATERS!

Thank you to everyone you participated in the public demonstration today (Monday, June 27th)!

Although we did not receive a preliminary injunction in the case, we presented a strong case, both in the courtroom and outside the courthouse. SSSR will continue to represent the public and see that the public's interests are considered as the EIS process moves forward.

Below I have copied the text of our press release, which is available for download (and the download includes a copy of the judges written order).

Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction Motion in Rosemont-Related Lawsuit

Issues in Underlying Litigation Remain Unresolved

TUCSON, Ariz. — In a written order today, Federal District Court Judge Frank R. Zapata denied a preliminary injunction motion filed by plaintiffs in Rosemont-related litigation. This lawsuit asserts that the Forest Service illegally allowed Rosemont Copper and its representatives to participate in closed-door cooperating agency meetings on the preparation of the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for this project.

While the judge ruled against the plaintiffs’ motion, the issues identified in the underlying lawsuit remain unresolved and will be addressed.  To this point, Judge Zapata said, “[I]n reviewing the pertinent statutory, regulatory and case law authority, the Court does find, at best, that the USFS was less than prudent in inviting Rosemont and its consultants as the primary and only regularly invited non-governmental agency and that such actions, at a minimum, presents an appearance of impropriety on the part of the USFS as well as Rosemont.”

A business and conservation coalition comprised of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, the Center for Biological Diversity and Farmers Investment Co. filed a lawsuit in February against the U.S. Forest Service, asserting that the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) was violated. FACA requires that committees established by federal agencies be open to public membership and participation. Evidence presented to the court found that the Coronado National Forest allowed representatives of Rosemont Copper Co. to actively participate in closed-door meetings the Forest Service has held since early 2009 with other government agencies that excluded members of the public.

“While we are disappointed in the ruling, we still believe fairness is the issue, and the public trust was violated. We will continue to work to bring the public into this process.”

Gayle Hartmann, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas

“Today’s ruling only addresses the preliminary injunction. The Rosemont process has been flawed from the start. We are going to continue fighting to ensure that the public’s voice is heard and ALL of the impacts of this complex proposal are thoroughly and realistically analyzed. From the start, Rosemont Copper and the Forest Service are rushing this project at the expense of the public interests.”

Randy Serraglio, Center for Biological Diversity

“While we are somewhat disappointed that the Judge did not grant the Preliminary Injunction, we believe that the underlying issues in it remains unresolved - the Forest Service’s process to prepare the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine is tainted as a result of Rosemont’s illegal participation in the cooperating agency meetings. Later we will have the opportunity to present in court facts that clearly show that Rosemont illegally participated in the Forest Service’s cooperating agency meetings to the detriment of the public’s interest. The purpose of FACA is to ensure that the sun shines on important federal agency decisions about public resources.”

Nan Stockholm Walden, Farmers Investment Co.

Background

The Rosemont area of the Santa Rita Mountains is home to a rich diversity of plants and animals, including several species that are imperiled and one that is found nowhere else. It is an important wildlife corridor connecting the Sky Island mountain ranges of southern Arizona. Many cherish this area for its wide array of recreational opportunities; a massive open-pit copper mine such as the one proposed by Rosemont Copper would destroy the permanent value of this public land in exchange for the short-term profit of a few.

Save the Scenic Santa Rita (SSSR) is a volunteer-based, nonprofit organization based in Tucson, Arizona. It was established in 1996 to protect the scenic, aesthetic, recreational and wildlife values of the Santa Rita Mountains through education and outreach.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 320,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Farmers Investment Co. (FICO) is a family-owned farm that grows pecans on approximately 4500 acres it owns in the Upper Santa Cruz River Valley near Sahuarita, Arizona.

A motion hearing is set for our Freedom of Information Act case “Save the Scenic Santa Ritas et al v. United States Forest Service et al (4:11-cv-00094-FRZ)” this coming Monday, June 27th at 10am. The hearing provides a great opportunity for our members to gather in front of the courthouse for an old fashioned demonstration! The media will be there to report on the outcome of the hearing, so the more people we have gathered to demonstrate the need for an open and fair process regarding the proposed Rosemont mine, the better! The hearing will be open to the public (though with limited seating).

A group will be meeting on Saturday morning to make signs for the demonstration. If you plan to attend the demonstration/hearing on Monday, please let me know asap (email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) so we can prepare enough signs (and if you would like to help with sign-making, let me know!). Demonstrators will gather before and after the hearing, and the hearing is expected to run about two hours.

Here are the details:

Monday, June 27th, 10am
Evo A. DeConcini U.S. Courthouse
Suite 1500
405 West Congress St.
(SW Corner of Congress and Granada)

No public parking is available at the courthouse. There is limited street parking (meters) available near the courthouse. For more parking information and for a parking map of downtown, go to http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/parkwise/where-can-i-park-downtown.

Consider carpooling to save gas and parking fees – if you need help finding someone with whom to carpool, let me know (email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

A bit about the lawsuit: SSSR along with 2 other groups filed a lawsuit back in February, asserting that the Forest Service violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) in preparing the environmental impact statement. FACA requires that committees established by a federal agency be open to public membership and participation. The Coronado National Forest allowed representatives of Rosemont Copper Co. to actively participate in closed-door committee meetings the Forest Service has held since early 2009 with other government agencies, excluding members of the public. The lawsuit requests that the court prohibit the Forest Service from relying upon the tainted document and that, in the future, the agency provide members of the public an equal seat at the table with Rosemont.

To read our original press release regarding the lawsuit go to our website at http://scenicsantaritas.org/news/litigation.

Thank you, and I hope to see many of you on Monday!

Lisa

A note from Gayle Hartmann, SSSR Board President:

As you may know, the Oro Valley Town Council had the following item on the “Consent Calendar” of their June 15th agenda:

“Rescission of Resolution No. R07-55, strongly opposing the proposed Rosemont mine.”

In other words, in 2007 the Town Council had voted to “strongly oppose the Rosemont mine,” and now one or more members of the Council were using the mechanism of the Consent Calendar to change their position. The Consent Calendar is supposed to be limited to items that are routine and non-controversial, clearly not the case here.

So, Councilmember Barry Gillaspie asked to have the item removed from the Consent Calendar. That would mean there could be a Public Hearing and we could speak. There were probably 40 of us in attendance; many of us had already sent in letters, made phone calls, etc.

After the various council members had their say, with statements such as “ this issue is of no concern to Oro Valley,” and “we are not experts and cannot make a decision on this issue,” and “our taking a position on this issue makes no difference,” the Council voted 5-2 AGAINST allowing a public hearing. Then they voted 4-3 in favor of the item; i.e., their position on the Rosemont mine is now “neutral.”

I do want to say that Council Members Barry Gillaspie and Bill Garner spoke eloquently on our behalf not only pointing out that this was not a “routine, non-controversial” item and thus should not be on the Consent Calendar but also emphasizing the economic and environmental impacts of the project. For instance, that the aquifer that Oro Valley depends on will be impacted, etc.

If you are interested in watching the meeting, video is available at http://orovalley.granicus.com/viewpublisher.php?view_id=5#reg. The agenda item concerning the Rosemont mine starts around 36 minutes in.

MY SINCERE THANKS TO ALL WHO ATTENDED!

I want to especially thank Carolyn Campbell, Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection; Jenny Neely, Sky Island Alliance; and Keith Bagwell and Roy Emrick, Sierra Club, for making the long drive. People came from as far away as Sonoita, Hilton Ranch Rd., and Green Valley. Also, there were numerous individuals from Tucson and Oro Valley in attendance. And, I’d like to thank our youngest supporter, Brenden Hoyme – 7 months of age – for joining us in his first venture into the political arena. And, of course, his mother, Lisa Froelich, without whom we wouldn’t be operating at all.

WE WERE OUT FLANKED THIS TIME; BUT WE WILL PREVAIL IN THE END!

Gayle Hartmann
SSSR Board President

Talking Points for Oro Valley Town Council
Prepared for the June 15, 2011 Town Council Meeting

1. Economically damaging to the region.

• Recent articles in the press have stressed the need for our region to build on higher-paying, science-based jobs – in university research, astronomy, optics, solar, aerospace, etc. In this regard it is important to remember that national firms carefully examine a region before relocating. High among the amenities we have going for us in attracting such jobs, are the mountain ranges that surround us. If this mine proposal goes forward, it is indisputable that it will be more difficult to attract firms such as these.
  
  
• Outside Magazine has recently listed Tucson among the top ten cities for outdoor recreational opportunities and there is a chance Tucson could be voted the best town in America (follow this link to Outside Magazine's facebook page to cast your vote). We doubt that we would retain that rating if this mine moves forward.
  
  
• The towns of Sonoita, Elgin, and Patagonia are very opposed to this proposal. That beautiful region, where the movie Oklahoma was filmed, has a viable economy based on wineries, ranching, small hotels, restaurants, hunting guides, bird watching, etc. This economy depends on the beautiful views, clear air, and limited traffic. All of these characteristics will be impaired if this mining proposal were to go forward.

2. Not an important addition to our economy and not a necessary source of copper.

• The proposed Rosemont Mine would add 406 jobs to the region’s work force. This would place them 106th out of the top 200 employers in the region; not a significant source of employment.
  
  
• The existing mines west of Green Valley are hiring. Freeport-McMoran has added 806 jobs since last year and ASARCO has added 137 jobs – more than double what Rosemont would ever hire.
  
  
• There are several large copper mines in southern Arizona. The recently opened mine near Safford is larger than the proposed Rosemont mine. All are not working at full capacity now.

3. Indisputable natural resource destruction.

Even though Rosemont’s public statements claim otherwise, if this mine proposal were to be approved it would cause serious natural resource damage to the eastern Santa Ritas and to our region. To cite a few examples:

• Rosemont would be pumping at least 5,400 acre feet of ground water annually for 20 years. This would cause water levels east of the Santa Ritas to drop from 10 feet to 100 feet in nearby residential areas – and all these people are on wells.
  
  
• The notion that Rosemont will compensate for this use of groundwater with the extension of the CAP pipeline to Green Valley is unlikely at best. A primary obstacle is that, considering the low level of Lake Mead, it is very uncertain whether there would be sufficient water for a “new user” such as Rosemont.
  
  
• After the mine ceases operation, a pit lake from 800 to 1,000 feet deep would form. It would cause profound lowering of the nearby aquifer with groundwater draining into the pit and effectively dewatering the downslope area forever.
  
  
• This water would be of unknown toxicity; but the fact is 73% of mines violated groundwater or surface water quality standards when the EIS said they would NOT (Predicting Water Quality Problems at Hardrock Mines -- an EARTHWORKS white paper). Do we want to take a chance that during a large storm, toxic runoff could drain into Davidson Canyon and Cienega Creek, two pristine riparian streams that we have spent considerable tax dollars to protect?
  
  
• Air quality would be seriously degraded. At Saguaro National Park East, the mine’s emissions would noticeably impair visibility 34 days a year and contribute to impaired visibility up to 91 days annually.

4. Who benefits? Not southern Arizona!

• The copper goes to Asia;
  
  
• The profits go to the investors, 80% of which are foreign;
  
  
• We would be left with a mile-wide hole in the ground; waste mountains 200 to 800 feet in height (20 to 80 stories) filling entire valleys; a depleted water supply; possible toxic runoff into Davidson Canyon and Cienega Creek; seriously diminished air quality; the destruction of 4,000 acres of wildlife habitat, and the destruction of a traditional cultural landscape – gone forever.