Scoping comments from the Mountain Empire Action Alliance, Sonoita
Water: Although efforts are made to contain tailings piles and other sources of runoff, leaching of exposing tailings surfaces or waste dumps, and unintended leaks from other facilities are common occurences at mine sites. This could result in the release of potentially toxic heavy metals and other chemicals into ground and surface waters draining into Tucson area water supplies, and impacting nearby riparian areas such as Davidson Canyon or Sonoita Creek. Augusta plans to pump groundwater from Sahuarita and pipe it over the Santa Ritas to the mine at Rosemont Ranch. This would therefore impact both the Santa Cruz aquifer and the Davidson/Cienega aquifer. The Santa Cruz aquifer would be depleted, and the Davidson/Cienega aquifer would be subject to pollution from mine runoff and leaching.
Description of Augusta's Water Plan, including the relevant statutes, compiled by Nancy Freeman
White Paper prepared by Earthworks on the new report "Predicting Water Quality Problems from Hardrock Mines", by Maest & Kuipers.
The entire report is available at http://www.mine-aid.org/predictions/ or http://www.mineralpolicy.org/home.cfm
Rosemont intends major mining of our groundwater, by Robert Robuck
map 1 of existing subsidence in Sahuarita
map 2 of existing subsidence in Sahuarita
Air: The area currently has excellent air quality. Tailings and waste piles will be sources of dust, which prevailing winds will blow toward residential areas. Air quality in the National Forest and surrounding residential areas will be degraded by both dust and truck exhaust associated with mine operations.
Noise: Daily blasting is required to remove rock (or overburden) covering the ore body. The impact to nearby residences, wildlife and recreational users in the National Forest will be equivalent to daily sonic booms.
Scenic View: The Rosemont mine will be visible from State Highway 83, a designated State Scenic Highway, for 3 miles out of the 24-mile trip from I-10 to Sonoita. The 3-mile segment includes the portion of the highway where it gains its greatest elevation above the surrounding land, at which point drivers are treated to a sweeping panoramic view of the Rosemont Valley at an overlook spot. The mine site dominates this view which currently consists of rolling hills of grasslands, dotted with oak trees and backed by a rugged ridge line.
Current View from Scenic Highway 83 Overlook |
The Future View? |
Traffic Hazards: Mine traffic, including ore trucks and vehicles carrying heavy construction equipment and explosives for blasting, will share the narrow, winding Highway 83 with school buses, commuters, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and tourist traffic. Accidents will happen as a result of this heavy truck traffic, and they will be deadly. The only fire station in the area is at Corona de Tucson, over 20 miles away. Augusta Resource predicts that 5 or 6 trucks per hour will be travelling Highway 83 bringing toxic chemicals and explosives to and from the Rosemont Valley.
Property Values: The areas near the Rosemont mine site have developed into rural residential ranches and ranchettes. An open pit mine will severely impact the quality of life and reduce property values in those areas. The Sonoita Valley, an important tourist destination, could be thrown into the boom-bust economy typical of western towns adjacent to large mining operations.
Recreation: The Rosemont Valley is heavily used by mountain bikers, hikers, off-highway vehicles, bicyclists, and hunters. Recreational use would be forced to move to already heavily used areas, creating conflict with growing subdivisions. The additional loss of recreational lands will aggravate our increasingly crowded public lands associated with Pima County's population growth, and decrease the quality of recreational experiences. Similar impacts to recreational opportunities will occur in the Patagonia Mountains, Canelo Hills and San Rafael Valley.
Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat: Intensive development of the site as an open pit mine will result in loss of a significant portion of the wildlife habitat and movement corridor on the eastern side of the Santa Ritas, potentially impacting endangered, threatened, and candidate species, in addition to priority vulnerable species or species of special concern. The Santa Ritas are recognized for the biological values and are an Important Birding Area (IBA).
Pima County has adopted the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, which has received numerous awards for its vision, its comprehensive planning, and its commitment to protect biological diversity. All of the public and private parcels in the Rosemont Copper Project fall within the 3 highest categories of environmentally-sensitive lands identified in the SDCP: Important Riparian Area, Biological Core Management Area, and Multiple Use Management Area.
There are several priority vulnerable species that are known to occur at Rosemont Ranch including two Endangered Species: the Lesser Long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuenae) and Pima Pineapple Cactus (Coryphantha scheeri robustispina). In addition, other special status species are known to occur there: Chiricahua Leopard Frog (Rana chiricahuensis), listed as threatened, and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus), a candidate for listing.
There are six others priority vulnerable species or Wildlife of Special Concern known to occur in the Rosemont Ranch area, according to the AZ Game and Fish Department: Mexican Long-tongued Bat (Choeronycteris mexicana), Western Red Bat (Lasiurus blossevillii), Lowland Leopard Frog (Rana yavapaiensis), Giant Spotted Whiptail Lizard (Cnemidophorus burti stictogrammus), Rufous-winged Sparrow (Aimophila carpalis), and Bell's Vireo (Vireo bellii). The Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) may also occur there, based on its habitat requirements.
The Patagonia Mountains are potential habitat for the Jaguar. Read a report by the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project.
Evidence of Resident Jaguars (Pantera onca) in the Southwestern United States and the Implications for conservation, Journal of Mammology, 2008, by Emil B. McCain and Jack L. Childs
Read a report on Ecosystem Services by Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) Ecosystem Services Working Group
Economics: Any economic benefits of the mine will be offset by the negative impacts to tourism-related businesses dependent on the area's scenic beauty. Mine employment may be partially or completely offset by (1) the impact of the mine on recreational and scenic values which might otherwise have lured companies into relocating to Southern Arizona and (2) the long-term deleterious effects of mining's boom-bust economies.
A recent study by the Sonoran Institute shows that a mine at Rosemont would have serious economic impacts to the surrounding communities. The report found that:
*"If the proposed Rosemont mine operations displaced only one percent of travel and tourism-related spending in the region, the economic loss would be greater than the entire annual payroll of the mine," Joe Marlow, senior economist with the Sonoran Institute.
*Most of the benefits would go to the Tucson area, while most of the costs, such as decreased tourism revenue, would be borne by communities near the mine, such as Vail, Corona de Tucson, Sonoita and Patagonia.
For more information on this economic report visit: www.sonoran.org or got to our page on Economics.
If more copper was recycled we would need fewer copper mines.
Would a “Prudent Man” invest in one or more Augusta Resource mines in the Coronado? Analysis by Dick Kamp, Wick Communications Environmental Liaison, bepdick@att.net, March 12, 2008
Hikers at Rosemont |