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SSSR
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Exploratory Drilling Activity
What’s Happening on the West Side of the Santa Ritas?
As many of you know, Hudbay has been busy! For several months, they have been drilling on the west side of the northern Santa Rita Mountains. They have bulldozed new roads and widened old roads on the ridge at Gunsight Pass and the western slope, all of which have occurred on their patented mining claims – their private land. The apparent result of all the activity, they say, is that they have found more copper ore.
What they are not talking about is, once again, the environmental damage that would occur if they were to mine this area. For instance, a LOT more groundwater (our best drinking water) would have to be pumped out of the Santa Cruz Valley near the town of Sahuarita. As a comparison, the proposed Rosemont Mine on the east side of the mountain would pump 4.8 million gallons per day – the same amount needed by about 60,000 homes. Any mining on the west side would presumably require at least as much. And, what about aesthetics? Who wants to see the mountain torn apart? Who wants to hear the blasting? Who wants to see lights 24 hours per day, seven days per week?
All of this and much more would result from an open-pit mine on the western slopes of the northern Santa Ritas. Mining this area would present the same challenge Hudbay faces with the existing Rosemont proposal on the eastern side of the mountain: Where could they dump thousands of tons of waste and tailings?
On 10 April 2021, we had an opinion piece in the Arizona Daily Star. Take a few minutes to click here and read it, and you’ll learn why Hudbay’s current proposal is such a terrible idea. In it, we wrote, “Arizona doesn’t need another massive copper project that destroys the landscape while depleting and polluting scare desert water supplies. The Santa Ritas are a superb sky-island mountain range; they deserve to be preserved and protected.”
We’ll continue to do everything possible to see that these mountains are preserved and protected in perpetuity.
The Rosemont Story – Cartoon by Bob Swaim
Hudbay asks Judge to Junk Ruling
You may have seen the recent article Judge is asked to junk ruling that halted Rosemont work in the Sept. 5th edition of the Arizona Daily Star and wondered WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?
Well, it’s all a bit complicated, but the bottom line is that Hudbay is perhaps trying to exhaust all possible remedies before filing a full appeal, which they can still do within 60 days after the judge’s decision comes back on their recent “Motion to Alter or Amend.”
Here are a few more details on Rosemont’s “Motion to Alter or Amend” filing:
On Friday, August 30th, attorneys for Hudbay/Rosemont submitted what is legally known as a “Motion to Alter or Amend” the Tucson federal court’s Judgment that was issued on August 2nd. This Judgment formally implemented the court’s July 31st Order, which had ruled that the Forest Service’s Record of Decision and Final EIS violated numerous aspects of federal public land, mining, and environmental law. The court’s decision and Judgment “vacated,” which means set aside/invalidated, the ROD and FEIS, such that they no longer can be used by the Forest Service or any other federal agency in support of approving the Rosemont project operations.
Hudbay/Rosemont’s August 30th motion asks the court to amend its decision so that the FEIS should still be in force, and argued that the court exceeded its jurisdiction in vacating the ROD and FEIS.
Attorneys for SSSR and the other conservation group plaintiffs, along with attorneys for the three Tribes, have reviewed Hudbay/Rosemont’s motion and have found that it is without merit and should be denied by the court. SSSR’ and the Tribes’ responses to Hudbay/Rosemont’s motion were initially due to be filed September 13, but the court granted SSSR/Tribes’ motion to extend that deadline, and now the responses are due on September 27th. Notably, in its order setting the new response deadline, the court ruled that Hudbay/Rosemont will not be allowed to file a reply to SSSR/Tribes’ responses.
There is no time limit for Judge Soto to rule on the new motion, but it will be some time after SSSR/Tribes file their responses on September 27th.
So, we cannot predict with certainty what Judge Soto will decide, but our attorneys are confident that, as we noted above, Hudbay/Rosemont’s motion is without merit.
We’ll know for sure only when Judge Soto makes his decision, sometime after September 27th.
All is quiet on the Rosemont front!
| Since pictures often speak louder than words, we wanted to share with you some recent images captured along the Old Nogales Highway and along Santa Rita Road. Despite construction signs and recent clearing suggesting imminent activity, all is now quiet. |
