Save the Scenic Santa Ritas

Fighting to protect the Santa Rita and Patagonia Mountains from the devastating impacts of mining.

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Media Release: Lawsuit Filed to Overturn Approval of Destructive Arizona Copper Mine – Outstanding Arizona Waters at Risk

November 27, 2017 By santaritas 1 Comment

TUCSON, Ariz.— Four conservation groups filed suit in federal court today to overturn the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of a controversial open-pit copper mine in southern Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, says the massive Rosemont Mine would violate nearly a dozen state and federal laws, threaten critical water resources and destroy Coronado National Forest land. The lawsuit was filed by Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, and the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter.

“We finally have our day in court before an impartial judge who will consider all the facts and render justice,” said Gayle Hartmann, president of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas. “We are confident that once all of the facts are presented in court, the Rosemont Mine will be found to be illegal and not allowed to proceed.”

Hudbay Minerals, Rosemont’s Canadian owner, wants to blast a mile-wide, half-mile-deep pit in the Santa Rita Mountains and pile potentially toxic mine tailings and waste rock hundreds of feet high in the Cienega Creek watershed, which replenishes Tucson’s groundwater basin.  More than 5,000 acres would be harmed by the mine, including nearly 4,000 acres of public land that would be covered by the mine’s waste dumps, open pit, processing plant, and infrastructure. The pit and waste dumps would remain as a permanent scar and environmental hazard on public land. The mine also would destroy prime jaguar habitat, land that’s critical to the survival and recovery of jaguars in the United States. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Litigation, NEPA, News

Media Release: Mine Opponents File Notice of Intent to Sue Illegal Rosemont Approval

August 4, 2017 By santaritas Leave a Comment

(TUCSON, Ariz.) Yesterday, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, the Center for Biological Diversity, Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, and the Sierra Club/Grand Canyon Chapter sent a letter to key federal officials putting them on notice that they intend to challenge in federal court the U.S. Forest Service’s illegal approval of the proposed Rosemont Mine.

The notice sent by the groups’ attorney highlights the immense amount of technical data documenting the significant and devastating impacts that will be caused by Rosemont in violation of federal law.

Earlier this year, the Coronado National Forest issued the final “Record of Decision” (ROD) for the proposed Rosemont Mine incorrectly asserting that the project complies with existing environmental laws and regulations and thus should proceed.

The “sixty-day notice of intent to sue” sets out, in detail, that the Forest Service’s approval of the Rosemont ROD “violat[ed] applicable state and federal water quality standards and requirements and the Clean Water Act.”  The letter states that the Forest Service has 60 days to revoke its illegal approval or the groups will take action to challenge the ROD in federal district court.  A similar letter regarding the Rosemont Mine’s violation of the Endangered Species Act was submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity in June. [Read more…]

Filed Under: News, SSSR News

Arizona Daily Star: State to review streams’ protections at request of Hudbay Minerals

July 15, 2017 By Lisa Froelich Leave a Comment

(From the Arizona Daily Star, July 15, 2017): A planned state water-quality review of streams is sparking concerns among Pima County officials that two in Southeastern Arizona may lose their strict legal protection.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, at the request of Hudbay Minerals Inc., will review the state’s past decisions to protect 22 streams across the state, including Davidson Canyon and Cienega Creek near Tucson, that are classified as Outstanding Arizona Waters. This work will be part of a broader state review of surface water-quality standards typically done every three years.

At the same time, some heavy metal contamination has already been discovered in both streams, officials said last week. While Outstanding Arizona Waters are legally supposed to have good water quality, ADEQ is noncommittal as to the contamination’s impact on the streams’ future status.

Hudbay’s letter and the state’s response have triggered suspicion from County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry that Hudbay wants to remove key protections for Cienega and Davidson.

Click here to read full article

Save the Scenic Santa Ritas submitted comments to ADEQ as part of the Triennial Review of State Water Quality Standards, as did Pima County. Links to both are below.

SSSR_Davidson Canyon ADEQ review July 2017

Pima County Triennial Review of State Water Quality Standards

Filed Under: News, Rosemont in the News

SSSR Media Release: Forest Service puts the interests of a foreign mining company before residents and taxpayers

June 7, 2017 By santaritas 1 Comment

(TUCSON, Ariz.) The Coronado National Forest today issued the final “Record of Decision” (ROD) for the proposed Rosemont Mine. In taking this step, the Forest Service asserts the mine complies with existing environmental laws and regulation and thus should proceed. The Forest Service decision comes despite the fact that Hudbay Mining has yet to receive the critical Clean Water Act permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it needs to operate.

“The Forest Service’s premature signing of the Rosemont decision document is a waste of taxpayers’ money and is nothing more than a public relations victory for a foreign mining company and its investors,” said Gayle Hartmann, President of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas. “This mine is far from reality – Save the Scenic Santa Ritas (SSSR) will continue to fight it in every relevant arena. The stakes are too high to do otherwise.”

SSSR and other mine opponents oppose the mine because it will violate numerous federal and state laws and regulations. The mine will devastate a critically important Santa Rita Mountains watershed.  The mine remains the subject of significant regulatory concerns at all levels including those of the Army Corps’ Los Angeles District Engineer, who recommended denial of the CWA permit last July.

“Rosemont is proposing to dig an open-pit that is a half-mile deep, and one-mile rim-to-rim, piling potentially toxic mine waste 600-800 feet high covering more than 3,000 acres of the Coronado National Forest, in a vital regional watershed,” Hartman added. “It’s indisputable that this project threatens our drinking water along with critical desert aquatic habitats and must be stopped.” 

Notwithstanding the outstanding Clean Water Act permit, the Forest Service still has additional steps it must take before mining can take occur. These additional regulatory approvals include submittal and Forest Service approval of Hudbay Minerals’ final mine Plan of Operations and setting the amount of a reclamation bond to ensure that Hudbay restores the site after the completion of mining.

SSSR and the Center for Biological Diversity recently sent a letter to the Forest Service highlighting additional information that it should consider before issuing a final ROD. This includes the impacts of two recent wildfires in the Rosemont project area. The letter suggests that by not considering the fires’ impacts the Forest Service would be illegally issuing a final ROD.

[Editors Note:  Rosemont and its supporters perpetuate a myth that the regulatory processes for this mine are taking too long.  Click for here for the facts on this issue.)

Save the Scenic Santa Ritas is a non-profit organization working to protect the Santa Rita and Patagonia Mountains from environmental degradation caused by mining and mineral exploration activities. 

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Filed Under: News, SSSR News

Arizona Daily Star: New jaguar photographed in Southern Arizona; third seen here since ’11

March 2, 2017 By Lisa Froelich Leave a Comment

A new jaguar has been documented to exist in Southern Arizona — the second in the past four months and the third since 2011.

It’s the seventh jaguar documented to have been in the Southwest since 1996, after only one was known to occur in this region in the previous 20 years.

The jaguar was photographed on Nov. 16 in the Dos Cabezas Mountains in Cochise County, about 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border, Arizona Game and Fish officials said in a news release Thursday morning. The jaguar’s sex couldn’t be determined by the photo, taken on a U.S. Bureau of Land Management-owned trail camera, Game and Fish said.

The photo was only recently retrieved and is the only jaguar photo the BLM camera has taken since the agency installed it last August, Game and Fish said.

Click here to read full article

 

Filed Under: News, Other mining news

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Recent Posts

  • Litigation Schedule February 17, 2021
  • Links to recent news and letters – 2021 February 15, 2021
  • Links to recent news and letters – 2020 December 31, 2020
  • Long Mountain – a film by Leslie Epperson July 8, 2020
  • A major win for endangered species in the Santa Ritas February 13, 2020

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RSS Latest from Rosemont Mine Truth

  • Pima County reaffirms resolution opposing Rosemont Mine April 19, 2019
  • Hudbay approves $122 million spending plan for “early works” at Rosemont March 29, 2019
  • Hudbay seeking Rosemont Mine joint venture partner after receiving key federal Clean Water Act permit March 15, 2019
  • Hudbay has failed to provide legal justification for Clean Water Act permit, Natural Resources Committee chairman says March 5, 2019

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Litigation Update

Speaking of which (the appeal originally filed in Nov. 2017 challenging the Forest Service’s approval of the mine), we now have a schedule for that case in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals – not definitive, but at least a general time frame:

 

After a lot of negotiating, the lawyers have come to an agreement on the final schedule of our cases before the 9th Circuit Appeals Court. Here is the updated schedule:

  • Feds opening brief due by 1 June 2020
  • Hudbay opening brief due by 15 June 2020
  • Then, our response by 3 September 2020
  • Feds optional reply brief by 2 November 2020
  • Hudbay optional reply brief by 9 November 2020

Click here for more updates

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