SSSR 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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SSSR Media Release: STATEMENT OF SAVE THE SCENIC SANTA RITAS ON FOREST SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT TO SIGN A RECORD OF DECISION FOR THE PROPOSED ROSEMONT MINE

May 8, 2017 By santaritas 2 Comments

(TUCSON, Ariz.) Statement of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas’ President Gayle Hartmann regarding the Forest Service announcement indicating that it anticipates signing a Record of Decision for the proposed Rosemont mine after a 25 day review period for the final EIS, ending on June 5, 2017:

The Forest Service’s premature announcement that it is signing a Rosemont decision document is a waste of taxpayers’ money, confuses the public and hands a foreign mining company a public relations “victory.”

Indeed, former Coronado Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch and current Forest Supervisor Kerwin Dewberry have both publicly explained that the Forest Service can not approve this proposed mine unless and until it is clear that the mine fully complies with all applicable laws.

It is critical note that the U.S. Army Corps’ Los Angeles District Engineer last July recommended that the agency deny Rosemont’s Clean Water Act permit application. That recommendation is consistent with the repeated warnings by the Corps that the proposed mine falls far short of that mark. (Click here for a listing of warnings from agencies at all levels that the proposed Rosemont project failed to comply with the law.)

If the Forest Service proceeds to issue a Record of Decision before the Corps’ decision, it is wasting time, energy and tax dollars in what is nothing more than a PR exercise. In the absence of a Clean Water Act permit, a final Mine Plan of Operations and a bonding agreement, the Forest Service has no decision to make.

Further, the Forest Service’s apparent desire to move forward in issuing this meaningless approval flies in the face of significant evidence regarding the devastating impacts to the region’s water, economy and public lands. Rather, the Forest Service is putting the interests of Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals, Inc. and its investors ahead of American taxpayers.

Within the last few weeks, the Forest Service received publicly available information from Hudbay’s investor filings showing the potential for a much larger mine, possibly even two additional open pits. But the Forest Service, rejected further examination of the potentially significant environmental impacts of a much larger project.

The Forest Service seems to have forgotten its mission, “ . . . . to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.” The proposed Rosemont mine is entirely inconsistent with that mission. The mine would permanently destroy at least 3,000 acres of national forest that provide critical water resources to southern Arizona, provide an important component of our economy and contains world-class biodiversity, including the endangered jaguar.

The mine’s devastating impacts to the Santa Rita Mountains watershed and Rosemont’s failure to meet Clean Water Act standards have long been the subject of significant regulatory concerns at all levels. If the Forest Service, for reasons of its own, is determined to proceed along this path, we urge the many other federal agencies with serious concerns regarding the impacts of this proposed mine to use this period to refer the matter to the Council on Environmental Quality under 50 C.F.R. Part 1504.00.

This mine is far from reality. Be assured that Save the Scenic Santa Ritas will fight it in every relevant arena.

[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.)

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Myth: The permitting process for the proposed Rosemont Mine is taking too long.

May 8, 2017 By santaritas 1 Comment

Myth: The permitting process for the proposed Rosemont Mine is taking too long.

FACT: First and most importantly, the devastating environmental impacts of the proposed Rosemont Mine are PERMANENT. Rosemont is proposing to dig an open-pit mine that is a half-mile deep and a mile rim-to-rim in the northern Santa Rita Mountains and pile potentially toxic mine waste 600-800 feet high in a watershed that provide 20% of the groundwater recharge for the Tucson basin.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department said that the proposed Rosemont Mine will “render the northern portion of the Santa Rita Mountains virtually worthless as wildlife habitat and as a functioning ecosystem…”

Any amount of time it takes to permit this mine, is inconsequential compared to the length of the impact on the lives of future generations.

Secondly, the actions and inactions of Rosemont and its owners are the major reason for the length of the permitting process for this project.

Consider:

Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc., the owner of the Rosemont project, has failed to submit a mitigation plan to compensate for the destruction of wetlands, springs and seeps and important, functioning aquatic resources that meets the Clean Water Act’s requirements under Section 404 of the law. As a result, the Corps’ Los Angeles District Engineer last July recommended that the agency deny this required Clean Water Act permit consistent with repeated warnings by state and federal agencies that the project fails to comply with the law.

According to published reports in September 2012 (click here), the Coronado National Forest Supervisor requested that his staff review the veracity of information provided to it by Rosemont Copper Company. Specifically, as noted in the article, Rosemont provided information to the Coronado National Forest in early July indicating that dramatic increases in copper reserves would not result in additional water use, truck traffic or air pollution. However, in a subsequent September 12 letter to the Forest Supervisor, Rosemont backpedaled on some of those earlier assertions, thus leading to further questions about the company’s credibility and requiring that more staff resources be employed to investigate these discrepancies.

In August 2012, Augusta Resource released plans to significantly modify its mine proposal in an updated “Feasibility Study.” The Forest Service cited Augusta’s new plan as a reason to postpone the release of a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and require additional analysis. (Source: click here)

Repeatedly throughout the regulatory consideration of the Rosemont Mine, agency staff criticized Augusta and Rosemont for not providing essential information in a timely manner. Consider these examples from documents released pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

August 3, 2010 email from the Forest Service’s Debby Kriegel to colleagues said that, “[u]nfortunately, the DEIS schedule and Rosemont’s continued dawdling (we’ve been asking them since January to fund someone to develop recommendations for tree planting) [emphasis in the original] mean that this mitigation measure won’t show up in the DEIS.”

Notes from a July 27, 2010 Rosemont Team Meeting – The Forest Service noted during a Rosemont Team Meeting that Rosemont was late in providing certain required products was going to delay the project. Specifically, in the meeting notes regarding “Decisions Made” the Forest Service said that “[v]isual analysis- late products from RCC [Rosemont Copper Company] will extend project timeline”

Notes from a February 2010 Forest Service Rosemont Project Team Meeting – The Forest Service included a specific topic on the meeting outline noting “Timeline delays” and listed the “Reports needed from Rosemont”.

Notes from an August 11, 2009 Forest Service Rosemont Project Team Meeting – One of the topic discussed included, “Schedule slippage – possible reason include financial negotiation with RCC.”

Notes from an April 28, 2009 Forest Service Rosemont Project Team Meeting – Under “Topics Discussed” “Alternative and where to go next: Still waiting on Rosemont, SWCA [emphasis in the original] can continue work…” [Note: SWCA is the Forest Service’s NEPA consultant for the Rosemont Project.]

Notes from a March 24, 2009 Forest Service Rosemont Project Team Meeting – it was noted that with respect to alternatives, that only brainstorming could occur “because team is still waiting on vital reports.” Also, it was decided that the “Forest needs to document repeated requests for reports.”

Source: Forest Service documents (click here.)

Thus, the examples cited above make it clear that Rosemont itself bears considerable responsibility for the length of time the permitting process has taken.

May 8, 2017

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

SSSR Media Release: STATEMENT OF SAVE THE SCENIC SANTA RITAS ON FOREST SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT TO SIGN A RECORD OF DECISION FOR THE PROPOSED ROSEMONT MINE

Myth: The permitting process for the proposed Rosemont Mine is taking too long.

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