Rosemont Copper vs Pima County
by Liane Ehrich in Examiner.com
June 30, 2011
The copper company, Rosemont Copper recently warned Pima County that it could be facing a lawsuit over the county’s failure to act on a pending air quality permit.
This move is merely another in a series of moves and counter moves as local and state government agencies, as well as vocal non profits battle what may ultimately prove to be a losing proposition against the Canadian company that wishes to build an open pit mine in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson.
The Canadian company, Augusta Resources, also went to court this past Monday. The non profit Save the Scenic Santa Ritas asked the court for a preliminary injunction to delay the Forest Service’s release of a final environmental impact statement, stating that the Forest Service had broken the law when Rosemont Copper was permitted to participate.
The Federal Judge overruled the injunction and the Forest Service will release the plan without further delay.
Read more: http://www.examiner.com/small-business-in-tucson/rosemont-copper-vs-pima-county
Report says Federal lands added big dollars, jobs to AZ
by Matthew Trotter in the Bulletin
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Recreation on federal lands last year supported more than 8,000 jobs in Arizona’s rural communities, the fourth highest in the nation, according to an Interior Department report released last week.
The report said recreational activities on Arizona’s public lands supported a total of 21,364 jobs and contributed just under $2 billion to the state economy.
When other operations are considered — including energy and mining programs, grazing and timber operations, federal grants and salaried employees — the totals rise to $2.4 billion and 29,284 jobs for Arizona, the report said.
As of this year, more than 28 million acres in Arizona, or nearly 40 percent of the state, are under the department’s jurisdiction. Other states with significant federal land holdings also had high economic numbers in the report.
Rosemont could sue County to speed permit
by Tony Davis in Arizona Daily Star
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The Rosemont Copper Co. is threatening to sue Pima County to get a speedier decision on an air-quality permit for the proposed mine in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson.
In Rosemont’s second attempt to get faster action from the county on the permit, its attorneys gave notice last week that they intend to sue the county in 60 days if a decision isn’t made by then.
“Pima County Department of Environmental Quality has rules and regulation that it must enforce and also that it must follow,” Rosemont Copper President and CEO Rod Pace said about the legal notice. “The action taken … is to make the county follow its own rules.”
Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/article_b17e672a-ff3a-59ff-8463-96bb5a0a1d03.html
Rosemont CEO says worker caused May 2 blaze
by Tony Davis in Arizona Daily Star
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Rosemont Copper’s president says welding work done by a ranch hand working for the company accidentally sparked a fire that burned about 2,200 acres near the Santa Rita Mountains in early May.
The ranch worker was welding a broken well bracket in the back of a pickup truck in a manner that followed procedures outlined in the ranch operation’s permit to graze on federal land, said Rod Pace, Rosemont Copper’s president and CEO.
Pace declined to name the ranch hand or say if any disciplinary action was taken. He said he won’t discuss the incident in detail until a federal investigation of the fire is finished. The Forest Service has said it does not know how long that will take.
Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article_f7ece624-3716-598d-8783-59e08879b182.html
Judge backs Rosemont in court
Green Valley News and Sun
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
A federal judge has found that the Forest Service’s inclusion of Rosemont Copper officials in meetings as it prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement did not taint the agency’s evaluation of the mine proposal.
But U.S. District Court Judge Frank R. Zapata on Monday did note it was “less than prudent” to allow Rosemont into the meetings with other government agencies.
Mine opponents believe Rosemont had an advantage by attending 18 meetings not open to the public. Rosemont has said it attended the meetings in a technical advisory role only.
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