The LA Times has an excellent opinion piece on the value of conserving public land and open space.
It lays out excellent economic arguments that are useful in the context of the debate and discussion surrounding Augusta Resource’s proposal to develop the Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountain adjacent to Tucson.
TUCSON, Ariz., Feb. 24, 2012 — In another major blow to Augusta Resource Corporation’s plans to build an open pit copper mine near Tucson, Arizona, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday the “project should not proceed as proposed.”
In a letter to the Coronado National Forest, EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld stated that the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Rosemont Copper Mine was “environmentally unsatisfactory” because it provided “inadequate information” to the public and decision makers.
This is the second letter in a week in which the EPA casts serious doubts about the Rosemont Copper project. Last week, EPA notified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that Augusta Resource’s Clean Water Act Section 404 permit application failed to address numerous water quality issues and that this failure provided an “adequate basis for permit denial”. The mine cannot be built without a Section 404 permit.
In this week’s letter, Blumenfeld stated that “[t]he Draft EIS does not adequately assess the significant environmental impacts of the proposed project” and requests that the Forest Service prepare a supplemental draft EIS “prior to the issuance of any decision regarding the project.” A supplemental DEIS would be subject to public review and comment, and would likely extend the permitting process for many months, if not years.
“EPA starkly exposes just how ill-conceived Augusta Resource’s plans are to build this mine,” says Gayle Hartmann, president of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, a Tucson-based citizen’s group comprised of more than 90 local businesses and organizations opposed to the mine. “Augusta can try to sell its PR spin that this extraordinary letter is ‘a standard part’ of the process, but it is not. It provides ample evidence that the Rosemont Mine proposal is doomed to fail.”
This week’s EPA letter included a 21-page detailed analysis of the shortcomings in Augusta Resource’s DEIS. The issues include numerous air and water quality concerns, loss of “multiple tribal sacred sites,” inadequate reclamation plans, and insufficient financial analysis.
Vancouver, B.C.-based Augusta Resource is seeking permits to develop the Rosemont Mine, a massive open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains on the Coronado National Forest, adjacent to the Tucson metropolitan area.
For more information go to: http://www.scenicsantaritas.org.
The EPA letter can be downloaded here.
Critical Clean Water Act permit deficiencies “could provide an adequate basis for permit denial”
TUCSON, Ariz., Feb. 21, 2012 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week warned that Augusta Resource Corporation’s proposed Rosemont Mine may not obtain a key water quality permit needed to build the mine because of its potential to pollute southern Arizona’s water resources.
The EPA letter, sent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, stated that the deficiencies in Rosemont’s Clean Water Act Section 404 application “could provide an adequate basis for permit denial…” The mine cannot be built without the 404 permit.
The EPA letter identified six critical deficiencies in Augusta Resource’s water quality permit:
This week’s letter follows an early January letter from EPA, which also highlighted these significant water quality issues. Augusta Resource dismissed EPA’s concerns, claiming EPA merely has an “advisory” role in an apparent effort to downplay the regulatory challenges facing this project and cast it in a favorable light to investors.
“Augusta is wrong,” said Gayle Hartmann, President of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, a Tucson-based citizen’s group comprised of more than 90 local businesses and organizations opposed to the mine. “EPA has authority to veto the permit. More importantly, EPA’s letter underscores the severe environmental and economic impacts, particularly to southern Arizona’s water resources, if this mine is allowed.”
Vancouver, B.C.-based Augusta Resource is seeking permits to develop the Rosemont Mine, a massive open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains on the Coronado National Forest, adjacent to the Tucson metropolitan area. The Clean Water Act Sec. 404 permit is an essential regulatory approval, separate from the Forest Service analysis of impacts undertaken pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA.)
SSSR was established in 1996 to protect the scenic, aesthetic, recreational and wildlife values of the Santa Rita Mountains through education and outreach. http://www.scenicsantaritas.org
[Editors Note: The EPA letter can be downloaded here: http://www.scenicsantaritas.org/20120213_EPA.pdf]
Below is a gallery of images taken on Friday morning on Highway 83. If the Rosemont Mine were to become a reality, commuters, school buses, tourists and other travelers on Hwy. 83 would experience this with much greater frequency.
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As reported here earlier this week, the EPA sent a strongly worded letter regarding the Section 404 permit for the proposed Rosemont Mine. The EPA letter made the front page of today’s Arizona Daily Star.
It will be interesting to see how Augusta/Rosemont spins this.
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