Rosemont Mine Truth

Save the Scenic Santa Ritas (SSSR), a Tucson-based conservation group, has requested the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the new mitigation plan submitted by Hudbay Minerals before the Corps makes a final decision on whether to issue a federal Clean Water Act Section 404 permit required for construction of the proposed Rosemont mine.

SSSR’s request was included in a Dec. 11 letter sent to Brig. General D. Peter Helmlinger, Commander of the South Pacific Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The last time the public had an opportunity to review and comment on a mitigation plan for the proposed Rosemont mine was 2011. At that time, the public reviewed a 6-page conceptual plan.

The current 859-page plan submitted in September of this year includes 3 features: one that was ruled out in the 2011 plan, one that is a completely new concept, and one that is substantially revised. The public has had no opportunity to review and comment on the current plan that is supposed to mitigate the very significant impacts that would occur to Outstanding Waters of Arizona and waters of the United States if the mine is approved. Continue reading →

Pima County is warning state and federal environmental regulators that Hudbay Minerals’ application for a Clean Water Act permit needed for its proposed Rosemont Mine violates federal law because it fails to describe the actual mitigation the company is planning.

In letters to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry states that Hudbay’s new plans to make major modifications to Sonoita Creek in an attempt to compensate for damages to desert riparian waterways that will be destroyed by the Rosemont open-pit mine requires public notice and an opportunity to comment.

“The Corps must issue a new public notice because the current (Clean Water Act) application does not properly describe the mitigation activities proposed,” Huckelberry writes.

Hudbay announced in September plans for a “complete restoration” of Sonoita Creek and its floodplain. The restoration project includes dredging and filling of nine acres of federally-protected waters in Sonoita Creek. Continue reading →

Arizona environmental regulators are taking steps to take control of a crucial federal permitting process in what appears to be an attempt to circumvent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ongoing review of Hudbay Mineral’s Clean Water Act permit application for its proposed Rosemont open-pit copper mine.  Beyond Rosemont, state control of this program could have far-reaching implications to many other projects that could impact Arizona’s water resource.

In an email to stakeholders, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s Water Quality Division is holding a special meeting on taking over issuing federal Clean Water Act permits at 1 p.m., Monday, Dec. 4, at the agency’s headquarters at 1110 W. Washington St., Phoenix in room 250. The public may also attend the meeting by calling 240-454-0879 with access code 282-719-829.

“The meeting will discuss state assumption of the Clean Water Act Section 404 dredge and fill program,” the ADEQ stated in an email.

The Army Corps is currently reviewing Hudbay’s 404 permit application. Hudbay needs the permit because its proposed mine would destroy federal desert waterways. The company must provide adequate mitigation from the damage it will cause in order for the permit to be legally issued.

The Corps’ Los Angeles district office recommended the permit be denied in July 2016. The Corps’ regional office is currently reviewing Hudbay’s permit application. The Corps has long expressed serious concerns about the mile-wide, half-mile deep mine that would dump waste rock and tailings on more than 2,500 acres of Coronado National Forest stating that Hudbay’s mitigation plan was inadequate. Continue reading →