The Canadian investment company Augusta Resource Inc. announced today that it has received an air quality permit from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality for a strip mine in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson.

That represents a bureaucratic victory over Pima County, which in September 2011 denied Augusta the air quality permit necessary for its proposed mine in the Rosemont Valley. At the time, Ursula Kramer, director of the county’s Department of Environmental Quality, said Augusta didn’t offer a compelling argument that federal air quality standards could be met by its plan.

Augusta responded by threatening a lawsuit against county, and floating plans to ask that oversight of the permit be handed to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

Eventually, the floundering ADEQ agreed to make the determination.

“Rosemont has now received seven major permits required to commence construction,” wrote Augusta CEO Gil Clausen on the company’s web site. “Only one major permit is remaining, the Clean Water Act Section 404 Permit from the US Army Corp of Engineers, which the Company expects to receive upon the issuance of the Record of Decision…on the Plan of Operations from the U.S. Forest Service.”

But that is by no means a done deal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has raised major red flags with the Corps over the effects that a mine in the Rosemont Valley could have on the area’s waterways.

If the EPA balks, Augusta’s whole foreign adventure could be down the tubes.

In addition, wildlife surveys have found the Rosemont Valley to contain at least 10 threatened plants, and serve as a crucial wildlife corridor. Recently, the sighting of an endangered jaguar near the proposed mine site has thrown yet another wrench in the works.

For mine opponents with the group Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, this is but a skirmish in the big fight. “Once again, Rosemont’s PR spin has gotten ahead of the facts,” said SSR President Gayle Hartmann in a press release. “According to their previous press releases, they should have already been mining and destroying the Santa Ritas years ago.

“ADEQ’s approval of this permit is not surprising,” Hartmann continued. “This agency has been decimated by budget cuts, and is beholden to the regulated entities that pay the permitting fees to keep it afloat.

“We will closely examine this permit and determine our next steps including an appeal. This mine is far from a certainty. The Forest Service has indefinitely postponed completion of the environmental analysis of the Rosemont project and a decision on it.

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to include the mine site as critical habit for the endangered jaguar. There is indisputable photographic evidence that only known jaguar remaining in North America spends time near the proposed Rosemont project.

“In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has seriously questioned the federal Clean Water Act permit that Rosemont needs to obtain from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. EPA has veto power over any Clean Water Act permit issued by the Corps.

“The bottom line,” Hartmann concluded, “is that this mine threatens our air, our mountains, along with the lives and livelihoods of those who live and work here. Rosemont thinks they can wear us down, but they underestimate our resilience.”

This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 6, 2013.

13 replies on “Choke Hold: AZ Grants Air Permit for a Noxious Mine Project”

  2. The feds have concerns but the state issues permit anyway, what a joke. Fed money funds the state. Obama’s EPA approved this wildernss rape.

  3. First, it is NOT a “WILDERNESS” …Joaquin
    There has been MINING there for over 120 years, look at the roads, tunnels, shafts, slag dumps ETC! There WAS a town of THOUSANDS there at one time, so get over your “Wilderness Rape” BS. Where the Hell are you from?

  4. I agree with cempiermtn — the mines were here first there will be mining with or without Rosemont and if you don’t like what is happening LEAVE!

  6. All human economic acvtivity has enviromental adverse afects, even farming does huge damage to rivers for ex. This is a strong viable economic project, if we cant mine here than where? Is it enviromentaly just to move all heavy industry to third world countries with little or no regulation? The right thing to do it approve the mine and hold rosemont to a high standard.

  7. Every man has a right to risk his own life for the preservation of his(public) land. What the Corporations offer us is dirty. And we should not become exhausted fighting for what we believe in, i.e., our air quality, our water quality, the diversity of wildlife that is nourished by this Mountain. What the Corporations will leave will be more than just a terrible scar. They offer us death for for a few nuggets of gold(copper). If you’re gonna’ defeat corrupt special interest, and the administrative authorities who represent them, you might as well use all the resources you’ve got. Never tire of fighting the Good Fight! Micky Smythe

  8. The JAGUARS were here first, not the mine, and not even the people. If you can’t coexist with jaguars and all the other beautiful living beings that call this place home, then maybe YOU are the one who should leave.

    There’s plenty of places you can put mines, but this is one of the worst. And with a glut of copper on the global market at the moment, there is absolutely no reason to destroy our mountains just so a handful of foreign speculators can get filthy rich.

    And make no mistake–there is no such thing as a “high standard” for open-pit copper mines. It’s a 20th-century technology that will totally destroy thousands of acres of public lands at the north end of the Santa Rita mountains.

  9. These greedy Trans-National mining companies, with origins in Canada are trying to push through at least 3 dirty mines in AZ that I know of. The public is fighting hard up in Eloy against another one…and one at the Grand Canyon. Check for yourself where else in the world these Trans-National corporations are also mining….many, many locations worldwide….they are in it for the almighty dollar and don’t care one whit about their destruction and poisoning to the land and the people. Keep fighting. Save the Santa Ritas!

  10. Foreign Money, Foreigner Mining Company, very few local jobs will be created.
    This people are here to scar the land and will never repair it to it’s original beauty.
    There is nothing viable or economic about an industry that leaves a huge hole in the ground with piles of polluted land and water left behind for the taxpayers to clean-up when all is said and done.
    This is nothing but Greed at it’s best.

  12. They may have won this battle, now is the time for the sensible people to get more organized to win the war.

  13. I recently visited Tucson and toured the Rosemont site. It was very interesting to hear Rosemont’s plans, see the landscape. As I drove 83 I was socked to see all the powerlines. I thought that this would be pristine lands (no power lines polluting the views) given all the scuffle raised by the opponents re Rosemont’s request for power to the site. I was also surprised to learn Tucson’s economy is in shambles, all the major resorts have filed bankruptcy and are in receivership. Why the local politicians are against job creation is just outright bizarre. AZ is a state rich in minerals, mining is your past and will be in your future. It is only the alien elites like Ray Carroll and Save the Santa Rita nuts that are seeking to further torment the great citizens of Pima. Do these folks have employment solutions to replace what Rosemont is putting on the table? This is the question at hand. Surely tourism near the Mexico border is not the issue?

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