Q: Why do so many of us who live in Southern Arizona ignore local news? A: Because it’s so infuriating.
Whether it’s a state legislator proposing SaddleBrooke as the perfect spot for a national nuclear waste dump, or state schools superintendent John Huppenthal banning books, or Humberto Lopez asking us to pay to fix up his dilapidated hotel, or the new Rio Nuevo board squandering nearly a million dollars on lawyers, the news you’re likely to hear when you take your fingers out of your ears is so often the psychic equivalent of stubbing a toe.
Not long ago, I reluctantly cracked open my local-news intake valve only to learn that the Rosemont Copper project had somehow lurched back to unholy life. (Insert swearing and hopping around here.) In spite of the fact that Pima County denied the project an air-quality permit in September, the Forest Service has been busy holding hearings—at one of which mine supporters tried to shout down Ron Barber, who was there to read a statement from Gabrielle Giffords’ office. (So much for the new SoAZ civility.)
Honestly, what will it take to put a stake through this thing’s heart? An open pit mine, about 30 miles southeast of Tucson, with no rail access, developed by a Canadian company with no track record, that wants to take, for free, 6,400 acres of scenic desert and use it as a tailings dump, with significant environmental impacts on at least another 100,000 surrounding acres. With, in the Forest Service’s own words, effects on a fragile, overtaxed aquifer “expected to take many years, even centuries, to be fully realized.” (The toxic pit lake will develop right away, though.) Oh, yeah, and 24-hour light, noise and air pollution, plus the right to pump all the water it needs. “Irretrievable and irreversible commitment of bio resources”—once again, this is the spineless Forest Service talking—with the upside being a few hundred dirty, dangerous jobs with a lifespan of 20 years.
(BTW, for anyone who wants work in the heavy-construction or extractive industries, I have two words for you: North Dakota.)
Have the people who support this ever visited Mammoth, or Winkelman, or Globe, or Superior? Take a ride, I dare you, out to the Superfund site that is Hayden, where, just last fall, the EPA found that Asarco still hasn’t cleaned up the lead and arsenic that’s poisoning the locals—and that the state of Arizona does not care.
And those fabulous mine jobs? I used to know a woman whose brother had worked for the mines in Morenci, driving giant ore trucks until he had to go on disability: The vibration had destroyed the connective tissue in his abdomen. A surgeon had to wrap his belly in artificial mesh to hold his guts in place. Talk about career opportunity.
Back when I was in high school in Phoenix, we were zealously fed the “three C’s” legend of the state economy—”Copper, Cotton and Cattle”—but it was obvious even then that it was obsolete. A fourth C, Climate, has fueled Southern Arizona’s growth for at least the last half-century. It’s all about the weather, folks, and the pretty views.
Look, for example, at the website of a spectacular local success, Ventana Medical Systems. This high-tech medical diagnostics outfit, founded by a UA faculty member, was acquired by the giant Roche Group of Switzerland in 2008 for $3.4 billion. (Yes, with a “B.”) It currently employs 1,300 people at a reported average salary of $88,000, and is hiring aggressively. If you go to the “careers” section on the company’s website—which some people I know do quite often—you’ll find a page titled “Tucson.” There, you’ll see a photo of saguaros and ocotillo in bloom, with hills and lavender mountains in the distance. No earthmovers; no sterile, slowly eroding tailings terraces; no deadly ponds. The accompanying text mentions Tucson’s scientific community, the landscape and weather, Mount Lemmon, the recreation areas and the city’s quirky charms. (Nothing about great school systems or sane public policy, though. That would be lying.)
This, in other words, is what Southern Arizona has to offer: Talented people. Sunny winters. Hiking trails. Singing birds. Clean air and water. In short, quality of life.
There’s a story in the Old Testament about a fool who sells his birthright for a mess of pottage. Rosemont Copper is that kind of mess.
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2012.
This is one of the finest pieces of writing I’ve ever read in the Tucson Weekly.
You know who supports the Rosemont Mine? The owners of El Charro, the Flores.
I traded emails with Mr. Flores about his support of the Mine last year. His reason was he had to keep his restaurant employees working.
I will never eat in an El Charro again, and I suggest that those who do not want this misbegotten hole in the ground to destroy a big chunk of our public lands in Baja Arizona, avoid patronizing El Charro. There are many, many other excellent Mexican food restaurants in and around Tucson that serve better food than at cheaper prices.
I can only add a simple “amen” to this piece, and to Ricardo’s cogent comment. The Rosemont Mine disaster, were this a rational community, would never have gotten as far as it has. This controversy is a no-brainer. Greed is destroying a unique environment, and only a few of us seem to care. It’s depressing.
I agree with Small. It’s time to stop supporting businesses that support Rosemont Copper….. and also politicians. Most are totally misinformed about this “project,” have not researched it, don’t care to know the truth, are only interested in any profits or campaign funds that might come their way, as a result of their support.
Money talks. Rosemont Copper’s borrowed money has been “talking” for the past three years, to anyone gullible enough to listen and their reward has been a listing on Rosemont’s “Community Support” list along with a portion of Rosemont’s PR funds. It’s time for Tucson businesses to hear from those of who oppose this mine. It’s time for our money to do the “talking” as Rosemont Copper may have spent most of theirs. They have a loan of 44 million due April 23.
Will they be able to borrow the money to repay that one, as they borrowed in order to repay Sumitomo a few years ago?
Over 24,000 comments have been sent to the Forest Service. Now is the time to let your money “talk”! This mine will be stopped!
Thanks for the kind words. Sounding off to the local businesses and pols is a GREAT idea, IMHO.
JOM – Do you have such low regard for the many members of our community (many whom are your friends and neighbors), who support Rosemont?
Just because their opinion differs from yours, does not make them misinformed, greedy or unknowledgeable of the issues.
My friends and neighbors do not support Rosemont Copper and no one who is truly informed would support Rosemont unless they hope to profit…at the expense of my friends and neighbors.
Renee, thank you for this very well written article, and JOM is absolutely correct in her comment.
Greed is the only thing driving support for this mine. Most of those who truly understand the magnitude of the danger to our water, air, night sky and wildlife, do not support this mine.
Add Jim Click to the list of local businessmen who have been drinking the Rosemont Kool Aid.
I have one question for Rosemont supporters. Do you have such low regard for all of your friends and neighbors and everyone else in your community that you’re willing to sacrifice their health and quality of life just so a few people can make some money?
And, as for people who support Rosemont, if you’re not “greedy, misinformed, or lacking knowledge on the issues”, and yet you still support this disaster-waiting-to-happen, then you are just plain foolish.
Stop Rosemont . . . not to mention the other mining claims they have on the west-side of the Santa Ritas including the top of a mountain there.
Talk about misinformed. Everyone of you used copper to make your comments. Those “dirty” jobs are highly prized jobs and most are far cleaner than most blue collar jobs and much safer. Plus most ot the employees will be working is either air conditioned offices or vehicles. When to talk about visiting other mine sites you are the misinformed. If you really read the EIS and mine plan you will see this mine will not have a massive tailings pond like most other mines. Instead they are spending a LOT of money to squeeze the water out of the tailings and deposit them “dry” (about 8% moisture) and reusing the water. Those that talk about exporting the copper concentrate should also be aware that the main reason for exporting the concentrate is the inability to permit a smelter in the USA. We cannot keep importing everything from other countries and survive. IF we try to our economy will totally crash, our currency will become worthless and inflation will go through the roof.
Comments critical of the mine are removed from the mine FB page and the poster is barred from further comment. The company has not responded to a request to change this.
How many of the people who oppose the mine are using cell phones? How many have ANY idea what these mines are for? Seriously, people, you are not informed. I agree that this area is more ecologically diverse, important, etc. than some other areas that can and will be mined. But the fact is that we are using up our resources at lightning speed and there are more factors to take into account than our environmental concerns. I also think that so many people are ignoring the fact that if we take on the mine, we are more likely to put regulations in effect that matter on the global scale than in other parts of the world (anyone know anything about the mines in Peru, Indonesia, etc.?). We are so willing to throw our garbage to another country, why not be responsible for what we consume and do it the proper way?
Jaguar lover – is it worth a forever destruction of valuable natural open spaces for 20 yrs of jobs/copper when Freeport has a 100 year reserve at Sierrita and plenty of copper coming up at Resolution?
Jaguar Lover, strange name for someone who advocates the destruction of the Santa Rita Mountains for a toxic pit and “dry” tailings that will be blowing all over the area for us to breathe and then deal with the adverse affects of. But as long as they are squeezing those tailings to 8% and reusing that water as LaMar states in his comment, I guess we should be comforted.
Geckoman is right, we do NOT need copper from Rosemont. There is plenty of copper, and not enough workers to fill positions at the mines right now. Thank God we can all take a huge sigh of relief in April when Augusta will be unable to find enough idiots to invest in this insanity.
The basic problem is we no longer have local democracy. If we the people who live and work and raise our families in Southeastern Arizona could VOTE on whether this mine should open, the vast majority would vote NO. All the local governments who represent the people of the area have come out against the mine. The city of Tucson opposes the mine. The towns of Patagonia and Green Valley oppose the mine. The governments of Pima County and Santa Cruz County oppose the mine. The southern Arizona Congressional Delegation opposes the mine. The Tohono O’Odham Nation and the Hopi tribe oppose the mine.
We like to think we live in a democracy. But we do not. We live in an Empire. Where the capital of the Empire two thousand miles away DICTATES to us what we can and can’t do. The Forest Service is not spineless. They are merely doing their job which is to follow orders from the capital, locals be damned.
It’s time for this country to return to local rule by local governments elected by the locals, and get the capital of the Empire out of the picture.
Did you know that many environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity are paid millions by the U.S. Government (under a little known provision in U.S. law known as Equal Access to Justice Act) for the costs they incur in filing thousands of frivolous lawsuits every year. Their strategy is to file as many lawsuits as possible, making it impossible for the Federal Government to respond in a timely manner. If the Federal Government is unable to respond in a time manner, the environmental groups are paid for the costs they incur whether their case has any merit or not. This only encourages them to do it over and over again. The more lawsuits they file, the more they are paid.
Unfortunately, it has gotten so bad that the Federal Government often concedes the case, because they don’t have the time or funds to contest all of these frivolous lawsuits. And this results in a financial drain that takes money out of real programs that could actually protect the environment.
My question to you: Are these environmental groups really interested in protecting the environment as they claim or are they only interested in milking the American taxpayer for all they are worth?
Link:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/view-from-baja-arizona/2011/05/16/legislation-to-stop-litigation-abuse-by-litigious-environmental-groups/
Anonemuz & others: 8% moisture is wet enough not to be dusty. Read the EIS and read the air quality standards and you will see that Rosemont has a very strict limit on fugitive dust that can leave the site. Read the mine plan and you will see that shortly after the tailings are placed they have to be capped and replanted with native species. Check out the large nursery that Rosemont has already planted to start cultivating plants for the re-vegetation. The natural area will NOT be destroyed FOREVER as stated. While topography will be changed somewhat, the re-contouring and re-vegetation will make the mine appear very natural 10 or 20 years after the mine is closed. YOU say YOU don’t need the copper don’t need the jobs, well lucky you. Other people DO need the jobs and the country does need the copper whether consumed locally or exported. We need the VALUE created by the mine.
CJH, I am not an environmental group, and I am not planning to file a lawsuit. I can’t afford to.
I do not want an open pit copper mine in the Santa Ritas along the Sonoita Highway. Such a noxious operation would destroy a place I love and have loved since I was in high school almost 50 years ago in Tucson. I’ve hike, hunted and photographed where that Canadian company … Augusta Mining … wants to dig and place the tailings.
If an environmental organization, like the Center for Biological Diversity wants to file a lawsuit, and there is a form of cost reimbursement available through that process, I think that’s great. Whatever amount environmental groups receive, it is way less than miners received at taxpayer expense through the archaic mining law that lets miners gallivant all over public land, punching holes into hills and valleys, then privatizing ownership through patent claims after spending mere pittances of development costs.
Furthermore, today’s mining corporations receive highly favorable tax deductions that reduce the taxes they pay.
How can you gripe about a relatively minor amount of money going to environmental groups, when billions of taxpayer dollars have enriched mining corporations for almost two centuries?
Your attack of the Center for Biological Diversity encouraged me to donate money to that organization.
Is that right Lamartek? Just like the tailing piles near Green Valley were capped and replanted? Silicone dust from the Green Valley tailings regularly blows around and ruins the yards of people living near that toxic waste. There is no history of mining operations that supports your notion about Rosemont being okay. There is a LOT of history that shows just how destructive open pit copper mines and their mountains of tailings actually are in Arizona.
CJH, I have one word for you: SUPERFUND. More costly to taxpayers than any lawsuit you have in mind.
LAMARTEK, Why are mining jobs more important than the thousands of jobs that would be lost if this mine were approved? they aren’t. If I need a job, it will not be at the expense of my health, or at the expense of my friends and neighbors who are already suffering the loss of property values, or at the expense of the hundreds of businesses’ related to tourism.
The 1872 mining law was not about open pit mining. There is no value in polluted water and air. As far as the “nursery” Rosemont is building? NOTHING grows in mine tailings. This inexperienced company wants us to believe everything they do will be so much different with this project. No matter how they (or you) try to sugar coat this mine, it would be nothing more than a toxic dump in a National Forest.
If you think sticking a few plants on top of a mine tailing is somehow going to repair the damage done to Davidson Canyon and Cienega Creek, then you are a fool…
And if you’re don’t know where either place is then you simply do not have an informed opinion on the mine, you’ve sucked up Rosemonts crap in one big gulp…
Wheres their track record? Oh that’s right they don’t have one but somehow this doesn’t bother you either?
I have visited the site more than once. They plants will grow on the tailings once they are capped with the topsoil that was removed and stored. Again, if you read the requirements your comments are baseless. Further, if you looked at the requirements in place when the older mines in Arizona were permitted you would see they have been following their requirements according to those older permits. It is not reasonable to blame Rosemont for the results of other mining operations when those operations are indeed following their requirements. As to experience, any company or mine is the sum of the people employed there. The people at Rosemont are not only experienced but they are quite honorable people. Don’t forget the Rosemont employees are likely to be living closer to the mine with their families that 99.99% of those opposing it. If you want to know who REALLY cares about the environment at the mine site, look to the employees and their families. Most of the employees will plan on retiring from the mine and staying in the area. And I am quite curious as to ALL THE JOBS that might be “lost” if the mine proceeds? This mine will provide good jobs for several people outside the mine for every employee in the mine. There will be far more people visiting the mine for business than visit that same number of acres for tourism now. Again, just because you don’t like mines because of what you have seen as a result of mines permitted during WWI or earlier, don’t judge this mine by those outdated standards. Just think of how much copper we all use in some fashion every day.
Yes, we all use copper every day. However, copper is 100% recyclable. It’s not oil, and it’s nothing to get hysterical about. those deposits will still be there in a 100 years or in a 1000, when mining methods will be Even Better. It’s silly to pretend that this is about scarcity. It’s about money.
LaMar, You have way too much faith in Rosemont. They have already shown they are undeserved. Who will they sell to, the first opportunity they have to move on? They are not in this for the duration, they are in it to put the project together, get the permits, sell out and move on.
An open pit mine is an open pit mine. You can (attempt to) plant every color and variety of rose bush in the world around that pit, but it will still be an ugly, huge, toxic pit. The tailings will still be blowing in the constant wind, for all of us to breathe and suffer the effects of.
You obviously think you stand to gain something from this project. Otherwise, you would not be so quick to dismiss the jobs depending on a CLEAR night sky or our strong (and ever increasing) tourism industry. A suggestion? start reading the 24,000+ comments on the FS/DEIS website. You will get a really good idea of the intelligence and reasoning behind the vast majority who have written to oppose the mine.
Rosemont would not produce enough for the US to make a blip on the copper radar screen. We don’t need it now, and if we need it in the future, maybe there will be a way to do it without devastating our national forest, and putting our precious water and air at risk.
LaMar—-
As to the policies of older mines–I hold in my hand a magazine ad from 1969. It shows the ripping and scraping process for the Twin Buttes Mine and it’s a very ugly photo, trust me. The caption is “100 Million Tons down–100 MillionTons to Go–to New Anaconda Copper”
The article states: “Anaconda crews, working around the clock at Twin Buttes, AZ, are midway in the biggest pre-production stripping job in history. giant scrapers, 100-ton dump trucks and conveyer belts more than a mile long are linked in the modern operation. In mid 1969 a large copper ore deposit will be ready for mining.
Copper in the earth’s crust is plentiful. But to pry loose copper from LOW GRADE (emphasis mine)ore bodies you must be an expert. Anaconda is. We have the specialists bold enough and imaginative enough to do the job. New mines like this at Twin Buttes will yield the copper vital to the complex needs of a growing population and economy.
Here, twelve miles of dikes were built to hold waste from the concentrating operation. Along these dikes, we are planting native shrubs, grass and cacti to blend with the landscape. Anaconda’s NEW, BOLD approach(emphasis mine)to mine development at the Twin Buttes project includes a healthy concern for our neighbors.”
Does any of this sound familiar? Is anything growing at this, now out of production mine, now owned by Freeport McMoran? What about the two pit lakes. I’m now looking at a Google Earth photo and I see nothing but a wasteland with two pits of, no doubt, polluted water.
Rosemont Mine will be the same. Nothing will grow on those tailings piles. Nothing will grow in that top soil without lots of water. Besides the top soil is less than 12 inches and much of that would erode, awaiting use to cap the waste piles. The area would never be reclaimed.
Reclamation is a hoax, the same as that claimed by Anaconda in 1969.
I am sorry but I still believe that the US Forest Service should approve the mine. Our NIMBY’s want copper, oil and timber but not from their back yard. So where do you propose we acquire the natural resources from? Oh I know, let us buy it from our enemies overseas and pay through the nose for commodities the US needs. At least in the US, we do have better safe guards concerning the environment than do foreign countries.
IF the mine were approved, the copper goes to China.
Also, the number of jobs and businesses lost would be a far greater deficit than the (inflated) number of jobs related to the mine.
This mine could mean total disaster for Tucson and Santa Cruz County. Why would we take that chance? And if we did, why would we do it for the greed and benefit of another country?
How dare you Tucson ….you backwater dusty town…to question and resist the demands of our transnational 1%, for more profits!!! By the way, did we mention that there will more tax payer funded jobs created cleaning up the mess we are gonna leave you behind?
CJH is the incessant pro-Rosemont poster on Starnet.
I am a modern environmentalist and a Republican, folks we must face the fact that the environmental obstructionism practiced by the Democrats for decades has failed us in this modern world. I claim the tact of environmental obstructionism used by the Democrats to champion the environment has failed us. Why, because those tactics may save a tree with the result of a forest that burns, protect a reef while the ocean is poisoned, a failure. The big modern environmental picture is sustainability. Man is a natural part of our environment not an outsider as the obstructionists base their practices on. Imagine beavers trying to get a permit to build their dams they require to live and prosper. The flooded meadows displacing the poor little field mice, plants destroyed etc, beavers would be outlawed! Step back and look at the big picture. The copper being minded will be used, now that copper can be provided by countless places on this earth none of which will disturb the earth’s environment less than we do here in the USA if we use sustainable practices. Imagine the scenario if the environmentalists working with the beavers planning and spending monies, not on legal fees driven by those pushing obstructionism but on real solutions to the very real concerns held by all. A company after spending tens of millions maybe hundreds of millions in the courts has that much less to spend on the real concerns regarding their projects! This isn’t rocket science folks, working together always will accomplish more than feral obstructionism making no one but the lawyers better off.
In closing old school environmental obstructionism doesn’t work as an environmental protection plan; we have the ability to plan and more important implement modern technologies to appease known concerns. Money to lawyers or money to actually protect the environment with engineered solutions? Man and his needs are a natural part of our environment and we must not forget this while we squabble in the courts using the same old unproductive obstructionist actions taken by our Arizona Democrats as a placebo to make us feel better instead of taking engineered solutions and implementing them actually accomplishing something! Let’s work together and engineer a better world because I can assure you we cannot just litigate one!
THINK!!!!
Bill Heath, your full of mierda.
Obstructionism stopped more hydro electric dams in the Grand Canyon. Litigation resulted in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service processing policies for almost 800 species that were either threatened or endangered. Profligate clear cut logging was limited to the benefit of watershed health that helped the salmon fisheries. DDT was banned to the benefit of many bird species, most notable the bald eagle and other raptors.
There is a long list of successful environmental achievements accomplished by obstructionism and litigation, and those efforts will continue.