Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 20 May 2019

Tribes, environmentalists battle copper mine in Arizona

By ANITA SNOW Biological Diversity, predict-
Associated Press ed ore trucks would rumble
SONOITA, Ariz. (AP) — Sce- down a scenic highway
nic State Highway 83 gently built in 1927 that stretches
curves through southeast- some 50 miles (80 kilome-
ern Arizona's wine country, ters) from Interstate 10 to
past waves of blond grass the tourist hotspot of So-
dotted with orange-tipped noita.
ocotillo plants before the "It's going to look like a nu-
dark Santa Rita Mountains clear bomb was set off," he
loom into view. said.
The Milepost 44 pullout of- Winery owner Todd Bostock
fers a panorama of the worries Rosemont could in-
range in the Coronado Na- jure a tourism industry that
tional Forest where a Ca- includes boutique lodging
nadian firm wants to carve focused on wine and the
out a massive copper mine region's natural beauty.
near Tucson. The $1.9 bil- "The mine will have a direct,
lion Rosemont Mine, at a negative and permanent
half-mile deep and a mile impact on our business,"
wide, would sprawl across said Bostock, whose Dos
federal, state and private Cabezas winery annually
land, leaving a waste pile produces some 5,000 cases
the height of skyscraper. of dry red, rosé and white
Native American tribes This photo taken Monday, May 12, 2019, off Arizona scenic state Highway 83 shows the eastern wine. "They are gambling
and environmental groups slope of the Santa Rita Mountains where Canadian firm Hudbay Minerals Inc. plans an open pit with our investment and
have sued to stop Hudbay copper mine. our livelihood."
Minerals Inc. of Toronto, ar- Associated Press Rosemont detractors also
guing its mine could des- point to the yawning Lav-
ecrate sacred, ancestral larger battle across the Arizona produces about costs" and "we're proposing ender Pit, a former open
lands and dry up wells and West over using public two-thirds of U.S. copper in the short term to move pit copper mine outside Bis-
waterways while ravaging lands for mining. for wiring and other elec- forward on aspects that bee that still scars the land-
habitat for endangered The Trump administration tronics, generating about don't fall under the litiga- scape 45 years after end-
jaguar and other species. in late 2017 slashed about $5.38 billion in 2017, ac- tion." ing operations.
Last week, they asked a 85% of Utah's Bear Ears cording to the Arizona Min- The company said the cur- Serraglio's group, along
federal judge to prevent National Monument to al- ing Association. "Mining in rent project was the result with Save the Scenic Santa
the project from proceed- low for mining claims. New Arizona represents 60,000 of a dozen years of review Ritas, the Arizona Mining
ing until the lawsuits are de- Mexico tribal leaders have jobs," said Amber Smith, and "it's designed intelli- Reform Coalition and the
cided. pressured U.S. officials to president and CEO of the gently and in accordance Arizona Grand Canyon
"I pray to our Creator ev- ban oil and gas exploration Tucson Metro Chamber of with public and policy pri- Chapter of the Sierra Club
ery morning that things near the remnants of an Commerce. She is confi- orities." It has told Tucson this year sued to stop Rose-
will work out," said Austin ancient Pueblo civilization dent Hudbay will mitigate officials the mine would not mont, as did the Tohono
Nunez, chairman of the To- at Chaco Culture National any potential problems by harm water quality or af- O'odham Nation, the Pas-
hono O'odham's San Xavi- Historical Park. And conser- building extra roadways fect supplies. cua Yaqui Tribe and the
er District, a piece of tribal vationists fret over plans to and employing technology Still, environmentalists Hopi Tribe.
land just south of Tucson. reopen a gold mine in Cali- to recycle water used in worry about the impacts The environmental law firm
"Our ancestors' remains are fornia's Castle Mountains the mining process. on the Santa Rita Moun- Earthjustice filed the recent
there, along with archaeo- National Monument, home Arizona Chamber of tains, where white-tailed request for an injunction to
logical sites, including a to ancient rock art and a Commerce and Industry deer and black bear, bob- stop Hudbay from revving
ball court. We cannot risk Joshua tree forest. spokesman Garrick Taylor cats and the occasional up its bulldozers. U.S. Dis-
any further harm to our an- "You could go to virtually said Rosemont would be cougar roam among the trict Court Judge James A.
cestral heritage." every state and find a push among the biggest con- Apache pines and Doug- Soto has said he hopes to
The Tucson and state by big corporations to grab struction projects in Arizona las firs. Numerous kinds of rule on the first three suits by
chambers of commerce resources before it's too history. "Its impacts will be hummingbirds and wood- summer's end before tack-
are Rosemont cheerlead- late," said Richard White, a measured in the billions of land warblers fly through ling two more recent ones
ers, noting the project will historian of the American dollars," he said. Madera Canyon, among filed over a Clean Water
immediately create 500 West at Stanford University. Responding to questions the world's premier bird- Act permit granted by the
jobs and pour $16 billion "It's a resurrection of these in writing, Hudbay told The watching spots. U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
into the local economy extractive industries that Associated Press that de- Randy Serraglio, a conser- neers and a mine opera-
over 20 years. were so much a part of the laying the project would re- vation advocate with the tions plan approved by the
The fight comes amid a Old West." sult in "significant financial Tucson-based Center for U.S. Forest Service.q