Mining firm must pay $1.4 million settlement

GREEN VALLEY--Copper mining giant Phelps Dodge agreed this week to pay a $1.4 million settlement for allegedly sending more than 1,000 tons of sulfur dioxide into the air around Green Valley between 1994 and 1999.

Sulfur dioxide, made famous as the primary ingredient in acid rain, in high concentrations can cause serious respiratory system ailments and can damage lung tissue.

It is especially dangerous for the elderly, children, and people with chronic respiratory problems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The original complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for Arizona, alleges that on hundreds of occasions over the last decade Phelps Dodge operated the ore roasters at its Sierrita Mine near Green Valley without required sulfur dioxide monitors, while at the same time bypassing roaster pollution control equipment, a Department of Justice release said.

The complaint also alleges that Phelps Dodge had repeatedly operated equipment at the mine in violation of Clean Air Act rules.

Other alleged violations include failure to obtain proper permits, failure to install the best available pollution controls, and failure to conduct tests and keep proper records, the Department of Justice said.

Under the settlement, Phelps Dodge must immediately comply with air pollution limits, obtain the proper permits, perform an air impact analyses, and install required air pollution monitors at the Sierrita complex.

Sends a message

"Not only does this settlement secure real improvement in air quality and public health for the local residents of Green Valley, it also sends a message to corporations who think they can increase their profit margins by ignoring the law and harming the environment --in the end they will pay a great deal more,' said Thomas L. Sansonetti, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Divisions.

"The significant penalty Phelps Dodge Sierrita will have to pay under today's settlement is much higher than the economic benefit achieved from its non-compliance."

As part of the settlement, Phelps Dodge neither confirmed or denied that the allegations were true, said spokesman Peter Faur, adding that most of the complaints predate the company's purchase of Sierrita in 1999.

"The people of Green Valley can rest assured that we are running the operation very responsibly," he said. "I feel very confident that residents there do not need to be concerned about sulfur dioxide levels."

Alan MacDonald, chairman of the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council's Environmental Committee and a retired environmental consultant, said Tuesday that the committee hasn't received any specific complaints about sulfur dioxide in recent years.

"The complaints that we get lately are mostly related to dust," MacDonald said.

He said that in 2000 the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality initiated an "odor patrol" project in Green Valley with plans to do routine sampling of the community's air in response to odor complaints.

MacDonald said that while the project could have detected sulfur dioxide in the air, over its one-year lifetime no complaints were filed.

Mike Wood, Phelps Dodge Sierrita's environmental manager, is a member of the GVCCC's Environmental Committee.

Local complaints

The Sierrita Mine has been the subject of local complaints recently because of the high levels of sulfates and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) recorded in two Community Water Co. wells near the Sierrita tailings. The contaminant levels in those wells run about twice those recommended by the EPA.

However, both sulfates and TDS are secondary standards and are not subject to federal or state control.

Wood and representatives from Community Water have said repeatedly over the last year that the mining giant is working on a solution to the water problem.

After several years of layoffs and cutbacks due to the low price of copper worldwide, the Sierrita Mine has this year increased its production and expects to be at full capacity by the fourth quarter. The mine currently employs about 600 workers. It produced 75,600 tons of copper in 2003.

thull@gvnews.com | 625-5511 x 22