Feds: CWC-Augusta pipeline not connected to mine process

The federal government is taking comments until Sept. 12 on the proposed pipeline extending CAP water to Green Valley, the one funded by the company also proposing a copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains.

A dozen or so people couldn’t wait until Sept. 12 and gave the federal Bureau of Reclamation an earful Tuesday.

Some said the matter should not be under the jurisdiction of the bureau, and instead must be part of the Forest Service’s consideration of the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine, arguing that there would be no pipeline proposal without the mine proposal.

That’s because the pipeline, while it would be operated by Community Water Company of Green Valley, would be funded by Augusta Resource, the company behind the copper mine proposal, under a letter of intent between the two companies. The proposed 36-inch diameter pipeline would carry Colorado River and other water from the CAP (Central Arizona Project) system south from its terminus at Pima Mine Road.

Some said the bureau must have options other than just “yes” and “no” on the pipeline. Some said the bureau should consider a wider range of options now that there is now another pipeline proposal, the one fromFarmers Investment Co. and American Nevada Co., the Las Vegas developer of the proposed Mission Peaks project west of Sahuarita.

Some complained that the bureau did not publicize Tuesday’s scoping meeting adequately, and some said the matter should be aired after the winter visitors return.

Bureau has jurisdiction

The bureau has jurisdiction because CWC is proposing building facilities to use CAP water. CWC has had an allocation since 1985 but has not had a method of delivering water until this pipeline was proposed. The company originally planned to treat the CAP water but now proposes recharging it, so an environmental assessment was needed.

The National Environmental Policy Act requires the bureau to conduct an environmental assessment and decide whether a more detailed environmental impact statement (EIS) is required or if there is a finding of “no significant (environmental) impact.”

Comments can be made by mail at U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area office, 6150 W. Thunderbird Road, Glendale AZ. 85306-4001, Attention PXAO-1500 (Ms. Sandra Eto). Also, by faxogram at (623) 773-6486. Comments can also be e-mailed to Sandra Eto at seto@lc.usbr.gov.

It is expected a draft environmental assessment will be available by the end of 2008. It will be posted on the agency Web site at http://www.usbr.gov/lc/phoenix.

Once the draft EA is published, the agency will take public comments on it and will hold a public meeting in Green Valley.

The CWC pipeline was announced about a year ago and design work is well under way, CWC President Arturo Gabald—n said. A link to a map of the pipeline route is on the company’s Web site at http://www.communitywater.com.

The CWC pipeline would have a capacity of about 30,000 acre-feet a year. An acre-foot is about 325,000 gallons and can serve about three households for a year. The CWC pipeline would run east along Pima Mine Road from the CAP terminus near Interstate 19 to Nogales Highway, then south to El Corto Road (about 3 miles south of Sahuarita Road) and then east about 1.5 miles to its proposed recharge site.

A pipeline from the CAP system would allow CWC and the Green Valley Domestic Water Improvement District to exercise their CAP allocations, meaning they could buy CAP water and pump it to the local area to be recharged into the aquifer.

Separate consideration

At Tuesday’s scoping meeting, Bruce Ellis of the Bureau of Reclamation said that the CWC pipeline could be considered separately from the copper mine because they would not have a connected or cumulative impact.

Ellis said the Forest Service must still make its decision on the copper mine regardless of the bureau decision on the pipeline and the bureau still must make a ruling on the pipeline regardless of the Forest Service decision on the mine proposal. He said it will take at least a year or two for the Forest Service to rule on the mine and “it does not make sense for us to tie these two projects together.”

Speaker FICO President Dick Walden disagreed vehemently, saying, among other points, “both the proposed CWC pipeline and the proposed Rosemont Copper mine are ‘connected actions’ under NEPA that require joint review in a single NEPA process conducted by the Coronado National Forest.

“The transportation, recharge and withdrawal of CAP water anticipated in this project, coupled with proposed uses of groundwater by Rosemont represent ‘cumulative impacts’ to the environment for which a comprehensive analysis must occur. A project cannot be segmented to evade a complete NEPA review.”

Walden said FICO will submit formal comments by Sept. 12.

Stan Riddle of the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council said the meeting should have been scheduled with more notice and after the winter visitors return.

Marty Jakle of Rio Rico, a board member of the Friends of the Santa Cruz River, said a wider range of alternatives should be considered and noted that without the mine, the pipeline would not be under consideration.

pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738