50 show up to ask about TEP line to Rosemont

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More than 50 people showed up at a public meeting Wednesday hosted by Tucson Electric Power to discuss 100-foot-tall power poles that could run through parts of Green Valley if the controversial Rosemont Mine becomes a reality.

Augusta Resource Corp., which owns the mine property, is paying for the scoping process that could bring a 138-kilovolt transmission line across 30 miles from South Tucson or Vail to the mine site about 11 miles east of Green Valley.

If Rosemont is approved, the line would be in service by 2011 at the earliest, according to TEP.

Joe Salkowksi, a spokesman for TEP, said the purpose of the meeting was to get an early idea of which routes residents would object to. No routes have been determined and the process is still in preliminary stages, he said.

TEP expects to have preferred and alternative routes selected by the end of the year, when the project will be reviewed by the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Sitting Committee and the Arizona Corporation Committee.

Many who attended the meeting at the Canoa Hills Social Center were spurned on by their opposition to the controversial copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains.

“Hiking is an important part of the time I spend here in Green Valley,” winter resident Barbara Rydal said, adding that she is worried about the effect the mine would have on the mountains.

Rydal and others are concerned that TEP’s study might be an indicator that Rosemont is one step closer to being approved.

TEP has said it has to be prepared in the event the mine is OK’d, but that the meeting is not an indication of whether it will be approved.

Tom Ward, Special Assistant to Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll, said the county opposes the mine and that he is concerned that the transmission line may cut through the Coronado National Forest and the Santa Rita Experimental Range.

Ward says he came to the meeting to make a public comment against Rosemont, but was surprised to find an open house format rather than a forum. Attendees could submit written comments, which TEP is using to compile a database on public opinion on the project.

Salkowski said there will be additional open house meetings in Green Valley and Vail this summer.

To offer comments or request more information concerning the Rosemont Transmission Line Project, call TEP’s project information line at 866-632-5944 or go to www.tep.com.

jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726