News
Sahuarita has seat at Washington talks on mines
By Philip Franchine, The Sahuarita Sun
Activists from Sahuarita and Tucson joined Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at a Senate hearing in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday in calling for the Obama administration to reform the nation’s 1872 hardrock mining law.
Salazar told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee “it is time to ensure a fair return to the public for mining activities that occur on public lands and to address the cleanup of abandoned mines.”
Farmers Investment Co. owners Dick Walden and Nan Stockholm Walden of Sahuarita and two other local activists attended the hearing and presented senators with an inch-thick set of documents on the proposed Rosemont Copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains titled, “An Example of the Devastating Impacts of an Antiquated Law in One of the Most Scenic Areas of Arizona.”
The committee is considering S. 796, the Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009 and S. 140, the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Act of 2009.
The Waldens own 5,000 acres of pecan groves, and FICO is the largest water consumer in the Sahuarita-Green Valley area. They have publicly expressed concerns about water usage at the proposed mine.
Also appearing were Roger Featherstone of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition and Trevor Hare of the Sky Island Alliance, both in Tucson, on behalf of a number of other organizations in Pima County, incuding the county government.
The packet of information included a July 10 position statement from Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry saying the U.S. Forest Service process in considering the Rosemont mine is a “sham” because the Forest Service says it cannot prevent the mine from being developed. The mining would occur on private land and the adjacent Forest Service land would be used for processing ore and storage of waste ore.
Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state asked Salazar why the Forest Service said it cannot stop the Rosemont Mine proposal even though there is near-unanimous local opposition. However, the Forest Service is under the Department of Agriculture, not the Department of the Interior. Salazar instead spoke about the Bureau of Land Management, an agency that is under his jurisdiction, noting that it has authority to block mines that would cause “undue, unnecessary degradation,” Featherstone said.
Forest Service officials say they cannot stop the Rosemont Mine under the General Mining Act of 1872, which gives mining preference over other uses on much of the nation’s public lands. That law is the target of reformers, who say it has left a legacy of hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that are polluting rivers and streams throughout the West.
“The 1872 Mining Act...allows anyone to stake a claim on public lands, pay a nominal fee each year, and conduct mining operations, (and) allows companies to bring in millions of dollars in private revenue without paying royalties to the American taxpayer,” said one of the documents given the committee by the Waldens.
Senators were given a 2008 letter from the Arizona Game and Fish Department to the Forest Service says the mine would virtually destroy wildlife habitat in the northern Santa Rita Mountains, and could jeopardize groundwater supplies in the Santa Cruz Valley for decades.
Augusta Resource, the parent company of Rosemont, said it will replace groundwater for the next 20 years, but critics say the mine easily could remain open for many decades beyond that time frame.
While past reform bills have foundered in the face of opposition from industry and Western lawmakers, a new crop of conservation-minded lawmakers plus a new administration means a renewed interest in an overhaul.
Salazar, a former Colorado senator, told reporters “We are committing significant resources from the Department of Interior to get this done.”
The National Mining Association has said it supports reform in principle, but it has expressed reservations about the details of legislative proposals, particularly royalty formulas.
Some of the proposed royalty formulas would put otherwise profitable mines out of business and cost jobs, Heckla Mining Co. President and CEO Phillips Baker Jr. told the committee.
Jamie Sturgess of Canada-based Augusta Resource, the parent company of Rosemont, said his company has not taken a position on the reform bills. He noted that while some in the industry support paying some royalties, there are questions about whether royalties would be go to local, regional or national uses.
pfranchine@sahuarita.com| 547-9738
Salazar told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee “it is time to ensure a fair return to the public for mining activities that occur on public lands and to address the cleanup of abandoned mines.”
Farmers Investment Co. owners Dick Walden and Nan Stockholm Walden of Sahuarita and two other local activists attended the hearing and presented senators with an inch-thick set of documents on the proposed Rosemont Copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains titled, “An Example of the Devastating Impacts of an Antiquated Law in One of the Most Scenic Areas of Arizona.”
The committee is considering S. 796, the Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009 and S. 140, the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Act of 2009.
The Waldens own 5,000 acres of pecan groves, and FICO is the largest water consumer in the Sahuarita-Green Valley area. They have publicly expressed concerns about water usage at the proposed mine.
Also appearing were Roger Featherstone of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition and Trevor Hare of the Sky Island Alliance, both in Tucson, on behalf of a number of other organizations in Pima County, incuding the county government.
The packet of information included a July 10 position statement from Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry saying the U.S. Forest Service process in considering the Rosemont mine is a “sham” because the Forest Service says it cannot prevent the mine from being developed. The mining would occur on private land and the adjacent Forest Service land would be used for processing ore and storage of waste ore.
Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state asked Salazar why the Forest Service said it cannot stop the Rosemont Mine proposal even though there is near-unanimous local opposition. However, the Forest Service is under the Department of Agriculture, not the Department of the Interior. Salazar instead spoke about the Bureau of Land Management, an agency that is under his jurisdiction, noting that it has authority to block mines that would cause “undue, unnecessary degradation,” Featherstone said.
Forest Service officials say they cannot stop the Rosemont Mine under the General Mining Act of 1872, which gives mining preference over other uses on much of the nation’s public lands. That law is the target of reformers, who say it has left a legacy of hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that are polluting rivers and streams throughout the West.
“The 1872 Mining Act...allows anyone to stake a claim on public lands, pay a nominal fee each year, and conduct mining operations, (and) allows companies to bring in millions of dollars in private revenue without paying royalties to the American taxpayer,” said one of the documents given the committee by the Waldens.
Senators were given a 2008 letter from the Arizona Game and Fish Department to the Forest Service says the mine would virtually destroy wildlife habitat in the northern Santa Rita Mountains, and could jeopardize groundwater supplies in the Santa Cruz Valley for decades.
Augusta Resource, the parent company of Rosemont, said it will replace groundwater for the next 20 years, but critics say the mine easily could remain open for many decades beyond that time frame.
While past reform bills have foundered in the face of opposition from industry and Western lawmakers, a new crop of conservation-minded lawmakers plus a new administration means a renewed interest in an overhaul.
Salazar, a former Colorado senator, told reporters “We are committing significant resources from the Department of Interior to get this done.”
The National Mining Association has said it supports reform in principle, but it has expressed reservations about the details of legislative proposals, particularly royalty formulas.
Some of the proposed royalty formulas would put otherwise profitable mines out of business and cost jobs, Heckla Mining Co. President and CEO Phillips Baker Jr. told the committee.
Jamie Sturgess of Canada-based Augusta Resource, the parent company of Rosemont, said his company has not taken a position on the reform bills. He noted that while some in the industry support paying some royalties, there are questions about whether royalties would be go to local, regional or national uses.
pfranchine@sahuarita.com| 547-9738
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