Giffords tours mine, sites getting stimulus cash

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords toured sites in Tucson, Amado and Green Valley on Friday to see how stimulus dollars are being spent, and ended her day high on the tailings of the Sierrita Mine.

Giffords, D-Ariz., visited the Amado Community Food Bank, which received $300,000 in stimulus funds that will be spent to “meet needs throughout the community that never existed before,” she said.

The money, which will be used to complete an expansion project, is part of about $7 million in federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will go to Arizona agencies that work to prevent homelessness and build facilities to benefit neighborhoods, Giffords said.

Tony Bruno, government resource manager at Community Food Bank in Tucson, said the money will help fulfill a dream he had for 12 years as director at the Amado food bank.

“This has been blood, sweat and tears, literally,” Bruno said.

Bruno said about two-thirds of families in the area rely on the food bank, and that requests are up 35 percent over last year.

Mildred Lopez Feliciano, executive director of Amado Community Food Bank, told Giffords that the facility acts more as a community center, providing everything from well-baby care to food to books for children.

Bill Carnegie, president and CEO of Community Food Bank, which includes Amado, said the organization gave away 16 million pounds of food in 2007, and 22 million pounds last year.

“We’ve seen a dramatic increase across Southern Arizona,” he said.

Construction will begin in January to complete the empty shell that will more than double the size of the food bank. At one end, United Community Health Center will run a primary-care facility to serve the area.

Dental care for kids

UCHC’s pediatric facility in Green Valley was Gifford’s next stop, where she got a glimpse of its nearly completed expansion and a tour of a dental RV that will cater to children in underserved areas.

UCHC received just over $1 million in stimulus money that will pay for several workers, the mobile dental unit and a modular building that will eventually provide primary care services in the greater Sahuarita area.

Giffords swapped dentist stories with several young dental assistants who work in the RV, and a took a seat in one of the chairs.

Earlier in the day, she attended a briefing at Tucson International Airport, which received $1.8 million to strengthen security, and visited Solar Technology Research Corp., a Tucson company that received $100,000 to research low-cost silicon.

Top of the mine

Giffords ended her day at the Sierrita mine northwest of Green Valley, operated by Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold. Arizona produces 64 percent of the nation’s copper, and the Sierrita mine is by far the biggest provider in the state, officials said.

Giffords questioned mine officials about ongoing efforts to deal with a sulfur plume that has contaminated an aquifer, and about their plans to expand west. The mine has been dealing with the plume since at least 2000, and is under a mitigation order by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

The 2-mile by 1.5 mile open-pit mine was founded more than 100 years ago and has been in continuous operation since the 1950s.

On a driving tour of the mine, officials showed off a new, $25 million “electric shovel,” $2 million dump trucks and efforts to save water and cut down on dust problems.