Attend public meeting to stop the proposed Gunnison copper mine

Feb 22, 2018 | Arizona Mining Oversight | 0 comments

The US EPA will be taking public comments at a meeting in Dragoon, AZ from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, on February 27, 2018.

The meeting will be held at the Dragoon Women’s Club, 1871 North Johnson Road, Dragoon, Arizona.

Excelsior Mining is planning an in-situ copper mine on private land near the town of Dragoon and Texas Canyon (between the towns of Benson and Willcox upstream from the Willcox Playa).  Excelsior Mining was formed in 2005 and this is their only mine project.

In-situ mining is a type of mining that injects sulfuric acid into the ground to dissolve copper and other minerals.  This toxic solution of copper and acid is then pumped from the ground and processed to remove the copper.  In-situ mining, by definition, is the intentional pollution of ground water.  In-situ mining has long been used to produce uranium and at several existing copper mines but has never been attempted to mine copper in a greenfields location.  No in-situ mine has ever returned the groundwater to pre-mining conditions.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently taking comments on a draft Underground Injection Control permit that would allow the company to drill 1,400 wells and inject over 7,000,000 gallons of sulfuric acid a day into the groundwater. 

What could possibly go wrong?!!

Please see our sample comments letter to EPA to use for talking points to use if you speak at the public meeting.

If you cannot attend the public meeting, please send the EPA comments.

Thanks,
Roger Featherstone, Director

For More Information:
Talking points
Our comments
Supplemental comments
EPA’s project website

 Updated 2/26/18

Last chance to help us out in 2017

Dec 29, 2017 | Arizona Mining Oversight | 0 comments

As the clock ticks down, you have only 48 (or so) hours left in 2017 to help us do all we need to do in 2018.  You are critical to the success of our efforts.

The only thing standing in the way of irresponsible mining company’s plans to destroy precious public lands (with the assistance of increasingly lax federal and state mining laws) is the support of folks like you who share our passion for protecting our communities and the environment.

I’m asking you to act today by making a generous tax-deductible gift to the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition.

• Continue to protect Oak Flat against the proposed assault by Rio Tinto and BHP.  We will battle on the federal and state levels and in the courts.  We will educate decision-makers why they must reverse the Oak Flat land exchange. 

• Continue our work to protect the jaguars, ocelot, and other endangered species that live in the Santa Rita Mountains from the proposed Rosemont mine.  We are working on the federal and state levels and in the courts.  We have sued the US Forest Service for illegally approving the Rosemont mine plan.

• Continue our work to protect Arizona’s precious waters from proposed in-situ copper mines that, if we are not successful, are sure to pollute aquifers upon which we all depend.

• Stopping new and dangerous proposals by the state of Arizona to take over the federal government’s programs that regulate the dredging and filling of waters of the United States and programs that regulate underground injection wells used by mining companies to inject dangerous chemicals into aquifers.

We have a mountain of work ahead of us, but with your help, nothing is impossible when we all stand together to protect the rights of vulnerable communities and the natural places we love.

Due to the new federal tax bill just signed into law, this may be the last year you can fully deduct donations to the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition.  If you need an additional incentive to donate, this is it.  Donate now just in case!

Sincerely, 

Roger Featherstone, Director

Please visit our convenient online donation page and give generously. If you’d rather send a check, you will find instructions on the donation page as well. Have a wonderful New Year!