Please tell the EPA to protect precious Arizona groundwater

Please tell the EPA to protect precious Arizona groundwater

Please comment now to protect precious Arizona groundwater

The deadline for comments is Tuesday, February 27, 2018, so act now!

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently accepting comments for a draft permit that would allow a brand-new mining company with no track record to pollute Arizona groundwater to extract copper from Arizona grasslands rich in cultural heritage just upstream from the Willcox playa, winter home to thousands of imperiled Sandhill cranes.

The permit would allow the company to drill 1,400 wells and inject over 7,000,000 gallons of sulfuric acid a day into the groundwater. 

In-situ mining is a type of mining that injects 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 but (outside of several existing mines) has never been attempted to mine copper.  No in-situ mine has ever returned the groundwater to pre-mining conditions.

What could possibly go wrong?!!

Please send the EPA comments on this inappropriate project. 

For More Information:
Original comments from a Coalition of groups
Supplemental comments
EPA’s project website

 

Updated 2/26/18

Attend public meeting to stop the proposed Gunnison copper mine

Attend public meeting to stop the proposed Gunnison copper mine

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

Appeal hearing of a Rio Tinto permit to pollute Queen Creek begins February 5

Appeal hearing of a Rio Tinto permit to pollute Queen Creek begins February 5

Please attend a hearing this week to support the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition’s appeal of permits granted to Rio Tinto to dump polluted water into Queen Creek.  The Coalition has appealed the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s (ADEQ) improper granting of a permit to Rio Tinto.  Queen Creek is already polluted due to mining activity and, if the permit is upheld, Rio Tinto would make the pollution worse.

The hearing will be taking place from Monday, February 5, 2018 to at least Friday, February 9.  The hearing will go all day from 9:00 to 5:00.

The hearing will take place at 1400 W. Washington, Suite 101, Phoenix, AZ

Please drop in at any time (except over the lunch recess) to support our appeal.