Please make a charitable contribution to the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition.
Last year was a good year for us, but there is much more to do in 2014. We need your financial support. Please make a donation to the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition so we can continue our work to protect Oak Flat, the Santa Rita Mountains, and Arizona’s many lands and waters threatened by inappropriate mining projects.
We have accomplished much in 2013:
Rio Tinto plans to submit a mining plan of operations to the US Forest Service early next week regarding their dream of building a mine at Oak Flat. Curiously, Rio Tinto has stated that the plan will not be available to the public until next year!
Rio Tinto has gone to great lengths to avoid filing a plan since 2004, opting instead to cajole the US Congress to pass a bill giving them Oak Flat without detailing how destructive a mine at Oak Flat would be to sacred, ecologically critical, and recreationally important lands.
The submitting of the plan is timed to jump start HR 687 in the US House of Representatives, which was stalled in October when the bill was poised for a vote on the House floor but was pulled by the House leadership. The bill’s sponsors in the House were worried that the Lujan amendment (which forbids the Secretary of Agriculture from giving any sacred lands at Oak Flat to Rio Tinto) would pass, effectively scuttling the land exchange itself. The US Senate has scheduled a hearing on the Senate version of the bill, S 339 for November 20.
HR 687 is scheduled to come to the House floor today, November 13. 
Please contact your Representative now and ask him/her to vote YES on the Lujan amendment to HR 687 and to vote NO on the Oak Flat land exchange (HR 687).
The Lujan amendment would prevent the Secretary of Agriculture from giving any sacred land to RIo Tinto.
Please take action today to stop HR 687 to protect Oak Flat!
The vote is now scheduled for September 26, this Thursday. Please act now!
The US House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Oak Flat land Exchange, HR 687, September 26. HR 687 is the 12th version of the land exchange that Rio Tinto has convinced Arizona members of Congress to introduce on their behalf, and the worst of the lot.
There are many reasons that this bill is a bad idea and should be defeated. Please contact your Representative and tell him or her to vote no on HR 687, the Oak Flat land exchange.
The Oak Flat land exchange (HR 687):
Please take action now. Click here for action alert.
On May 15th, the US House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee will be voting on the Oak Flat land Exchange, HR 687. This new version, HR 687, is virtually identical to last year’s version of the land exchange (HR 1904). This is the 12th version of the land exchange that Rio Tinto has convinced Arizona members of Congress to introduce on their behalf, and is every bit as bad as HR 1904, which was the worst of the lot.
There are many reasons that this bill is a bad idea and should be voted down in Committee. Please contact your Representative and tell him or her to vote no on HR 687, the Oak Flat land exchange.
The Oak Flat land exchange would:
This morning, April 18th, 2013, Rio Tinto held their Annual General Meeting in London. Our Director, Roger Featherstone, was in town and attended the meeting.
During the meeting, Roger was able to ask the Rio Tinto Board of Directors the following question:
We circulated a sign on letter to accompany new information about opposition to the Oak Flat land exchange from the towns of Superior and Queen Valley. The letter was circulated in Washington, DC before a hearing on the new version of the Oak Flat land exchange, HR 687 on March 21. (HR 687 is virtually identical to HR 1904 from the last congress.
To see a copy of the letter, go here.
Thanks,
Roger
On March 13, 2013, the town council of Superior, Arizona passed a unanimous resolution opposing HR 687, the latest version of the Oak Flat land exchange. The resolution passed following a town council meeting a week ago in which the town council took comments on their decision to oppose the land exchange and end a Mutual Benefits Agreement with Rio Tinto. At that meeting, the majority of comments supported the town decision.
During the council meeting Rio Tinto threatened to lay off it’s workers if the town passed the resolution. This is similar to a threat Rio Tinto made last November to lay off most of their workers is the previous version of the land exchange, HR 1904, was not approved by Congress. There is no word yet whether Rio Tinto will follow through with their threat now that the resolution has been passed.
On February 21, 2013, the town of Superior officially terminated its Mutual Benefits Agreement with Rio Tinto and withdrew it’s letter of support for the Oak Flat land exchange.
The town’s letter begins, “Due to the financial condition of the Town of Superior, I have been instructed to inform you that we regret that we can no longer express our unqualified support of the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act (HR 687 or SB 339, as drafted.)”
The letter cites 6 reasons for the termination with its relationship with Rio Tinto:
On December 3, 2012, the Queen Valley Golf Association passed a resolution opposing Rio Tinto’s diversion of 900,000 gallons 
of water a day from its normal course down Queen Creek to a pipeline carrying the water directly to the Phoenix area where it is diluted and dumped on agriculture fields in return for water credits going to Rio Tinto that could be used should Rio Tinto develop a proposed mine at Oak Flat. This diversion has left Queen Valley, a small retirement community centered around it’s golf course, with water shortages.See the Queen Valley Golf Association’s letter here.
On January 11, 2013, the Queen Valley Homeowners Association passed a similar resolution opposing the water diversion and also opposing RIo Tinto’s plans to place a mountain of tailings at Florence Junction. A tailings pile at Florence Junction would seriously impact the community, only 4 miles away. See the Queen Valley Homeowners Association letter here.
Our friends have produced three videos on mining issues that we work on. Please take a look at them and share the links. Together we can spread the word about why these proposals are bad for Arizona, bad for our communities, and bad for the environment!
The first is called Cyanide Beach and was produced by John Dougherty and show how 5 current members of the Board of Directors were involved in a mine in Sardina, Italy that not only has caused massive pollution, but left a trail of lies and broken promises.
We’ve just heard that Senator Kyl is playing hardball by putting holds on all kinds of bill to try to force through the Oak Flat land exchange. We’ve also heard that Senator McCain was rebuffed by Senator Levin when he attempted to add the Oak Flat land exchange to the Defense Authorization bill.
Call your Senators now and tell them that the Oak Flat land exchange is a poison pill that will sink any bill it is attached to.