Jun 19, 2014 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
The US Forest Service has issued a call for scoping comments on a proposal to conduct invasive Hydrological and Geotechnical testing for Rio Tinto’s proposed toxic tailings location for their proposed mine at Oak Flat.
The comment period for this action is now closed. Thanks to everyone that took action.
Rio Tinto’s toxic tailings location is between the towns of Superior and Queen Valley and right in the middle of the Queen Creek watershed. The toxic tailings location would heavily affect Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a world-class botanical preserve.
In June of 2013, Rio Tinto (through its wholly owned and controlled subsidiary, Resolution Copper), submitted a plan of operations to conduct invasive testing of nearly 25 square miles of public land managed by the US Forest Service. In November of 2013, Rio Tinto (again as Resolution Copper) submitted a plan of operations for their entire mine complex at Oak Flat which includes an underground block cave mine, a processing facility, and a toxic tailings pile. This proposed action would allow the testing to determine whether Rio Tinto’s selected toxic tailings location is even possible.
The US Forest Service is calling for public comments to help them identify the issues that should be looked at as they move forward with the NEPA process for invasive testing for this possible toxic tailings location.
Incredibly, the Forest Service is not planning to include any mention of the full mine design in its analysis of the impacts of this project. It is absurd to believe that somehow testing for this tailings location is not connected to Rio Tinto’s full mine design. Rio Tinto plans to excavate a cubic mile of rock and ore from beneath the surface of Oak Flat. Unless they have a location to dump this mountain of toxic waste, they cannot mine under Oak Flat.
Please go to our alert for more information and for a sample comment letter that you can revise. The sample letter will give you a number of ideas that you can use.
Thanks,
Roger Featherstone, Director
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Go to the action page.
- Send/amend the sample letter at action page bottom.
Personalized emails & email subject headers make a much greater impact.
- For more information, go to the action page.
Thanks for taking action
Mar 15, 2014 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining
For nearly ten years, Rio Tinto has avoided divulging any real details of its proposed huge underground block cave mine under Oak Flat. Instead, Rio Tinto has spent their time trying to convince the US Congress to pass special interest legislation that would privatize Oak Flat and avoid most of the federal process for permitting mine on public land.
Last November, in an effort to revive their floundering 12 version of the Oak Flat land exchange bill, Rio Tinto bowed to pressure from both sides, and released a mining plan. Rio Tinto’s PR since the release of the plan has been “we gave you the plan, now give us the land exchange.”
Nov 13, 2013 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining
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.
Nov 13, 2013 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining
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.
Sep 14, 2013 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
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):
May 13, 2013 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
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:
- The Oak Flat land exchange (HR 687) would be the only bill that would turn over a Native American sacred site on public land to foreign mining companies and is opposed by every Indian Tribe in the United States.
- The Oak Flat land exchange (HR 687) would be the largest loss of public lands recreational climbing opportunities in history and is opposed by the Access Fund and other organizations that care about maintaining recreational opportunities on public land.
- The Oak Flat land exchange (HR 687) bypasses the normal process of permitting mines on public lands, avoids the NEPA process, and would destroy wildlife habitat and clean water resources.
Apr 18, 2013 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
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:
Mar 15, 2013 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
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
Mar 15, 2013 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
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.
See a copy of the resolution.
