Elizabeth Whitman writes in the Phoenix New Times that the Tonto National Forest has released a Draft Environemntal Impact Statement (DEIS) for Resolution Copper’s proposal to destroy Oak Flat and thousands of additional acres of public land by building a huge underground copper mine.
The article outlines what damage the proposed mine would do to our environment, for surrounding communities and to the religious freedome of Native Americans.
The Phoenix New Times article also looked at what the DEIS says about subsidence at Oak Flat:
“They keep saying they’re going to have all this subsidence, but that there won’t be any impact to Apache Leap. They say there’ll be no damage to Devil’s Canyon,” [Sandy] Bahr, of the Sierra Club, said. With the depth of the mining and the water that would be pumped as a result, she said, “it’s hard to believe … that they’re not going to have impacts to those areas.”
“Those are things that we have questioned and I’m sure we’ll question as we look at this draft,” Bahr added.
The article examines how a recent ruling putting on hold constructon of the proposed Rosemont Mine near Tucson could effect the Resolution Copper proposal:
“The Forest Service has always operated on the assumption that they have no ability to say no when a mining company wants to mine on public land.”
But when the judge decided that the Forest Service had misinterpreted mining law, “it was kind of a sweeping decision,” [Randy] Serraglio [of the Center for Biological Diversity] said.
The Forest Service is currently accepting comments on the DEIS. The comment deadline will end November 7, 2019.
“Now is basically when we really gear up,” said Roger Featherstone, director of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, which includes tribes and environmental organizations that oppose the mine.
“We’ll tear that document apart and prepare our own detailed comments. We’ll be active in all the public meetings, we’ll have our own meetings. So there will be a lot of activity over the next few months.”
