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Feds support Grijalva Coronado mining withdrawal bill
By Dick Kamp Wick Communications Environmental Liaison
1/ 21/ 10
Washington: Congressman Raul Grijalva received a boost Thursday at a Congressional hearing for his Southern Arizona Public Lands Protection Act of 2009 (HR2944) when the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its sub agency the US Forest Service (USFS) joined with the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to support his proposed withdrawal of all Coronado National Forest land in Pima and Santa Cruz Counties from future mineral entry.
Grijalva is chair of the Natural Resource Committee Subcommittee On National Parks, Forests And Public Lands of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
The bill would prevent future mining claims, and allow existing claims to remain.
However, should the bill pass, the proposed Canadian-owned Augusta Resource Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains, as well as two other less developed proposals in the Patagonia Mountains, the Hardshell Mine and the Patagonia Jewell mines would require validation of their claims, said Jay Jensen, Deputy Undersecretary of the USDA and Marcilynn A.Burke, Deputy Director of the BLM. The same would be true of any future mines that want to develop claims filed prior to the mining withdrawal.
Jensen stressed that, "we don't know how many claims on Coronado land are valid." Burke told the Congressional panel, "A mine claimant would have to show physical exposure of exploitable minerals before the date of (Congressional) withdrawal. If that claim was made, the BLM would validate to determine that claims are valid."
BLM is in charge of determining the economic validity of all mining claims, although it is rarely done except when land is withdrawn from future mining by Congress or by a Federal agency.
A related issue that was not raised is part of a current lawsuit against Interior. The court will decide whether claims that prove valid after a BLM technical validation team studies can also be used to process ore, such as a concentrator that is placed on a mining claim. The argument has been made that land with resources that could be utilized for mining must be mined under the 1872 Mining Act. A decision against Interior could impact the Rosemont project if their claims require validation.
Jensen also reiterated concerns over the Rosemont mine in particular, telling the panel,
"The Department has heard from both opponents and proponents and has some concern with the Rosemont Copper Project. I have personally visited the site of the proposed mine and have asked the Forest Service to analyze a "no action" alternative in the environmental analysis for the proposed mine plan of operations."
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement Jensen referred to is projected to be released by the Coronado in June.
Burke said that BLM had some concerns with portions of the bill that would withdraw Federal rights for mineral and geothermal entry on Pima County land. She suggested in written testimony that the County define special concerns related to the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and work on language for other areas. Burke added, under questioning, that Pima County might wish to consider where the language could complicate future land swaps between the County and BLM for development or conservation purposes and she offered to work with County staff to come up with language for the bill.
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry pointed out that land had been withdrawn from mining in the county for both development and conservation as early as 1928 and that the Supervisors had successfully battled Congress when a Congressional withdrawal of the Tucson Mountains was revoked in 1959 when mining interests wanted access.
The testimony was a reminder that, should the Grijalva bill pass, it could be revoked by Congress if it was determined to be in the national interest to do so.
Chairman Ned Norris of the Tohono O'odham Nation called for protection of the Santa Rita Mountains as an integral part of the historical region that his people still callhome known as Papagueria. "75 human remains and thousands of culturally important artifacts have been found where Augusta wants to put the Rosemont Mine. 43 finds are on the historic preservation registry. Rosemont is a wrong idea."
United Steelworkers of America's Manny Armenta called for the preservation of decent paying mining jobs and benefits as a 3rd generation miner, and support for the Rosemont mine project. His testimony was predictably opposed in the economic perspective by the predominant Rosemont opponents, who consistently brought out statistics showing that mining contribution to Southern Arizona economy had shrunk enormously.
More emotional was Grijalva's praise of Steelworker union battles to protect worker rights in the light of "the National Guard brought out in '83 to protect the interests of Phelps Dodge and more recently the past and again present owner of ASARCO, Grupo Mexico, attempting to gut worker and retired worker rights. Do you still feel that protective of the US Copper industry even if 33% of the copper comes from out of the country?"
Armenta replied that, "you've got to draw a line in the sand on mining jobs in our country. It isn't an issue of Democrats vs Republicans or union vs non-union. And I know that more and more of these companies that are in Arizona are foreign."
Rep Gabrielle Giffords asked Sahuarita's FICO pecan orchard co-owner Nan Stockholm Walden about the issue of water consumption. Walden replied, "we've been on the same land for 100 years and utilized a lot of water but we now recycle 25% as clean water to be recharged and we have worked with Pima County to develop water conservation plans that can bring water use into balance by 2030. A mine such as Rosemont says they'll operate for 20 years but we know they all run a lot longer than that and they can put a pump next to our orchards anytime they want with no regulation under state law and ruin us."
Washington: Congressman Raul Grijalva received a boost Thursday at a Congressional hearing for his Southern Arizona Public Lands Protection Act of 2009 (HR2944) when the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its sub agency the US Forest Service (USFS) joined with the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to support his proposed withdrawal of all Coronado National Forest land in Pima and Santa Cruz Counties from future mineral entry.
Grijalva is chair of the Natural Resource Committee Subcommittee On National Parks, Forests And Public Lands of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
The bill would prevent future mining claims, and allow existing claims to remain.
However, should the bill pass, the proposed Canadian-owned Augusta Resource Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains, as well as two other less developed proposals in the Patagonia Mountains, the Hardshell Mine and the Patagonia Jewell mines would require validation of their claims, said Jay Jensen, Deputy Undersecretary of the USDA and Marcilynn A.Burke, Deputy Director of the BLM. The same would be true of any future mines that want to develop claims filed prior to the mining withdrawal.
Jensen stressed that, "we don't know how many claims on Coronado land are valid." Burke told the Congressional panel, "A mine claimant would have to show physical exposure of exploitable minerals before the date of (Congressional) withdrawal. If that claim was made, the BLM would validate to determine that claims are valid."
BLM is in charge of determining the economic validity of all mining claims, although it is rarely done except when land is withdrawn from future mining by Congress or by a Federal agency.
A related issue that was not raised is part of a current lawsuit against Interior. The court will decide whether claims that prove valid after a BLM technical validation team studies can also be used to process ore, such as a concentrator that is placed on a mining claim. The argument has been made that land with resources that could be utilized for mining must be mined under the 1872 Mining Act. A decision against Interior could impact the Rosemont project if their claims require validation.
Jensen also reiterated concerns over the Rosemont mine in particular, telling the panel,
"The Department has heard from both opponents and proponents and has some concern with the Rosemont Copper Project. I have personally visited the site of the proposed mine and have asked the Forest Service to analyze a "no action" alternative in the environmental analysis for the proposed mine plan of operations."
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement Jensen referred to is projected to be released by the Coronado in June.
Burke said that BLM had some concerns with portions of the bill that would withdraw Federal rights for mineral and geothermal entry on Pima County land. She suggested in written testimony that the County define special concerns related to the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and work on language for other areas. Burke added, under questioning, that Pima County might wish to consider where the language could complicate future land swaps between the County and BLM for development or conservation purposes and she offered to work with County staff to come up with language for the bill.
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry pointed out that land had been withdrawn from mining in the county for both development and conservation as early as 1928 and that the Supervisors had successfully battled Congress when a Congressional withdrawal of the Tucson Mountains was revoked in 1959 when mining interests wanted access.
The testimony was a reminder that, should the Grijalva bill pass, it could be revoked by Congress if it was determined to be in the national interest to do so.
Chairman Ned Norris of the Tohono O'odham Nation called for protection of the Santa Rita Mountains as an integral part of the historical region that his people still callhome known as Papagueria. "75 human remains and thousands of culturally important artifacts have been found where Augusta wants to put the Rosemont Mine. 43 finds are on the historic preservation registry. Rosemont is a wrong idea."
United Steelworkers of America's Manny Armenta called for the preservation of decent paying mining jobs and benefits as a 3rd generation miner, and support for the Rosemont mine project. His testimony was predictably opposed in the economic perspective by the predominant Rosemont opponents, who consistently brought out statistics showing that mining contribution to Southern Arizona economy had shrunk enormously.
More emotional was Grijalva's praise of Steelworker union battles to protect worker rights in the light of "the National Guard brought out in '83 to protect the interests of Phelps Dodge and more recently the past and again present owner of ASARCO, Grupo Mexico, attempting to gut worker and retired worker rights. Do you still feel that protective of the US Copper industry even if 33% of the copper comes from out of the country?"
Armenta replied that, "you've got to draw a line in the sand on mining jobs in our country. It isn't an issue of Democrats vs Republicans or union vs non-union. And I know that more and more of these companies that are in Arizona are foreign."
Rep Gabrielle Giffords asked Sahuarita's FICO pecan orchard co-owner Nan Stockholm Walden about the issue of water consumption. Walden replied, "we've been on the same land for 100 years and utilized a lot of water but we now recycle 25% as clean water to be recharged and we have worked with Pima County to develop water conservation plans that can bring water use into balance by 2030. A mine such as Rosemont says they'll operate for 20 years but we know they all run a lot longer than that and they can put a pump next to our orchards anytime they want with no regulation under state law and ruin us."
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