Rosemont Mine draws fire from Congress
By Adam Klawonn · June 11, 2009 · Print This Article
NEAR THE SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS — A proposal to build a massive copper mine here is getting a political thrashing this week from U.S. Reps. Gabrielle Giffords and Raul Grijalva, two Democrats in the region who have asked federal authorities to overrule previous approvals for the project.
The two Dems, who represent Tucson and a broad swath of southeastern Arizona, sent a spirited letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack that asked him to force the U.S. Forest Service to consider a “no action” scenario for the project, essentially stopping it.
The mine would be built about 30 miles south of Tucson by Augusta Resource, a Canadian company. The mine would be mostly on private land, according to press reports, while treatment facilities for the ore and waste would sit on Forest Service lands and other public land in the northern stretches of the Santa Rita Mountains. The Arizona Game and Fish department has said the project will ruin the area for wildlife.
The Green Valley News & Sun has the full story here. To surf more Arizona headlines, use our interactive map on our Arizona News page.
