New study: Resolution Copper mine will use 250 billion gallons of water as drought ravages Arizona
Pinal Partnership campaigns for copper mine ahead
of vote in Congress
(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Resolution Copper.)
(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Resolution Copper.)
by Aaron Dorman
Aaron Dorman is the Casa Grande reporter at PinalCentral, covering government, schools, business and more. He can be reached at adorman@pinalcentral.com.
CASA GRANDE — Once again, the proposed Resolution Copper mine has come into the crosshairs of federal action.
The potential to overturn a 2014 land transfer agreement has increased lobbying and public opinion efforts by both critics and supporters of the project.
Earlier this month, the Pinal Partnership group began a targeted public relations campaign on behalf of Resolution Copper, including urging members to write letters to several key members of the Arizona congressional delegation —Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, as well as Reps. Tom O’Halleran, Greg Stanton and Ann Kirkpatrick.
The letter says that bill H.R. 1884, which is part of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, “would prevent mining from ever happening” and would “prevent the creation of thousands of American jobs, and billions in revenue to the Arizona economy.”
Representatives for Resolution Copper also released their own statement affirming an economic boost to the region and claiming that the project has been years in the making through public engagement and government review.
“We have strong support from local community leaders to build a responsible copper mine that would support more than 3,700 jobs, add $1 billion a year to Arizona’s economy and supply up to one quarter of the nation’s copper demand,” the statement reads. “Mining has co-existed with outdoor recreation, ranching and cultural activities in the Copper Triangle region for over a century, and we are committed to preserving the area’s unique heritage.”
At the same time, the Center for Biological Diversity released a statewide poll showing 74% of Arizonans oppose the Resolution Copper proposal. According to the poll, although the opposition trended toward both Democratic and urban residents, a majority of Republicans polled — 56% — were also against the mine.
Resolution Copper officials say they are planning to release their own polling numbers from August suggesting that “most Arizona voters were unfamiliar with Resolution Copper but after learning more, including what critics say, support for the project grew.”
The proposed copper mine, located near the town of Superior in northern Pinal County, would use a block-cave process to drill the copper ore over several decades. As a result of land subsidence, the area known as Oak Flat would become a crater several miles wide and 1,000 feet deep.
Critics of the mine say that the 2014 land transfer that was passed was snuck into a “must pass” bill at the last minute, after being repeatedly struck down in prior legislative sessions.
While little about the debate over the mine has changed, the past year has seen a dramatic back-and-forth over its future status, with the possible reconciliation bill just the latest in a struggle between strongly entrenched viewpoints.
A 3,000-page Environmental Impact Statement from the U.S. Forest Service, due out at the end of 2020, was instead released at the beginning of the year, just before President Donald Trump left office. The document was quickly rescinded in March by the incoming Biden administration. However, in June, the Justice Department threw out a lawsuit by the Apache Stronghold organization opposing the copper mine, claiming in a brief that the land transfer did not violate existing treaties.
At the same time, the Center for Biological Diversity released a statewide poll showing 74% of Arizonans oppose the Resolution Copper proposal. According to the poll, although the opposition trended toward both Democratic and urban residents, a majority of Republicans polled — 56% — were also against the mine.
Resolution Copper officials say they are planning to release their own polling numbers from August suggesting that “most Arizona voters were unfamiliar with Resolution Copper but after learning more, including what critics say, support for the project grew.”
Resolution resolve
In the wake of the administration’s hold on the Oak Flat land swap, officials from the Town of Superior, as well as a group of stakeholders calling itself the Pinal Partnership, began advocating for the project and standing firm against SOFA.
> Superior Mayor Mila Besich has been working on the Resolution Copper project for many years — too long, she says — and sees it as one of the few economic opportunities for a community her family has been a part of for generations. . .
In a recent letter urging members of her community to reach out to their representatives, Besich said SOFA is a “poison pill” that would “cripple all of the mining operations in our region.”
“As residents of Arizona’s Copper Corridor, we understand our role in the world,” she wrote. “We mine and produce the copper that runs this world. Right now, our role in the global economy is at risk. . .
Resolution Copper says the project could ultimately directly employ somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500 people — most living in the East Valley and Phoenix Metro area — and inject $20 billion into Arizona’s economy. It could supply the United States with one-quarter of its copper for the next 40-60 years, although there is no guarantee the copper would make it into U.S. manufacturing, given the volatility of the copper market.
A 2019 study commissioned by the Arizona Department of Transportation concluded that the majority of copper extracted from the Rosemont mine would be shipped outside of the U.S. because there isn’t capacity at American smelters to process the ore.
The Pinal Partnership, a nonprofit founded in Pinal County in 2005 that “unites the (county’s) vision for responsible economic development,” according to the organization’s president Tony Smith, has also advocated for Resolution Copper, touting the economic benefits of the project, using its influence in the region to further garner support for the project.
. . .The proposed mine would be the largest underground mine in the U.S., plunging to depths of more than 7,000 feet below the surface, where temperatures reach 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Large quantities of water for cooling and other aspects of mining, from dust control to remediation of mine waste, would be required for its operation.. . ."
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