5/13/24

Environmental racism, habitat degradation would plague SE Arizona mine

Exploiting the General Mining Law of 1872 Australia-based South32 Ltd. is ripping into Sobaipuri O’odham and Hohokam ancestral lands at Harshaw, Arizona with plans to extract zinc, manganese and nickel. 

In 2019 Our Lady of the Arroyo and her man motored to Oracle, Patagonia and Bisbee from Santa Fe and were shocked by the ravages of surface mining in SE Arizona where operations owned by Morenci and Miami are despoiling water supplies and reducing entire mountain ranges to piles of waste rock. 

In 2023 Trump appointees rejected a lawsuit that would have blocked mineral exploration in Arizona's Patagonia Mountains despite the resultant acid mine drainage that puts wildlife at risk and half of all migratory birds in North America move through the nearby avian sanctuaries at Sonoita Creek State Natural Area and Patagonia Lake.

Now, as the US Forest Service wades through the thirty day public scoping period and the forty five days expected for completion of the Environmental Impact Statement, Santa Cruz County is concerned that the 78% of residents who speak Spanish as a first language will be unfairly impacted by the dust, noise and traffic.
“It is not only beneficial to USFS and the Biden Administration, it is beneficial to the Santa Cruz County to employ an engagement process that ensures the entire community has been effectively educated and fully understands the impacts of the Hermosa Project, as well as, informed of the range of possible alternatives that mitigate adverse impacts.” Robin Lucky, president of the Calabasas Alliance, a watchdog conservation group located in Santa Cruz County says many residents remain distrustful of the process. [Forest Service begins public scoping period for South32 Hermosa Mine Project]
Learn more at the Patagonia Regional Times.

Zinc is one of the most recoverable and recycled materials on the planet so mining the Phoenix and Tucson landfills seems a far more Earth-friendly endeavor than blowing up the Sky Islands does.

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2 comments:

  1. larry kurtzMay 18, 2024 at 4:29 AM

    "U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva is urging the Forest Service to extend the public comment period as officials consider whether to approve South32's Hermosa Mine, a manganese and zinc project tucked into the Patagonia Mountains of Southern Arizona." Tucson Sentinel

    ReplyDelete
  2. larry kurtzMay 18, 2024 at 4:31 AM

    "The Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded the global metals and mining company South32 $20 million for its Hermosa Project, near the Town of Patagonia." Arizona Public Media

    ReplyDelete

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