Forest Service gives crucial OK to Rosemont Mine
The U.S. Forest Service gave a major boost to the proposed
Rosemont Mine today by approving a formal decision
authorizing the project.
Coronado National Forest Supervisor Kerwin Dewberry posted
the decision shortly after 1 p.m. today, putting the mine three
steps from being able to start construction. Dewberry selected
the Barrel Alternative for the mine out of five previously studied.
It's the same alternative that his predecessor Jim Upchurch
tentatively selected for the mine nearly three and one-half years ago,
before the project got bogged down due to the discovery of an
endangered ocelot near the site in April 2014.
<snip>
Their biggest concern, however, has been about potential impacts
from the mine's water use and its pumping of water from the nearby
aquifer to empty out its open pit.
"Rosemont is proposing to dig an open-pit that is a half-mile deep,
and one mile rim-to-rim, piling potentially toxic mine waste 600-800
feet high covering more than 3,000 acres of the Coronado National Forest,
in a vital regional watershed,” opponent Hartmann said. "It’s indisputable
that this project threatens our drinking water along with
critical desert aquatic habitats and must be stopped.”
http://tucson.com/news/local/forest-service-gives-crucial-ok-to-rosemont-mine/article_5838ee16-4ba9-11e7-b45b-3b71ecf899f3.html