TUCSON -Wednesday night, a federal judge halted the construction of the Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains, overturning the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of the plans for the project.
Conservationists say this is a win.
“This is a huge momentous victory for us and for everybody in Southern Arizona who cares about our water supply, beautiful wildlife living around Tucson and public lands that sustain us all,” Randy Serraglio, a conservation advocate with the Center For Biological Diversity said.
Serraglio argues Judge James Soto’s ruling is a victory for endangered species like the jaguar.
“This is a victory for our kids and our grandkids who can grow up in a world where we still have jaguars roaming in the mountains around tucson,” Serraglio said.
The debate over whether to build a copper mine stretched over a decade.
The Canadian-based Hudbay Minerals Inc. hoped to start building at the start of this month but the judge’s decision in this latest lawsuit is a setback.
In response to the ruling, Hudbay’s interim president and CEO Peter Kukielski said in a statement:
“We are extremely disappointed with the court’s decision. we strongly believe that the project conforms to federal laws and regulations that have been in place for decades. we will be appealing the decision as we evaluate next steps for the Rosemont Project.”
Randy Serraglio believes if construction were to ever begin on a mine in the Santa Rita Mountains it would destroy thousands of acres of public lands in the heart of Southern Arizona.
“These public lands belong to all Americans,” he said. “Giving them away to a foreign company is not the way they should be managed.”
The Center for Biological Diversity said its lawyers will fully defend this decision at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva, the Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee in the House applauded the judge’s decision.
In a statement, Grijalva said: “Since 1872, the mining industry has been given almost everything it’s ever wanted with no questions asked, and this ruling is the ultimate emperor-has-no-clothes moment. Congress, federal agencies, and most of all the American public no longer have to live with the industry-backed fiction that the law gives them a blank check to mine and dump wherever they please.”
https://kvoa.com/news/2019/08/01/conservationists-applaud-decision-to-halt-construction-of-rosemont-mine/
2019-08-02 05:25:39Z
52780343810669
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Conservationists applaud decision to halt construction of Rosemont Mine - KVOA Tucson News"
Post a Comment