As reported here earlier this week, the EPA sent a strongly worded letter regarding the Section 404 permit for the proposed Rosemont Mine. The EPA letter made the front page of today’s Arizona Daily Star.
It will be interesting to see how Augusta/Rosemont spins this.
The admonition I received upon my graduation from college in 1966; ” That in the important years to come, you strive to relate yourself to supra-personal values, to develop your mind and to cultivate in yourself the ideal of ” intellectual integrity” –the habit of deciding difficult questions in accordance with the evidence and principles of reason, or of leaving them undecided where the evidence is inconclusive.”
The pursuit of answering the mine question has left me feeling that the evidence IS conclusive. Mining for anything in this environmentally sensitive area with the known impacts to the future of water quality, air quality, degradation of an eco system for eternity, mine haul corridor traffic concentrated along a scenic corridor and route of people going to work and school are simply not compatible. The subsequent road repair costs at taxpayers expense, lowering of land and real-estate values in an already depressed market, makes no sense for people who are actually concerned about the issues being considered. These proposed jobs will not last but the negatives consequences of mining this area will be felt by man and animals as long as they exist.
If in a national or world crisis there was absolutely no alternative but to sacrifice this area of the planet to save it, I am sure the citizens of this area or any area would rally around this cause as do most people who put their own interests aside when a crisis occurs. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE SITUATIONS. In fact, this mine will leave a legacy that no one would consider a viable option for the short term ( 20 years) of the purported benefits to the economy. You have to ask yourself , “is it worth it?” To those who will ask the question in the years to come ” what were they thinking? Or were they thinking about the legacy of an open pit filled with toxic water with no use for man or animal life? Is the answer, “well look at the number of cell phones and TV’s that were made for people around the world to enjoy.” Be assured,the scrap heap of human kind will include those devices thought to be the answers to our economic woes. Let us decide the answer in accordance with the evidence and the principles of reason and cultivate in ourselves the supra-personal values essential for the right decisions in regards to places for all living things. I am not a member of any group pleading my case or cause, just a member of the community of concerned individuals committed to answer this mine question.