An Arizona Indian tribe and the U.S. Environmental Protection agency were excluded from making comments on a draft federal report on the impact of the proposed Rosemont mine on a dozen threatened and endangered species, the Arizona Daily Star reported on Aug. 7.
The Forest Service, according to the Daily Star, said it declined to release the draft to the tribe, the EPA and “other agencies and parties” that had asked for it, in part because officials felt parts of the draft would need to change.
The newspaper also reported the Forest Service said it didn’t want other parties commenting on the draft biological opinion because that would have taken significant extra time when completion of the report was on a tight legal deadline.
The Tohono O’odham Nation sent a letter to Coronado National Forest (CNF) protesting that the agency rejected the Nation’s request in March to review a draft biological opinion on the mine’s expected impact on imperiled species.
The Nation’s letter, according to the Daily Star, also noted that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which was preparing the biological opinion in consultation with the Forest Service, had suggested that the Nation be included in the discussions leading up to the release of the final biological opinion in late April.
“The actions by your office here would appear to be promoting exclusion, rather than inclusion” of the Nation and other Arizona tribes “that absolutely have a direct interest in the outcome of this process,” Nation Chairman Edward D. Manuel states in the letter according to the Daily Star.
Manuel stated in the letter to CNF Supervisor Kerwin Dewberry that his decision to exclude the tribes from reviewing the draft biological opinion “does not constitute appropriate consultation”.
The final biological opinion concluded the mine won’t jeopardize species’ existence or illegally damage their critical habitat, the Daily Star reports. The Center for Biological Diversity has notified the wildlife service of its intent to sue to have the opinion overturned.
The draft biological opinion was completed last November and called for the mine’s owners, Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc., to backfill the pit after mining was completed in about 22 years, a provision that would have likely made it uneconomical for Hudbay to build the mine.
The draft opinion would have also required Hudbay to guarantee the protection of watersheds from non-native species for 150 years.
The Forest Service objected to those measures, partly because the agency felt they were not within its power to impose, and they were pulled, the Daily Star reported.
“Soliciting comments regarding mitigation measures that were not … feasible would have been counterproductive,” the Forest Service said in a statement to the newspaper.
EPA requested a copy of the draft biological opinion last October. The agency did not respond to the Daily Star’s request for a comment on the Forest Service’s decision not to provide it a copy of the draft opinion, the newspaper reported.
The only way to deal with this matter is to reject HUDBAY’S application outright . Otherwise HUDBAY must be required to submit a bond equivalent to 50% of the CAPEX required to develop the property . This bond would remain in effect until full restoration was carried out on the ROSEMONT SITE following the mining period . In addition , HUDBAY must be required to obtain and pay for its required water needs from sources that are not in conflict with any other users .
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Thank you all. This mine must never happen.
It sounds like the forest service is in bed with Hudbay! I thought the forest service worked for the land and not a company from another country!!