Big hitters back Rosemont
Tony Davis, Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Sunday, April 17, 2011
Rosemont Copper is getting help from scores of business leaders and more than a dozen union leaders in its effort to get a federal decision on its proposed mine by January.
The company sent out separate, nearly identical letters late last week signed by business and union leaders to 100 local, state and federal officials.
The letters ask these officials to tell the U.S. Forest Service that making a "prompt" release of the draft environmental-impact statement for the mine and closing the public comment period by the end of 2011 "will be important steps forward in helping Arizona emerge from our devastating recession."
It's a push mine opponents say would force the Forest Service to make a decision too soon in in a complex process.
An attachment included with the letters gives what Rosemont calls "realistic timelines" for deciding on state and county permits the proposed open-pit mine also needs, although Pima County officials say they can't get their air-quality permit done that fast.
Most prominent among the 60 business-community letter-signers is Jim Click, longtime car dealer and president of the Jim Click Automotive Team.
Others include restaurant owner Bob McMahon; Tucson Toros president and CEO Jay Zucker; R.B. "Buck" O'Rielly, president of O'Rielly Motor Co.; developers Joe Cesare and Humberto Lopez; John Low, retired chairman of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the American Mining Association; K.C. An, CEO of Mr. An's Japanese Restaurants; and Carlotta Flores, owner and chef of El Charro Restaurants.
Sixteen labor signers, most of them based in the Phoenix area, included leaders of unions representing electrical workers, boilermakers, ironworkers and cement masons. The only one from Tucson is Mike Verbout of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 570.
"Since 1910, Arizona has been the nation's top copper producer - producing more copper than all the other 49 states combined," both letters said. "We strongly support responsible mining operations such as Rosemont to continue the tremendous economic contributions mining operations make to the tax revenues of local governments, the state of Arizona and the high paying jobs it provides for its citizens."
One local official the letters were sent to, Marana Mayor Ed Honea, said he supports Rosemont's effort to get the approval process finished by January, and thinks the Town Council will go along although it currently is neutral on the Rosemont Mine.
"My philosophy now is that we need some jobs in this economy," Honea said. "I know a lot of businesses that are closing and a lot of people who are out of work. Rosemont would generate 2,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, and put millions into our economy."
But Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, a longtime opponent of the project, said that for Rosemont to demand "prompt release" of the environmental report and to want to halt public review and comment on it after the end of this year is unheard of, based on his more than 35 years in county government.
"By soliciting assistance from various business and community leaders to advance their agenda, Rosemont continues to want to be treated better than anyone else in a legally defined federal process," Huckelberry said. "Not every taxpayer is entitled to the special treatment Rosemont now expects."
The letters were sent out just after the Forest Service released an updated schedule for its mine review that predicted release of the environmental report by August and a final decision by next January. The letter was jointly written by Rosemont officials and business leaders after some business leaders approached Rosemont asking how they could help the company's efforts, said Rosemont Copper President and CEO Rod Pace and company spokeswoman Jan Howard.
The company hopes to start construction on the mine during the first three months of 2012 and start mining 220 million pounds of copper ore annually in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson by the third quarter of 2013.
Pace said that while he can live with an August release date, company officials are growing more frustrated at repeated delays in the environmental report's schedule - it now has been pushed back four times.
"Some are caused by real things," Pace said. "Some are, I think, are just delays that should have been avoided."
The Forest Service has said some of the delays were caused by new issues such as a rare orchid on and near the mine site, or by the need to take deeper looks at some of the water-related issues involving the mine. Pace, however, said he thinks these questions have been thoroughly studied, addressed and resolved.
"The letters demonstrate the significant support for this project in the business community, and the urgent need for responsible projects that offer jobs, taxes to support schools and local governments and an economic boost to area businesses," Pace said.
The letter says its signers are sensitive to the mine's potential environmental impacts and understand the need for regulatory safeguards. But it adds that this area "desperately" needs new and innovative wealth-creation opportunities like Rosemont.
"After more than three years of study and independent expert review, it is time for the Forest Service to release (the environmental report) and allow the public to weigh in without any further delay," the letters said.
Huckelberry, however, said that even the current, updated schedule for the environmental-impact statement is extremely optimistic.
"It assumes that within approximately two months after the end of the public comment period, the Forest Service will process tens of thousands of public comments and quickly identify, prioritize and secure information needed to satisfy the federal partners," he said.
"My philosophy now is that we need some jobs in this economy. ... Rosemont would generate 2,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, and put millions into our economy."
Ed Honea
Marana mayor
"... Rosemont continues to want to be treated better than anyone else in a legally defined federal process. Not every taxpayer is entitled to the special treatment Rosemont now expects."
Chuck Huckelberry
Pima County administrator
Contact reporter Tony Davis at tdavis@azstarnet.com or 806-7746.
