Opinion Piece Reprinted from the Arizona Daily Independent
by Jonathan DuHamel
Reading between the lines of an article in the Arizona Daily Star, Pima County officials are trying desperately to find a way to scuttle the Rosemont Copper mine. This typifies Pima County’s anti-job stance and their subservience to radical environmental groups.
A couple of things in that story caught my eye.
Within the Star story, Pima County Administrator Huckelberry is quoted as saying the mine’s mitigation and monitoring measures are “woefully inadequate” even though they have been vetted and approved by State and federal agencies.
Apparently, though, “woefully inadequate” is okay and passes muster when it applies to a favored County project. In a previous article on Pima County’s Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan (SDCP) I wrote:
“At a public meeting on March 22, 2001, Dr. William Shaw, head of the County’s Science and Technical Advisory Team (STAT) said of the team’s data, ‘biological knowledge is woefully inadequate, a sentiment echoed by each speaker, and by a peer review committee which evaluated STAT’s work.” Nevertheless, the County proceeded with the plan.
Work on SDCP began in 1998 and was finally submitted to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service late in 2012 and hasn’t been heard from since. That just may suit the County because Pima County is acting as if the plan has been approved in its land use policies, but because the plan has not yet been approved, private land owners get all the restrictions but none of the alleged benefits.
Also in the Star story, the County claims “The loss of $2 million to $7 million a year in visitor spending due to the mine.” Really? Where do those numbers come from? Does the County claim that the existing mines detract from visitor spending also? I would think that the mine would become a tourist attraction as are some other mines in the state.
Current Pima County officials seem to be against well-paying jobs and the economic benefits to individuals, businesses and local government revenue. Remember that in November.