Last month the PRT’s front page declared that the Rosemont Mine’s water mitigation plan had been rejected by the Environmental Protection Agency. That same week the Bulletin’s front page featured a story declaring the Rosemont Mine was likely to be approved. Both these stories are correct, but each emphasizes a different aspect of this complicated approval process.
After years of study, the U.S. Forest Service has released a final environmental report that essentially says the mine meets all environmental standards. Those standards relate to wildlife, water, air, and native claims. Charged by a 140-year-old mining law to facilitate mining, the Forest Service admitted that it changed its standards in order to allow the mine to go ahead.
At the same time, the EPA, which is not obligated by consideration for the 1872 mining law, rejected Rosemont’s plan for preventing the affected water in the Santa Rita Mountains from being polluted. Their report called Rosemont’s mitigation plan “grossly inadequate.”
What this all means at this point is not clear, but despite the Forest Service’s approval, there still seem to be some major hurdles for Rosemont to clear before the company can start digging.