The first public product of the Community Protection and Benefit Agreement process was the Early Action Community Investment Agreement. It is a legal document between the Town of Patagonia, the City of Nogales, Santa Cruz County and South32 focusing on community benefits that can be accomplished within the next 12 months while the negotiation of the separate Community Protections and Benefits Agreement continues. The PRT covered the content of the Early Action agreement in the March 30 Weekly News Bulletin. 

Representatives for the signatory entities of the CPBA – Mayor Andrea Wood for Patagonia, Supervisor John Fanning for Santa Cruz County, Nogales Mayor Jorge Maldonado and South32 Hermosa mine President Pat Risner – agreed to delay negotiations on the protections component of the CPBA until the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Hermosa project. The data in the FEIS will provide significant information on which to base negotiations on protections. Final comments on the FEIS were due April 20. The FEIS should be finalized in July, although it could take until September to be formally released. 

In the interim period, each of the governmental partners is doing some form of community engagement. Wood scheduled five 30-minute public comment hearings for public input on the protections component of the CPBA. The first three were on water, air and soils.

“Public comments are important to the CPBA negotiations, as they help provide a full picture of what we need and expect in the negotiations of protections,” Wood said at the April 22 public meeting, on soils.

The final two topics, nature-based restorative economies and biodiversity, will be discussed May 13 at 5:30 p.m., prior to the May 13 Town Council meeting.

On May 20, from 4:30-7:30 p.m. in Thurber Hall at the Patagonia Community Church, the Town of Patagonia will hold an open-to-all workshop on community protections. There will be information on the CPBA process going forward, written copies of all comments received in the five public meeting sessions, and opportunities to ask questions as well as offer additional comments and suggestions. Signatories from each of the parties to the CPBA will attend the workshop. 

An engagement team, with representatives from each of the negotiating parties, is tasked with assuring regular consistent messaging is flowing from the signatories to the community and back. Linda Shore is the team’s Patagonia representative.

The CPBA website (cpba-hermosa.org) serves as the official hub for community members to review progress, take surveys, leave comments and find information on the Community Protection and Benefit Agreement. The signatories see all comments that come from public sessions and the website. Shore suggests that comments that are specific and constructive are likely to have more impact on the final agreement.   

The CPBA is a legally binding agreement that can be amended, with the agreement of all parties, if conditions change. The signatories’ goal is to have the basic agreement completed in early 2027.

No decisions on the framework and content of the final CPBA have been made. The signatories have agreed that all decisions will be by consensus. 

On May 4, Patagonia Area Resource Alliance will hold an informational, facilitated community meeting to hear the latest updates on actions related to the South32 Hermosa project and other mining activities in the Patagonia Mountains.     

Topics will include:

• The U.S. Forest Service Final Environmental Impact Statement

• State permits and regulatory actions

• The proposed Community Protection and Benefit Agreement

• Ongoing legal efforts and next steps

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at Cady Hall in the Patagonia Public Library, 346 Duquesne Ave. It will be livestreamed at youtube.com/@PatagoniaAllianceOrg.

Speakers will include Russ McSpadden, Center for Biological Diversity; Robin Lucky amd Jay Thompson, Calabasas Alliance; Chris Gardner, hydrogeologist, Friends of Sonoita Creek; and Dr. Rebecka Meyers, retired physician and PARA board member.

Representatives from the Town of Patagonia, Santa Cruz County, South32 and the U.S. Forest Service have been invited. A representative of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is expected to attend.