The operators of proposed limestone quarries on the edge of Davidson Canyon must apply for a federal permit to build a haul road and conduct mining activities, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has decided.
The corps requirement for an individual permit under the federal Clean Water Act, if it stands, would almost certainly delay the quarries' planned construction start in early 2009.
The corps' decision was made in a Dec. 18 letter to the company, California Portland Cement.
Company officials couldn't immediately comment on the letter because many officials aren't available during the Christmas holidays, a company spokeswoman said. Previously, company officials have said the construction work planned in the canyon area wouldn't be significant in size.
But quarry opponents said they hope the permit requirement will lead to a full-fledged environmental impact statement that could cause the federal government to prevent mining there.
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"It's totally inappropriate to have a limestone mine in Davidson Canyon," said Richard Calabro, a Green Valley resident who is active in Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, an environmental group opposing the project.
"It's environmentally foolish for anyone to think about it. Davidson Canyon is critical to the environment," Calabro said.
The company plans to build separate quarries east and west of the canyon, in an area lying about 30 miles southeast of Tucson, seven miles south of Interstate 10, near the Old Sonoita Highway and east of Arizona 83. The west quarry will cover about 20 acres and the east quarry about 18 acres. Both will be on state land.
In addition, the federal Bureau of Land Management is having an environmental assessment done on the project because the BLM controls mineral rights underneath part of the east quarry site. The assessment, done by a consulting firm, will be finished sometime after the first of the year.
Between the two quarries, the company estimates it will excavate 0.617 of an acre of wash in and around Davidson Canyon, according to a letter it sent the corps last July.
While the Corps of Engineers can deny a permit application under the law, it prefers to work with an applicant to approve a "minimized project" that limits environmental impacts, said Marjorie Blaine, a project officer in the corps' Tucson office.
She did, however, signal that the company might have to take major steps to reduce its footprint in Davidson Canyon.
The agency's rules require permit applicants to avoid environmental impacts as much as possible, and "whatever cannot be avoided must be minimized," said Blaine. Any major impacts must also be offset by mitigation measures, she said.
Usually in such cases, the corps requires companies or public agencies that build projects affecting rivers or washes to perform some sort of off-site environmental improvement to compensate. Companies can, for instance, pay an outside group such as the Audubon Society to plant trees or do other restoration work elsewhere — at a rate of three times the value of the damage at the project site.
Under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, someone building a project that would dredge materials or place fill materials in a wash that's regulated by the law must either get an individual permit, which requires a detailed environmental review, or get a nationwide permit. The latter permits are much more routine, take less time to obtain and don't require as much review, if any. Typically, both classes of permits are called 404 permits.
In its letter last July, California Portland Cement wrote the corps that its construction activities in Davidson Canyon would be too insignificant to warrant the need for an individual permit and that a nationwide permit was appropriate.
Because its access road will affect less than one-tenth of an acre at each of three separate wash crossings, the company doesn't believe it's necessary to notify the Corps of Engineers before proceeding with construction, said the letter from Cal Portland attorney Craig Douglas.
The canyon contains a riparian area that is rich enough in cactus and tree life that the state of Arizona recently designated it as an Outstanding Water. The designation means no activity that would permanently degrade the canyon should be permitted in the waterway.
That designation was one of several factors cited by corps' project officer Sallie McGuire in the Dec. 18 letter to Cal Portland explaining why an individual permit will be required.
Other factors in the corps decision:
● The closeness of the quarry site to roosting sites for the endangered lesser-long-nosed bat and the presence of bat foraging areas on the quarry site.
● The presence of a cultural site in the area.
● Numerous letters and phone calls to the corps regarding the proposed quarry.
The corps is authorized under federal rules to require this type of permit whenever the top official in its governing district office — in this case, Los Angeles — finds "sufficient concerns for the environment or ... the public interest," McGuire's letter said.
Four days after the corps' letter went to the company, Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll wrote the corps and BLM, saying they "have become the last line of defense for the citizens of Pima County against this rapacious attack on Davidson Canyon."
The State Land Department has already issued a lease authorizing the quarry operation and Pima County's Regional Flood Control District has issued a floodplain use permit authorizing construction of the haul road across the canyon.
Carroll had tried to get the latter permit revoked, but the county Board of Supervisors refused at its Dec. 16 meeting, after a deputy county attorney told supervisors they don't have legal authority to revoke it.
County officials have acknowledged the quarry can or will cause environmental problems but said they had no legal choice but to issue the permit, partly because of their lack of control over mining activities on state land.
"As the county supervisor representing the area, I can assure you that the vast majority of our citizens are greatly disturbed by the imminent threat to this pristine place," Carroll wrote. "A limestone quarry in this location would be an aesthetic and environmental disaster."
He cited the following issues:
● The Outstanding Waters designation and the Environmental Protection Agency's recent decision to call the Santa Cruz River a "traditional navigable waterway," which gives more protection to tributaries such as in Davidson Canyon, 43 miles from the Santa Cruz.
● Groundwater lies 5 feet underground in two wells and 50 to 110 feet in two others within a mile of the quarry site, increasing the threat of water contamination.
● Davidson Canyon is a wildlife corridor, linking the Empire, Santa Rita and Rincon Mountains.
● The canyon has a perennial spring containing native fish.
● The road connecting Davidson Canyon to Arizona 83 would need improvement to handle up to 48 truckloads a day from the mine, with each truck carrying up to 25 tons.
the process
How federal permitting by the Army Corps of Engineers will work for California Portland Cement's proposed Davidson Canyon-area quarries:
• The company must submit a permit application to dredge materials in or place fill in a wash.
• Corps engineers process the application and put out a notice giving the public 30 days to comment.
• The corps sends negative comments about the project to California Portland Cement to give it a chance to respond. An applicant usually has 30 days to respond to such comments and sometimes gets more time.
• The applicant then prepares an environmental analysis and a plan to offset the effects of its project on the environment, and the corps makes a final decision on the permit.
• Typically, it takes about 120 days for the corps to process and decide on a non-controversial project without outstanding cultural resources or imperiled species. But in this case, "we don't really have a time frame," said Marjorie Blaine, a corps project officer. "So much is based on the applicant and how long they take to get back to us."
