Local opinion: New Year's Resolution — no new mines

Each year since 1996, one or another foreign mining company has trotted out their scheme to strip-mine the Rosemont Valley in the Santa Rita Mountains and flatten the adjacent peaks to deliver copper ore to China and pollution to Pima County.

Since 1996, Southern Arizona residents and visitors have worked with “Save the Scenic Santa Ritas” (a nonprofit for which I am privileged to volunteer as a board member) to protect these mountains. Our New Year’s resolution is to invite everyone to join the 3,000-plus Tucson area residents and visitors and continue to work with for clean water, fresh air, verdant farms that use water wisely, and a thriving economy for 2024 and future years.

December brought research, funded by the Arizona Mining Association and the Tucson Chamber of Commerce, proclaiming public support for more open pit mines near Tucson. Why am I not surprised? I spent my later career conducting public opinion research, and I know how tempting it is to generate numbers that support a predetermined desirable outcome.

Should I “mine” the Chamber’s data to sleuth how this year’s crop of foxes planned to guard their henhouse, consuming only a select few chickens, and hiding their feathers until the outcry subsides? While fun, this wouldn’t lead to clean water, air, land and a sustainable Pima County economy.

Clean water: Hudbay’s own documents predict that for the next 20 years they’ll pump between two and four billion gallons of free water each year from the Santa Cruz aquifer to their mines. This water will return to Tucson’s aquifers laden with mercury, lead, cadmium, and arsenic.

Who will clean up their mess when they slink away bankrupt? Countless superfund sites dot the western landscape, evidence of broken promises made by foreign mining companies. This watershed is sacred to the Tohono O’odham, Yaqui and Hopi nations, partners with Save the Scenic Santa Ritas.

Clean air, the Sonoran Desert, and Sky Islands: These are nature’s gifts. Hudbay has tried to acquire state-owned public land and air quality permits from the state, so they can toss their noxious emissions to the winds and pile their toxic tailings upslope from Tucson. Thanks to Arizona’s Open Meeting and Public Records search laws, we work through the courts to track Hudbay’s 2023 skullduggery. In 2024 we’ll continue to access public records to share with all our Pima County neighbors and visitors so you too will know how the future could look should Hudbay succeed.

Thriving economy: “Jobs!” is a persuasive rallying cry from Hudbay. I know the five C’s (citrus, climate, copper, cattle and cotton). My grandfather picked oranges in the 1890s. I picked cotton as a youngster. My family raised cattle in the Santa Ritas. A lot of copper has been extracted in the last hundred-plus years. But today, climate-driven retirement and tourism have become our dominant economic drivers. Citrus and cotton have given way to pecans. Copper will soon be replaced by recaptured sequestered carbon fiber. Open pit mines will be relics of a bygone era.

As 2024 dawns, the world, its evolving ecosystems, nations and innumerable Indigenous communities are at the threshold of a new era, when recycled copper will be an artistic medium rather than a conductive component in the so-called “clean” economy. Mining has always been a dirty and dangerous job, which we can expect to see less of in the future.

A new day dawns when engineers, scientists, agricultural and geological researchers, artists and civic and political leaders will usher in a sustainable, peaceful and prosperous era where all life will equitably share clean water, air and land. That’s what motivates us. We hope it motivates you. We could go on for pages, but that’s enough for today. To learn more, please visit our website, www.scenicsantaritas.org.