Florence Copper Project backed by most at hearing
By MARK COWLING | Casa Grande Dispatch
FLORENCE — James Stephens, who said he’s been a well driller for 27 years, spoke up for the Florence Copper Project at a public hearing Thursday.
“They just want a pilot project. Let them show if it can work. If it doesn’t work, what do you have to lose?”
The question immediately elicited grumbling from opponents of the project, many wearing red shirts, who believe they stand to lose quite a lot — in property value and maybe even their health — if the copper mine poisons the water.
“Florence Copper has never developed a permit that adequately protects our aquifer,” Barbara Manning of Florence said, adding that an administrative law judge called a previous version of the permit “unlawful, arbitrary and unreasonable.” Manning said the company had a second chance to make it better, but “wasted that opportunity with yet another flawed permit.”
