Florence ordered to pay $283K in legal fees related to Florence Copper
by Mark Cowling | Florence Reminder & Blade Tribune
The town has been ordered to compensate the winning parties by a total of $283,000 in legal fees and other expenses related to Florence’s unsuccessful challenge of Florence Copper’s temporary state permit.
The town of Florence and developers Pulte Homes and Southwest Value Partners brought a case years ago disputing the Arizona Department of Environment Quality’s authority to grant a temporary aquifer protection permit to Florence Copper. Florence Copper is now using that permit, along with other state and federal approvals, to conduct a test phase of the in-situ mining process in which copper is leached from the ground.
Florence Copper claimed fees and expenses of more than $81,000 for expert witnesses and other costs in Maricopa County Superior Court and before the state Water Quality Appeals Board, but asked for just $10,000, the maximum recovery under state law. The town argued in response that Florence Copper was not a party, but an “intervenor” in the case, and was therefore ineligible to recover costs.
