Town asks EPA to reconsider 23-year-old Florence Copper permit
by Mark Cowling | Florence Reminder & Blade Tribune
Florence Copper personnel proudly display the first sheet of copper produced April 24, 2019, at the plant off Hunt Highway. Production continues on a small scale, but the company is preparing for full-scale commercial operation./Florence Copper
The town of Florence has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to revoke, or at least downsize, one of Florence Copper’s permits.
This aquifer exemption permit allows a large portion of groundwater to be excluded from protections of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and “has essentially condemned” the aquifer, according to the town’s 51-page petition to the EPA that was filed May 5.
After mining, this portion of the aquifer cannot be a drinking water source, according to a town news release. The EPA originally issued the permit to prior mine owner BHP Copper in 1997, almost a decade before the development of Anthem at Merrill Ranch.
