A view of Resolution Copper’s Headframes.

On Friday, Aug. 9, 2019 the Tonto National Forest announced that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Resolution Copper Mining Project was released to the public for review.  This is a significant milestone for our community, Resolution Copper, our state, and region.  On Dec. 19, 2014, Congress approved the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act in conjunction with the National Defense Authorization Act. The National Defense Authorization Act is passed annually by Congress to fund military operations, the NDA is a must-pass bill each year.  The Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act was included in this must-pass bill, the approval allows for the Oak Flats campground to be exchanged for other private lands that are needed for conservation across the state of Arizona once the Environmental Impact Statement is approved.

The final approval (Record of Decision) and actual exchange of the lands are contingent upon the Resolution Copper Mining Project completing a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which many may understand to be called the “NEPA” or National Environmental Protection Act.

This is a long-awaited milestone for the Resolution Copper project as the EIS process has studied and analyzed many important impacts resulting from the construction and future active mining operations of the Resolution Copper mine.  The Draft EIS (DEIS) lists all of the studied impacts of the mine and also provides proposed mitigation plans for those impacts. The impacts include Recreation, Water, Socio-economic, Wildlife, Traffic, as well as others. All of these impacts are vitally important to Superior today, as well as to the long-term future of our Town and the entire Copper Corridor region.

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