To the Editor:

Your opinion of July 14, 2009, on the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2009 ( S. 409), currently before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, squarely avoided the facts and the law. Through S. 409, Resolution Copper Mining (“RCM”) seeks to obtain title to a unique portion of the Tonto National Forest. Contrary to what you assert, RCM’s “deal” does not answer “every type of concern.” Instead, there are more questions than jobs surrounding this give-away to foreign mining interests, including their part owner, China.

RCM is a foreign owned, limited liability corporation, a joint venture of the world’s largest mining conglomerates, Rio Tinto and BHP. S. 409 is one more example of pandering to special interests without the checks and balances required under law. Nor does the bill provide any respect for the religious, cultural, historic, archeological and environmental interests of Native Americans in the sacred sites of Apache Leap, Oak Flat, Gaan Canyon and Queen Creek. The bill’s protections for acorn gathering is simply not enough.

RCM proposes a block and cave mining method. RCM offers as a token to environmentalists an exchange of riparian areas along the San Pedro River. But no one has undertaken a cost analysis of potential environmental impacts in order to avoid a disaster similar to those inadequately addressed by the ASARCO settlement agreement which Governor Brewer recently signed.

To date, there is no mining plan, reclamation protocols, or bonding assurances. Nor is RCM subject to permitting, water quality requirements, cultural protections, or financial assurances required under current law or proposed legislation.

S. 409 requires the Secretary of Agriculture to undertake an abbreviated environmental assessment only after the land exchange has occurred. It also circumvents the Clean Water Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. To do otherwise would be tantamount to closing the barn door well after the horse has escaped . . . yet again.

A full NEPA review must occur before the exchange. RCM admits that its mining method will cause significant land subsidence in the form of a cone shaped swallowing of the land above. Subsidence most likely will take out our sacred sites and even highway US 60. Only an independent NEPA review can even begin to estimate the extent of subsidence and that can occur through the existing and responsible, administrative land exchange process.

The rush to pass S. 409 now also avoids new protections under Senator Bingaman’s recently proposed Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009. As a limited liability corporation, RCM could simply walk away from hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in environmental and infrastructure damages. S. 409 avoids Senator Bingaman’s proposed permitting processes, financial assurances sufficient to remediate such damage, and water quality requirements. RCM will also benefit from a $7 billion bailout by avoiding royalties proposed by Senator Bingaman – a windfall at the expense of the American public.

Further, Chinalco, a state-controlled company in China, will end up owning a 5% interest in our Tonto National Forest without paying for it. A legislative transfer of land in essence to a foreign government as presented by S. 409 is offensive to us and to the rest of the country.

Most alarming is that RCM’s proposed mine will certainly desecrate our Apache religious sites. Apache spiritual beings, our Gaan, exist within these three sacred sites. The Gaan are the very foundation of our religion; they are our creators, our saints, our saviors, our holy spirits. Imagine if this same type of mine lay 7,000 feet beneath the Saint Matthew Catholic Church in Phoenix. Imagine further that a major subsidence shook and swallowed St. Matthews. Every person of every faith would fight to their last breath to prevent that mine from happening because the desecration of any one religion is an assault on all religions.

See letter, A2

Theodore Roosevelt observed that: “Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful means, the generations that come after us.” That sentiment is shared by a substantial coalition of Americans.

There is no need for an unchecked land exchange that will be to the detriment of our future generations.



Sincerely,





Wendsler Nosie, Sr.

Chairman