May 13, 2022: This week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Sierra Club and our allies, determining that United States Forest Service’s decision approving a controversial open-pit copper mine in southern Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains, near Tucson, violated the 1872 Hardrock Mining Law. The Santa Rita Mountains are one of Arizona's unique “sky island” mountain ranges, full of high peaks rising from intervening deserts and grasslands and boasting tremendous biodiversity. The proposed mine would have destroyed a dense network of high-quality streams that flow across the proposed mine site on their way downstream to the Santa Cruz River from the Santa Ritas.
In 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona ruled in Sierra Club’s favor, holding, in short, that the Forest Service had unlawfully approved the proposed mine without considering whether Rosemont has valid rights to the land where it intended to dump its waste, which was within the Coronado National Forest. Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision, stating expressly that the developer’s mining claims were baseless, as it is “undisputed that no valuable minerals have been found [on the lands slated for Rosemont’s massive waste dump within the Coronado National Forest].”
"This proposed mine would have buried thousands of acres in the Coronado National Forest with mining waste, harming wildlife and wildlife habitat, destroying desert washes, and impacting cultural resources," said Sandy Bahr, chapter director for Sierra Club's Grand Canyon (Arizona) Chapter. "We are so pleased the Ninth Circuit upheld this important lower court decision and that this project cannot go forward."
Today’s decision also upholds the district court’s ruling in favor of the three American Indian tribes ― the Tohono O’odham Nation, Pascua Yaqui, and Hopi ― that filed a similar lawsuit challenging the Forest Service’s approval of the mine. Like the environmental groups, the tribes have filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Army Corps’ issuance of the Clean Water Act permit. The tribes were represented by Earthjustice.