Statement to the US Forest Service re. Rosemont Mine, 12/8/2011

I made the following statement at a hearing sponsored by the US Forest Service in connection with the proposed Rosemont copper mine.

My name is Nick Kildahl. I live in Rio Rico, Arizona at 488 Ash Lane.  I oppose the Rosemont Mine.

Projections of the Rosemont Corporation state that the mine is expected to produce 221 million pounds of copper annually. This translates to 110500 short tons. Total US production in 2010 was 1,223,000 short tons. Thus Rosemont expects to increase annual U.S. production by 9%; i.e., this will be a huge mine! In the process they expect to provide about 400 jobs and will undoubtedly make large profits. They will be subsidized by the people of Pima and Santa Cruz Counties, who will, as always, pay the externalized costs of the mining operation. These include:

            1) Decreased air quality due to exhaust emissions and dust
            2) Decreased water supply due to pumping from the aquifer at the rate of 15000 acre-feet per year. This water will be ruined for human consumption/use.
            3) Increased risk of health problems, particularly from valley fever, due to airborne dust
            4) Decreased tourism; consequently decreased business activity; consequently loss of jobs. How many jobs will be lost so that Rosemont (or the company to which they sell the mine) can provide 400 jobs and, incidentally, make money for its stockholders?
            5) A degraded scenic area; the Santa Rita Mountains are the most beautiful mountain range in southern Arizona. Their only blemish is the white scar left from previous mining activities, clearly visible along much of the length of I-19.
            6) Loss of a beautiful natural habitat for many creatures and plants (including 33000 trees). In its place we will be given a wasteland, polluted with mine tailings and gangue resulting from the mining operation.
            7) Light pollution and negative impact on the research being done at the Whipple Observatory.
            8) Increased truck traffic and damage to roads. How many trucks will be leaving the mine each day? The site supposedly holds 0.45% copper in the form of sulfide ore. To extract one pound of copper will require the digging of 222 pounds of ore-containing rock. So the yearly production of    221,000,000 pounds of copper will require the hauling of almost 50 billion pounds of rock within the mining site. How many truckloads is that?

            9) Increased CO2 emissions, accelerating climate change. The evidence for climate change is obvious now to anyone who is paying attention. Several factors contribute to this:

                        a) Loss of 33000 trees, which absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.
                        b) Emissions of CO2 from fossil fuel powered mining equipment
                        c) Emissions of CO2 from the transport trucks. These probably get no more than 2-3 mpg.
                        d) Emissions from the trains that will carry the ore from Tucson to the Mexican coast.
                        e) Emissions from the ore ships that will carry the ore from Mexico to China for processing (talk about globalization!)
                        
Here are some interesting facts. The world now consumes petroleum at the rate of 1000 barrels per second. This is 42000 gallons per second. Every gallon of gasoline or diesel burned creates approximately 20 pounds of CO2, so assuming all of the crude petroleum is burned as gasoline (not true, but the essence of the argument is OK), that means about 840,000 pounds of CO2 are produced per second worldwide, half of which ends up in the atmosphere, where it traps heat and warms the planet.

The evidence of climate change is all around us. The Forest Service must certainly be well aware of this, because it has watched the effects of drought, forest fires, and the pine bark beetle that are direct consequences of climate change, itself the direct consequence of our fossil-fuel powered corporate activities. That the Forest Service is even considering allowing the Rosemont Mine operation to proceed shows a woeful lack of awareness of what is happening around us.  Is this ignorance willful?

The US Forest Service has a chance to take one small step in the right direction here by saying NO to Rosemont Copper. We’ve already gone too far down the path of ruthless exploitation of the earth. It’s time to stop. Your justification for saying no to the project is the Organic Act of 1897, which mandates you to protect the water, plants, and wildlife in lands of the United States. Please honor this mandate.

I for one am tired of having my interests and those of my fellow citizens subordinated to the interests of corporations that destroy the environment in the name of jobs and profits. I strongly oppose the Rosemont Mine.

Nick Kildahl, concerned citizen and resident.