{"id":1112225,"date":"2023-06-30T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/production.public.theintercept.cloud\/?p=433558"},"modified":"2023-06-30T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T10:00:00","slug":"biden-fast-tracked-a-green-energy-mine-in-one-of-earths-rarest-ecosystems-arizona-locals-took-it-to-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/06\/30\/biden-fast-tracked-a-green-energy-mine-in-one-of-earths-rarest-ecosystems-arizona-locals-took-it-to-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Fast-Tracked a Green Energy Mine in One of Earth\u2019s Rarest Ecosystems. Arizona Locals Took It to Court."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

C<\/span>arolyn Shafer spread<\/u> the maps out on her patio table. Another sun-dappled Saturday morning under her backyard trees in the picturesque border town of Patagonia, Arizona. Shafer wasn\u2019t relaxing though. She was getting to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Birds chirped as the 76-year-old traced the 75,000 acres of mining claims on the edge of her community with her finger. She wore a black T-shirt emblazoned with a fearsome wolf hovering above a rugged mountain range. The wolf is the calling card of the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance<\/a>, or PARA. The local group monitors industrialized mining in the Patagonia Mountains, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. Schafer is president of the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is our new logo,\u201d she said, picking up a pamphlet with the wolf on the front. The old mascot \u2014 a cute cartoon dog \u2014 no longer matched the moment. A vigilant pack animal sent a more appropriate message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe think of ourselves as local watchdogs,\u201d Schafer told me. \u201cWe pay attention to what\u2019s going on with the companies and the agencies, and then we bark really loudly to the big dogs, who have the staff, the knowledge, and the experience to do what is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big dogs, Shafer and her allies believe, are needed now more than ever. Last month, the Biden administration announced<\/a> the \u201cfirst-ever\u201d inclusion of a mine in a federal program that expedites permitting for high-priority projects. In this case, it was the extraction of minerals from the Patagonia Mountains to support the president\u2019s green energy agenda<\/a> \u2014 manganese and zinc, specifically, for producing electric vehicle batteries and fortifying renewable energy installations, among other purposes. In the weeks since the announcement, the Forest Service has issued permits<\/a> advancing large-scale drilling in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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The operation is the Hermosa project, which encroaches on the Coronado National Forest, an hour southeast of Tucson. The company is South32<\/a>, an Australian spin-off from global mining giant, BHP Billiton. The program, FAST-41<\/a>, was created in 2015 to streamline the federal permitting process. The Permitting Council, an agency with a nearly $100 billion portfolio in government infrastructure projects, oversees the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration\u2019s support for the mine follows President Joe Biden\u2019s 2022 determination<\/a> invoking the Defense Production Act, which ordered<\/a> an increase in domestic mining of \u201ccritical\u201d materials sufficient to create a large-scale battery supply chain and move the nation away from fossil fuels and foreign production lines. Manganese was singled out as critical. Congressional passage of the Inflation Reduction Act also called for increased domestic mining in the name of green energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With an initial estimated outlay of $1.7 billion<\/a>, South32 anticipates a lifespan of 22 years for Hermosa\u2019s zinc deposit and 60 years for its manganese deposit. Full production is slated to begin in 2026 or 2027. Company executives celebrated their FAST-41 inclusion with the Permitting Council\u2019s director in a press call last month. Hermosa project President Pat Risner drew a direct line between Washington\u2019s goals and his company\u2019s aims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThese policies pave the way for a vast domestic expansion in electric vehicles, batteries, and renewable power production,\u201d he said. \u201cSouth 32\u2019s Hermosa project is the only advanced mine development project in the U.S. currently that could produce two federally designated critical minerals as its primary products, those being manganese and zinc.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shafer was blindsided by the news. \u201cThat really wasn’t on our radar screen at all,\u201d she said the first time we spoke. In the month that followed, PARA cranked up its advocacy like never before, organizing with larger NGOs and telling any reporter who would listen about the project\u2019s extraordinary ecological stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Carolyn\n

Carolyn Shafer, board president of Patagonia Area Resource Alliance, points out locations on maps outside her home in Patagonia, Ariz., on June 17, 2023.<\/p>\n

\nPhoto: Molly Peters for The Intercept<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n

PARA\u2019s Lawsuit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last Tuesday, the calls for help became a call for action. PARA, with support from the nonprofit advocates of Earthjustice and the Western Mining Action Project, filed a lawsuit<\/a> in federal court against the U.S. Forest Service and the supervisor of the Coronado National Forest, where the mining activity is concentrated. Several of the region\u2019s environmental organizations \u2014 and its most experienced litigators \u2014 joined as co-plaintiffs, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Tucson Audubon Society, and Earthworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The groups alleged<\/a> a series of Forest Service violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, resulting in the rushed release of two permits for exploratory drilling projects in the Patagonias last month. One of the projects is overseen by South32 in conjunction with the high-priority Hermosa project. According to the lawsuit, the permits impede recovery of the threatened Mexican spotted owl and the yellow-billed cuckoo, as well as disrupt federally protected migration corridors for endangered jaguars and ocelots. (The Forest Service declined to comment on the pending litigation.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDrilling could begin at any time.\u201d<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Hermosa project at South32 is not named in the lawsuit. In an email, Risner suggested PARA\u2019s ecological concerns were overstated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith a surface footprint of just 600 acres, the Hermosa project is a fraction of the size of most mining projects and keeps sustainability at the core of our approach,\u201d he said before the lawsuit was filed. \u201cHermosa has also had in place for more than a decade a robust biological monitoring program.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PARA and its supporters called on the court to declare that the Forest Service broke the law and quash the agency\u2019s authorizations. The moment demands urgency, they argued: \u201cDrilling could begin at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"View\n

View of the Patagonia Mountains from the Borderlands Wildlife Preserve in Patagonia, Ariz., on June 20, 2023.<\/p>\n

\nPhoto: Molly Peters for The Intercept<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n

A Sky Island<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The weekend before PARA and its allies filed their lawsuit, Shafer and her partner, Robert Gay, an architect and journalist, invited me on a bumpy drive deep into the mountains to survey the Patagonias\u2019 rivers and canyons and offered their take on current fight and its wider implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Patagonias are an iconic member of the \u201csky islands,\u201d a network of mountain ranges that rise up out of the desert of southern Arizona and northern Mexico. Home to an estimated 100 endangered or threatened species, the mountains contain the largest cluster of mammal species anywhere north of Mexico, more than 500 species of birds, the highest density of breeding raptors on the planet, the most reptile and ant species in North America, and the most bee species on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The virtually unmatched biodiversity has made the town of Patagonia \u2014 with a population of around 900 residents \u2014 a world-class birding and wildlife research destination for generations. The town is also a launching point for the famed Arizona Trail, an 800-mile hike that traverses the state from north to south. More recently, it\u2019s become home to a growing gravel bike scene, with riders pedaling through the mountains to reach the stunning San Rafael Valley, one of the last<\/a> unbroken stretches of grassland ecosystems in the American Southwest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together with the unique abundance of flora and fauna, outdoor recreation has made Patagonia a hub in the \u201cnature-based restorative economy\u201d of Santa Cruz County. According to a 2021 University of Arizona study<\/a> that PARA and other conservation groups in the area helped produce, the attractions generate tens of millions of dollars for local businesses and residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Though the battle over mining in the Patagonias goes back generations, this latest iteration is frustrating activists on the ground for reasons particular to the present moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shafer and Gay are both diehard environmentalists. An \u201cEarth Day is every day\u201d flag hangs outside their home. They are deeply concerned about the climate crisis and would never say otherwise, but they are just as concerned about biodiversity loss<\/a> and the planet\u2019s unfolding sixth extinction. For them, a mine that would accelerate one cataclysm in the name of combatting another is unacceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minerals needed for a green energy revolution can be found elsewhere in the world, Shafer argued: \u201cThere\u2019s no other place to go for Mexican spotted owl. Yellow-billed cuckoo. Jaguar. Ocelot.\u201d The frustration in her voice rose as she ticked off the names.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Harshaw\n

Harshaw Creek runs through Patagonia, Ariz., on June 17, 2023.<\/p>\n

\nPhoto: Molly Peters for The Intercept<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n

Wild West<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S., mining is governed by a law President Ulysses Grant signed in 1872. With scant regulations, the Wild West-era statute has undergone little substantive change in the century and a half since. Technology, however, has changed. The lone Civil War veteran busting his back hoping to strike it rich in a national forest has been replaced by multibillion-dollar corporations with the most advanced extraction tools money can buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Patagonias, the main hub of activity centers around an old mine water treatment site run by the American Smelting and Refining Company, or ASARCO. In the 1960s, the endeavor collapsed in a storm of bankruptcy and environmental damages, including pollution of Patagonia\u2019s water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decades later, Arizona Mining Inc., owned by billionaire mining tycoon Richard Warke, purchased the land. South32 bought out Arizona Mining in 2018, in a $2 billion<\/a> sale that marked one of the biggest mining deals of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The area surrounding the old ASARCO site is largely national forest land, which South32 is actively exploring, as well as ranches and other parcels of private property. The privately held land is shrinking though, with South32 buying up properties one by one in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very, very active out here right now,\u201d Shafer said. \u201cThese mountains, unfortunately, are chalked full of valuable minerals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Shafer, the heart of the matter is water. Patagonia relies on the mountains entirely for its water, but the range\u2019s hydrological significance doesn\u2019t stop there. The mountains are the headwater of Sonoita Creek, which flows into the Santa Cruz River that provides water for more than a million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe community\u2019s concern is: What is this going to do to that ecosystem?\u201d<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When ASARCO was running its mine in the 1960s, the company\u2019s chief problem was water; it would fill the mine\u2019s shaft and the company lacked the technology to keep it out. Facing the same challenge today, South32 has received permission<\/a> from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to run up to 4,500 gallons of water per minute through one of its two water treatment plants, then dump that water into Harshaw Creek, a tributary to Sonoita Creek. At max capacity, Shafer noted, that would mean more than 6.4 million gallons of water flowing into the Harshaw on a potentially daily basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don’t know how much water they’re taking out and using on site, but that’s how much they are permitted to discharge into the Harshaw Creek,\u201d Shafer said. \u201cThe community\u2019s concern is: What is this going to do to that ecosystem?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\u201cThis\n

\u201cThis is my version of tree-hugging,\u201d Carolyn Shafer, board president of Patagonia Area Resource Alliance, said in Humboldt Canyon in Patagonia, Ariz., on June 17, 2023. \u201cMy favorite canyon is whichever one I\u2019m in,\u201d but Humboldt Canyon holds a special place in her heart.<\/p>\n

\nPhoto: Molly Peters for The Intercept<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cDesiccate and Saturate\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A small stretch of the Harshaw has perennial water. Monsoon season aside, the water tends to lap around a person\u2019s ankles. The rest of the creek is typically dry. What 6.6 million gallons of water a day would do \u2014 and more when the heavy rains of late summer hit \u2014 is difficult to fathom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put the town at ease, South32 released a video<\/a> last year. The minerals the U.S. government seeks lie below the water table under the Patagonia Mountains, the company explained. South32 would drop the table by pumping water out. The water would then pass through a treatment plant before being dumped into the Harshaw. This would create \u201ca cone of depression\u201d around the well site, allowing safe underground work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of the discharged water will soak back into the ground. Some will evaporate or be used by vegetation, but most will recharge the aquifer without ever reaching the town of Patagonia,\u201d the company said. Even in the event of a 100-year, 24-hour flood, the increase would not have an \u201cadverse effect\u201d on the hamlet, South 32 said, nor did the company \u201cexpect that wildlife would be negatively affected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PARA consulted with hydrological experts and responded with a video of its own. Noting that South32 planned to pump \u201cthe equivalent of 10 Olympic-size swimming pools per day\u201d into the Harshaw every day for up five years, the experts predicted the creek would quickly go from almost entirely dry to constantly flowing, carrying any undetected contaminants from the mine wherever it ran and heightening flood risks during monsoon season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we prepared to head out for our drive into the mountains, Gay pulled out a poster he made, detailing the expanse of water South32 expects the town of Patagonia to receive in the event of the 100-year flood \u2014 and how it would cover the town\u2019s properties. \u201cWhen you look at that closely,\u201d he said, \u201cit\u2019s 70 percent of the lots now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Patagonia, the problem would be too much water. In the mountains, it would be the opposite. \u201cMy fear is it’s going to dewater the mountain,\u201d Shafer said. \u201cIf it dewaters the mountain, it kills the plant life. If it kills the plant life, there\u2019s no place for this incredible biological diversity to survive. That’s my bottom line, but that’s not speaking as the organization. That’s speaking as Grandmother Carolyn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s feast or famine,\u201d Gay added. \u201cI call it desiccate and saturate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"A\n

A dewatering and water treatment facility at the South32 Hermosa mining project along Harshaw Creek in Patagonia, Ariz., on June 17, 2023.<\/p>\n

\nPhoto: Molly Peters for The Intercept<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n

Hoping for a Miracle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Patagonia\u2019s paved roads disappeared in the rear-view mirror. Gay\u2019s beat-up 4Runner crept slowly over the rough terrain. Approaching the old ASARCO site from the north, we passed abandoned mining tunnels from decades before, ranches that had been sold to the mining company, and others that soon might be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a patchwork of extreme complexity,\u201d Gay said, leaning forward on the wheel. \u201cJust a snarl, between the bumpiness of the land and the irregularity of the property lines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a town council meeting last month, South32 presented its plan for managing the convoys of trucks that would run these roads, hauling minerals for green energy out of the mountains. In the early stages, it would be 62 heavy trucks, 26 buses, and 139 passenger vehicles daily. The flow would increase as the project became fully operational, at which point more than 200 heavy-duty trucks \u2014 in addition to the buses and passenger vehicles \u2014 would come through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the landscape, traffic at that scale would require significant road work and with it, the obliteration of the mountains\u2019 otherwise serene quiet. Like the water in Harshaw Creek, the change was difficult to imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPatagonia in 10 or 15 years won\u2019t be recognizable anymore,\u201d Patagonia Vice Mayor Michael Stabile said in an interview in the Patagonia Regional Times. Stabile was a founding member of PARA, though he no longer works with the organization. \u201cThey\u2019re going to flood us with water,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re going to flood us with trucks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPatagonia in 10 or 15 years won\u2019t be recognizable anymore.\u201d<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Days before we met up, Shafer had a similar moment of unsettling clarity. \u201cI just realized I have shifted into grief about what is happening here,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause of the realization of how special this is to me and that I will not be able to come out here for at least seven years, and when I do get to return, what will it be like?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South32\u2019s assurances about safeguarding the ecological systems were cold comfort for Shafer. \u201cThere’s nothing legally we can do to stop it. What we can legally do is mitigate the potential damage. That’s what we’re working very hard to do,\u201d she said. \u201cBut unless something under the definition of miracle happens, there will be destruction by industrialized mining in these mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe disaster of that,\u201d Shafer said, \u201cis that this is one of the regions of the world most in need of protection for species survival.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"A\n

A flag outside Carolyn Shafer\u2019s home declares \u201cEarth Day is every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nPhoto: Molly Peters for The Intercept<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n

The Cathedral<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There was little to see at the old ASARCO site. A locked gate. A handful of “no trespassing” signs. We turned around and headed west into Humboldt Canyon, where work is currently overseen by Barksdale Capital Corp., a Canadian company specializing in mineral exploration \u2014 the kind that precedes a company like South32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am in a stronger relationship with the natural world in this canyon than I am in any other canyon,\u201d Shafer said, as we passed under a majestic spire of twisted rock. \u201cThis is a spiritual experience for me \u2014 full of experiences of dear friends of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years back, Shafer officiated her friends\u2019 wedding in the canyon. The couple was among PARA\u2019s original founders. The groom was Glen Goodwin<\/a>, an old-school Arizona cowboy who, in 2014, detected extensive water contamination<\/a> stemming from the Patagonias\u2019 old mine sites \u2014 including sites that are revving back up again today. Goodwin died last year. His ashes were spread in Humboldt Canyon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The road twisted deeper into the mountains until coming to a stop in a clearing. Shafer got out and leaned against a tall pine tree, listening to the birds. \u201cFor me,\u201d she said, \u201cthis meets the classic definition of a cathedral.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our way off the mountain, we stopped to watch mule deer grazing in a field. We dropped Gay off in town before leaving for the tour\u2019s final destination: the perennially flowing stretch of Harshaw Creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willow trees lined the way, along with massive Arizona sycamores. We walked down to a particularly beautiful bend in the creek. Shafer mentioned a paper she recently heard about discussing the mental health benefits of birdsongs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you live with something all the time, you don’t think much about it,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I have birdsong all day long, and it is something I do appreciate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shafer is the last of PARA\u2019s original core still living and working in Patagonia. \u201cTwo are now dead, two have moved out of country,\u201d she said. She knows that stopping the mine is next to impossible, but then, the same could be said of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shafer\u2019s mission now is making the cost of doing business in the Patagonias match the value of the place. \u201cI’m sorry if you’re not going to get a 25 percent profit margin,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have to live with 5 percent to honor what is here and you don’t like that, then go away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She leaned forward, smiling, and added in a whisper, \u201cIt wouldn’t hurt me if you left.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Biden Fast-Tracked a Green Energy Mine in One of Earth\u2019s Rarest Ecosystems. Arizona Locals Took It to Court.<\/a> appeared first on The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on The Intercept<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Biden approved the mine to extract minerals for green energy, but locals say it will threaten the biodiversity of the Patagonia Mountains.<\/p>\n

The post Biden Fast-Tracked a Green Energy Mine in One of Earth\u2019s Rarest Ecosystems. Arizona Locals Took It to Court.<\/a> appeared first on The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":665,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[393,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/665"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1112225"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1128828,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112225\/revisions\/1128828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1112225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1112225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1112225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}