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Pima makes case for spraying buffelgrass 8/12/09 If nothing is done about buffelgrass, within 10 years it will likely create a fire hazard so dangerous it could change the Sonoran Desert forever, Pima County's natural resources, parks and recreation director said Tuesday night. |
Federal aid available for miners in Morenci 8/11/09 More than 1,750 copper workers laid off from Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's Morenci operations are eligible to apply for re-employment services and other benefits under the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, the U.S. Labor Department said Monday |
| Feds halting uranium mining near Grand Canyon FLAGSTAFF — The Interior Department announced Monday it is temporarily barring the filing of new mining claims, including for uranium, on nearly 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon. |
| Bad economy has some Arizonans thinking about survival PHOENIX — Some Arizonans are so concerned about their future they’ve begun growing their own vegetables, raising their own livestock and figuring out how to survive in an all out economic collapse. Social networking groups are forming in the Phoenix-area where people gather to discuss how to store grains, purify water, plant gardens and, if needed, shoot guns. “Most of us feel that if things do get better, it will be a long way out,” said Jeff Rodriguez, a 26-year-old Glendale software engineer. “I want to have some preparations in place.” To prepare for the worst, Rodriguez said he stores a ton and a half of grain in his home, and is considering buying pygmy goats or chickens. Rodriguez said he researched solar electricity and a rainwater-collection system. His local network of like-minded people include retirees, young mothers and successful professionals. They are among the thousands nationwide who are studying various survival tactics. Since December, at least two survival-related groups have formed in Phoenix. Groups with varying outlooks and politics have sprouted nationally from Kentucky to New York. At U.S. Surplus Corp. in Phoenix, the men behind the counters said they are seeing a crush of new customers every time tragedy strikes. They stand out from the military personnel and outdoor enthusiasts who stop in for rugged clothing, rations or canteens. “They are the ones trying to fix up a cave to live in,” store manager Gary Pickering said. “They are asking a lot of questions and buying things they normally wouldn’t, like water-purification tablets.” Prescott survival school operator Cody Lundin said preparing for a disaster makes sense only if people actually know how to use the equipment they are buying. “They are probing the waters because they are getting freaked out,” Lundin said. People should learn to care for themselves in case of emergency whether a disaster is pending or the economy is tanking, Lundin said. |
| Grijalva Introduces Legislation to Withdraw Public Lands from Mining Thursday June 18, 2009 Washington, D.C.--- Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva introduced a bill to remove lands in the Coronado National Forest and certain lands owned by Pima County and the federal government from future hard rock mining claims. “The community concerns on the current and future mining proposals in our area created the need for this legislation,” stated Grijalva. “This bill will prevent speculators from staking claims in areas that are more valuable to citizens of our region and to our economy as they are now. It will also require holders of existing mining claims to show that their claims are valid before they are allowed to mine.” The legislation removes from future claims Pima County-owned preserves and leased lands, where the federal mineral estate is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The legislation does not affect valid existing claims, which may be mined in the future if they are shown to contain a valuable mineral deposit. Grijalva has held several hearings on the environmental impact of the antiquated 1872 Mining Act and on the current proposal for copper mining on the Rosemont Ranch in Southeastern Arizona. A bill to reform the 1872 General Mining Act, cosponsored by Grijalva, was re-introduced earlier this year. Pima County and Santa Cruz County supervisors, the City of Tucson, Oro Valley, and the Town of Patagonia requested that the Santa Rita Mountains be withdrawn from mining. |
1/9/08
Loaded, concealed guns become legal in national parks
A new federal rule takes effect today, allowing people to carry loaded, concealed firearms in national parks in certain cases.
The rule has drawn two lawsuits. It's backed by many gun-rights groups, as well as the Bush Administration, but is opposed by several groups representing current and former National Park Service employees.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/fromcomments/275171.php
1/3/09
Supervisors to vote on Huckelberry contract
The Pima County Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on whether to renew County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry's contract for another four years
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/fromcomments/274291.php
Illinois Cement Plant Agrees to Reduce Harmful Emissions
First National Settlement to Reduce Emissions from Cement Plants
WASHINGTON— Two companies that own and operate a Portland cement manufacturing facility near Dixon, Ill., have agreed to install state-of-the-art pollution controls to reduce harmful air emissions and pay an $800,000 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/September/08-enrd-796.html
1/9/09
Freeport-McMoRan Copper -Mining Layoffs
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold announced today it will be cutting almost half the employees at its Morenci mine.
At least 1,550 employees at the operations in east-central Arizona will be out of work by the end of March, Freeport spokesman Richard Peterson said in an email. Most of them will be put on paid leave Feb. 2.
The Morenci operation — one of the biggest copper mines in the United States — employs 3,300 people, so the new layoffs represent 47 percent of the workforce. They come on top of 402 job cuts at Morenci that took place in November.
Freeport-McMoRan was the ninth-biggest employer in Southern Arizona, according to last year's Star 200 survey. But that was during a copper boom that ended in mid-2008 with the price of the commodity plunging by more than 60 percent.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/275217.php
Asarco - Ray Mine Accident Report, Kearny, AZ 11-15-08
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/fromcomments/267293.php
Freeport-McMoRan Copper Acid Spill - Clifton, AZ
http://www.eacourier.com/articles/2008/10/30/news/doc490a4ec4d87bb886874772.txt
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/fromcomments/265185.php
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/11/01/20081101acidspill-ON.html
Freeport-McMoRan Copper - Congo
09-25-08 http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15191
09-26-08 http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=839446
Freeport-McMoRan Copper - Peru
10-24-08 http://www.miningweekly.com/article.php?a_id=146064
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OAK FLAT / APACHE LEAP NEEDS OUR HELP!!!!! Please send an email! Info Below This was a passed along to us by a mutual community volunteer: Dear XXXXXXXX, I've been working intermittantly on the situation up in Superior.... I'm hoping you can take time to help us out by contacting the U.S. Senate sub-committee--and sending it out to everyone you know. Mining greed is at it again. Right here in Ariona. A mining company that is a partnership of Rio Tinto and BHP, two of the worst polluters on the planet, including in U.S., are getting an act of Congress to obtain our wonderful Oak Flat Campground (so unique it was protected by Pres. Eisenhower in 1955 with PLO-1229), incredible Queen Creek, and make the scenic highway east of Superior into a passage for huge haul trucks. Nearby Apache Leap is a national treasure and should be made a National Park. A group of Apache warriors leaped to their death there rather than be caught and incarcerated by the U.S. Calvary. These warriors were my kind of guys and I truly honor their spirit of independence. When the miners are through, there will be just a shell of the cliff with everything behind it removed—like the old Hollywood movie sets of main street—that is, if it doesn’t crack and crumble from the mining operations. Both of our “enlightened” senators, Kyl and McCain, have introduced the bill (several times now) to exchange the above land for a half-dozen over-grazed ranches, one of which was burned out several years ago. Does it matter that McCain received $210,813 from mining in his 2008 and Kyl $82,823 in his 2006 campaign?www.mining-law-reform.info, but it is best not to get too technical with legislators. The hearing is on Wedensday afternoon, June 17, so if we can pack the phone lines and e-mails on Monday and Tuesday, it would be great... Go to http://www.mining-law-reform.info/Act%20Now.htm to find a model letter and links to all the contacts.Better still, I recommend that you give the committee members a quick call. A half-dozen bills are scheduled for June 17, so the committee could just pass it through without paying any attention to the details. However, if all the committee members get some 60 phone calls from Arizona concerned citizens, they just might think twice. Also, Congress persons get some 5,000 e-mails a week!!!To keep it short and sweet you could simply say: "I'm calling in regard to the Southwest Land Exchange Bill, S.409. Mining uses a lot of water and the bill does not ask for an environment impact study on the surrounding forest. Further, there has been no inventory whatsoever of the diversity of trees, plants, birds and wildlife on the exchange properties. We are asking for these two studies before a land exchange is considered."
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