Flanked by massive cottonwoods and sycamores, Pinto
Creek winds through the rugged mountains of central Arizona’s Tonto
National Forest. Its narrow valley is a haven for an endangered
hedgehog cactus, it contains scores of archaeological sites and it
may soon become an open-pit copper mine. That prospect has roused
local protest and national criticism, yet the odds of stopping the
Canadian-owned mine are slim.
Carlota Copper Co.
plans to divert a section of the creek into a channel, then dredge
the stream bed and surrounding riparian area to a depth of 600
feet. It would then fill Powers Gulch, an adjacent valley, with the
resulting millions of tons of waste rock.
Some
nearby residents have been pursuing legal routes to delay
construction of the mine. Citizens for the Preservation of Powers
Gulch and Pinto Creek has urged the Army Corps of Engineers to deny
Carlota’s dredge-and-fill permit on the basis that the mine is “not
in the public interest.” “That’s not done very often,” concedes
Deborah Ham, attorney for the group. Yet if Pinto Creek is not one
of the nation’s spectacles, she says, the desert refuge is
“symbolic of places that are worth preserving everywhere.”
Pinto Creek has gained allies, among them,
former Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, who said, “Pinto Creek is
worth the strongest protection possible.” The national
environmental group American Rivers named it one of the country’s
10 most endangered rivers last year, and the federal Environmental
Protection Agency gave the copper mine its lowest possible rating.
Forest Service officials, however, say their hands are tied by the
1872 Mining Law: They can’t forbid the new mine as long as it
complies with existing regulations. The forest’s final
environmental impact statement is expected this
month.
For more information contact Citizens for
the Preservation of Powers Gulch and Pinto Creek, P.O. Box 2694,
Globe, AZ 85502 (520/425-4834); or
http://learnweb.com/learnweb/azeenet.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Copper mine rouses opposition.
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