The U.S. Forest Service is suing an Arizona mining
company for taking pumice from the San Francisco Peaks. If Tufflite
Inc. loses, it could owe the government up to $300,000 for
illegally mining on the Coconino National Forest northeast of
Flagstaff.
The mining company insists it owes
nothing because pumice is considered unique and therefore valuable,
much like gold and diamonds, which can be pulled off public lands
free of charge. In 1988, a Department of Interior judge ruled that
chunks of pumice larger than three-quarters of an inch were rare
and valuable, since nothing else could render stone-washed jeans so
soft.
The Forest Service argues that much of the
pumice Tufflite mined was smaller than that, too small for stone
washing, and therefore considered a “common variety” mineral. The
agency charges royalties for removing common variety minerals such
as sand and gravel from public lands.
A District
Court in Phoenix heard the case Nov. 16. “We’re hoping it becomes a
symbol of how environmentalists and Native Americans can come
together to protect very sacred places like the Peaks,” says Andy
Bessler of the Sierra Club. “This mine is like tearing up the
Sistine Chapel to get at the dirt.”
The Forest
Service plans to nominate the San Francisco Peaks as Traditional
Cultural Property, which would protect the area under the National
Historic Preservation Act. And last November, it proposed a 20-year
withdrawal of the Peaks from mining. If approved, no new mining
claims could be filed on the 74,380 acres encompassing the Peaks.
*Karen Mockler
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Pumice mine is a test case.
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