Small Town News

Amended land exchange bill sent to full Senate floor, includes requirement for pre-exchange NEPA

---

A "significant milestone" was reached Wednesday in the march through the halls of the U.S. Senate of land exchange legislation related to the Superior area Resolution copper mine.

"We are very pleased that the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources reviewed and revised the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act (S. 409) and voted to send the new version of the bill to the Senate floor for final approval," said Resolution

President David Salisbury. "While we still have a long way to go to secure passage of the land exchange legislation, we are pleased with the progress and that we reached this significant milestone."

At the urging of Senator John McCain, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources amended S. 409 and passed it for consideration by the full Senate. The legislation authorizes the exchange of approximately 5,000 acres of ecologically important land for approximately 2,400 acres of land near Superior, Salisbury said.

He said that passage of the legislation by Congress will facilitate the protection of land with "significant natural, scenic, recreational, water, riparian, and cultural resources" and provide a "path forward" for the copper company to develop an underground copper mine "providing a huge economic stimulus in an economically depressed area of Arizona."

Salisbury said that final passage of the legislation is not certain. "We have much work to do," he said. "We will work with Senator McCain,

Representative Kirkpatrick and all of - Arizona's Congressional delegation to ensure the bill continues to progress through Congress." Two key focal points of the legislation of importance to local stakeholders are the replacement campground and the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) process, he said. "In order to guarantee that a new campground will be built near Superior, the replacement campground language was removed from the current legislation," he said. "There was no guarantee that the United States

Forest Service would choose to locate a new campground near Superior, and there was also the possibility that the money committed by Resolution Copper for the construction of a new campground would be used to upgrade existing campgrounds within the Tonto National Forest." He said that Resolution Copper intends to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Town of Superior "to guarantee that we will locate and build a new campground near Superior after the land exchange takes place. We will help create a public process to determine the location and to decide how the campground will be operated. We will also continue to partner with Superior to support their vision for a diversified economy." He said the new legislation requires Resolution to do a pre-exchange Environmental Impact Statement. "This will be an extension of an already established company process that involves comprehensive public involvement," he said. "The bill also calls for government-to-government consultation with our Native American neighbors."



Copyright 2009 The Superior Sun, Superior, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 The Superior Sun Superior, Nebraska. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

More from The Superior Sun