Environmentalists challenge southern Arizona mining expansion over habitat concerns

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance sued the Trump administration over the U.S. Forest Service's approval, made in consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service, of a 52,438-acre expansion of South32 Hermosa's mining operations in Arizona's Patagonia Mountains. The groups say the project cuts through the only remaining corridor within roughly 120 miles where endangered jaguars and ocelots cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

The lawsuit alleges the agencies violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act by inadequately assessing threats to habitat, groundwater and species including Mexican spotted owls, western yellow-billed cuckoos and northern Mexican gartersnakes. The approved plan spans a 113-year construction, operation and closure timeline, including a 225-acre tailings facility holding up to 38 million tons of waste and groundwater pumping that could drop the water table by up to 250 feet.

The plaintiffs note South32's own mining plan admits current operations would cease within 10 years without a new waste dump, whose location has not yet been determined, yet the Forest Service approved the expansion anyway on the company's assertion it could mine for 50 more years. The review was conducted under the FAST-41 fast-track permitting process, which the Trump administration has expanded to accelerate mineral production. The Forest Service did not respond to a request for comment.

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