Hudbay's Copper World permit hearing set for Wednesday night

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Copper World mining project in Santa Ritas has seen its fair share of support and pushback since the beginning.

And Wednesday night marks the first of two public hearings for an air quality permit that could decide the future of the project.

Some of the main pushback for the project has come from activist groups like Save the Scenic Santa Ritas and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD).

What are the main concerns that CBD has for the project is over the classification of the air permit.

"We have serious concerns that ADEQ (Arizona Department of Environmental Quality) has not properly quantified the air pollution levels here and has mistakenly determined that Copper World Mine will be a Class II source of air pollution, when in fact it should be a Class I source," says Jeremy Nichols, a senior advocate for CBD.

The definition of the Class II and Class I permits can be found here.

Nichols says the group believes more rules should be in place for a project of this size.

"For a Class I permit, there's more opportunity for public comment, there's an opportunity for a public hearing, and there's an opportunity to request the EPA intervene if the permit is flawed and needs (to be) rejected. We don't have that opportunity or that path under a Class II permit," says Nichols, "Class II permit is only subject to state regulations. Which the state regulations are certainly good, but not as stringent as when you overlay them with a federal set of regulations."

In a statement to KGUN 9, Hudbay says, "Hudbay has full confidence in ADEQ's rigorous review of our permit application. We recognize the importance of public engagement in the permitting process and value constructive feedback from all stakeholders, including local communities, environmental groups, and regulatory authorities."

But the Save the Scenic Santa Ritas group has also done work on their own, including an economic study to measure the impact that Copper World could have on Southern Arizona and Pima County.

"If the permits are not adequately restrictive to protect the health of people in Pima County, particularly people living near the tailing piles and near the polluted water, then who's going to want to live there?" says Peters.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality tells KGUN 9 that at the end of the day, they are the ones who decide what projects need what kind of permits.

"My technical team has looked at the permit application, looked at the modeling, looked at all of the requirements, and our professional opinion is that it's a Class II air quality permit. The opposition will have an opportunity to ask questions at [today's] meeting, submit formal comments to ADEQ, which we will then formally respond to why we made the determination," says Daniel Czecholinski, the director of the air quality department at ADEQ.

Copper World has also found support recently from local politicians, including District 19 Representative Lupe Díaz.

"The kind of jobs that are involved here, you know, we're in a kind of a recession, inflation-era time, and people are looking for jobs. And it will bring people in from a lot of different areas," said Díaz.

The next public meeting will be held Tuesday, Sept. 10 at Corona Foothills Middle School, 16705 S. Houghton Road in Vail.

The public comment period runs through Sept. 15.

More details can be found on ADEQ's website.

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