November 27, 2017: Four conservation groups, including the Sierra Club and its Grand Canyon Chapter, filed suit in federal court on November 27, 2017 to overturn the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of a controversial open-pit copper mine in southern Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, says the massive Rosemont Mine would violate nearly a dozen state and federal laws, threaten critical water resources and destroy Coronado National Forest land. The lawsuit was filed by Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, and the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter.
In June 2017, the U.S. Forest Service approved the proposed open-pit mine, located in the Santa Rita Mountains, one of Arizona's unique “sky island” mountain ranges with high peaks rising from intervening deserts and grasslands and boasting tremendous biodiversity. The proposed mine would be one of the largest copper mines in the U.S. The project would produce copper, molybdenum, and silver concentrates from operations on 3,653 acres of the Coronado National Forest (in addition to over a thousand acres of combined private and state land) that would last up to 30 years. The proposed lawsuit aims to protect the Santa Rita mountains, important wildlife habitat, and Outstanding Arizona Waters by forcing the Forest Service both to ensure the proposed project complies with federal and state water quality standards and to require appropriate mitigation to prevent the degradation of protected waters and the elimination of federal reserved water rights.