Land-swap Senate vote imminent

A U.S. Senate decision is imminent on legislation that would ease the way for a massive copper mine 100 miles north of Tucson. The Senate could vote Wednesday or Thursday on the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a bill to give 2,400 acres of national forest land near Superior to a foreign mining company. Opponents are outraged that legislators inserted the hotly contested land swap into a must-pass piece of legislation at the 11th hour. “They’re trying to sneak it through,” said Superior Town Councilman Gilbert Aguilar, a former miner. “That’s pretty desperate to me.” The land-swap legislation has repeatedly failed to pass both houses of Congress since it was first introduced in 2005. It was inserted into the defense spending bill at the behest of U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona — who has been pushing the land-swap since 2005 — as well as House supporters U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, and U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Arizona “This is not unusual,” Gosar said in a phone interview. The bill is not completely unrelated to the defense bill, he said, because “critical mineral access” is in the best interest of the military. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in a Monday email, “Sen. McCain will be extremely proud if the Resolution Copper land exchange is enacted into law. There is clearly a strategic national interest in increasing America’s domestic production of copper.” Mining company Resolution Copper, jointly owned by U.K.-based Rio Tinto Group and Australia-based BHP Billiton Ltd., wants access to a massive copper deposit 7,000 feet beneath the land parcel, just east of Superior. The mine would generate enough copper to meet 25 percent of U.S. demand...more