Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#63
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SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#63
4/7/97
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
silver city,
tucson, phoenix, san
diego
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1.
ELEVEN MILLION BOARD FOOT SALVAGE SALE APPEALED- LETTERS NEEDED
2. PUBLIC
LAND TRADES/SALES CHALLENGED- MINING COMPANY ATTEMPTING
TO
OBTAIN OVER 20,000 ACRES OF PUBLIC LAND
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ELEVEN MILLION BOARD FOOT SALVAGE SALE APPEALED-
LETTERS NEEDED
The Southwest Center today appealed the Kaibab National
Forest's
11 million board foot Bridger Salvage Timber Sale. The
largest
southwestern timber sale in over a decade, Bridger would
virtually
clearcut 2,700 acres, leaving only 2-3 trees per acre- right up to
the
edge of Grand Canyon National Park. Tens of thousands of giant
pines
will be logged, including 1,500 trees over 30 inches dbh. The
Forest Service
estimates it will lose $1 million on the sale.
Prior to the appeal, the
Southwest Center delivered a petition signed
by 1,000 people opposed to the
sale to the Forest Service. Last
December, eight protesters were arrested at
a demonstration
sponsored by the Center, the Student Environmental Action
Coalition
and Arizona Earth First! A gathering of citizens against the
Bridger
Sale will be held in the Kaibab National Forest on May 17- 20,
1997.
Please write: Connie
Fritsch,
Supervisor, Kaibab National
Forest
800 S. 6th
St.
Williams, AZ 86046
PUBLIC LAND TRADES/SALES CHALLENGED- MINING
COMPANY ATTEMPTING TO
OBTAIN OVER 20,000 ACRES OF PUBLIC LAND
The
Southwest Center and the San Carlos Apache tribe today filed a
notice of
appeal against the trade of 3,600 acres of BLM land for
1,000 acres of Phelps
Dodge land. Though land in the area typically
sells for $1,000 an acre, the
BLM has valued the lands it would trade
away at only $125 an acre. The 3,6000
acres surrounds Phelps
Dodge's Morenci Mine, yet BLM refused to analyze
the effects of
future mining on the property, claiming it can't
reasonably foresee
what Phelps Dodge wants the land for. Fifty acres within a
proposed
BLM Wild & Scenic River corridor where dropped from the
trade
following complaints from the Center.
On the banks of the San
Francisco River, the Morenci Mine is one of
the largest open pit copper mines
in the world. Pre-dating NEPA, it
has never been subject to environmental
review. If BLM admits that
the traded land will become part of the Morenci
operation, it would be
forced to review the cumulative effects of the entire
mine.
Earlier this year, the Southwest Center won an appeal of a
BLM plan
to sell 460 acres of land to Phelps Dodge for $400 an acre. The
sale
would have allowed Phelps Dodge to reopen its Lavender Mine,
just
outside Bisbee, AZ. The BLM is now analyzing the effects of
future
mining on the environment.
Following objections from the
Center, the BLM has also reversed
itself on the Lone Star land exchange,
agreeing to analyze the effects
of future mining on the 18,000 acres it will
receive in exchange for
4,000 acres of public land. Earlier, the BLM had
argued no analysis
was necessary since it had know way of knowing if Phelps
Dodge
planned to mine the land. The Center produced sections from
Phelps
Dodge's Annual Report and newspaper stories proving the
company
planned the trade in order to expand mining.
The Final EIS on
the Little Rock Mine in southern New Mexico has
been delayed at least
six months following complaints from the Center
that the BLM was wrongfully
claiming there is no connection
between Phelps Dodge's decision to mine 460
acres of public land, the
shipping of the ore to a processing plant at its
Tyrone mine, and the
operations of the Tyrone mine itself. Also begun prior
to NEPA, the
Tyrone mine has never been subject to environmental analysis. A
full
cumulative effects review will have to cover both mines
including
their effects on the Gila River and Mangas Creek.
Kieran
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
505.733.1391 phone
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity 505.733.1404 fax
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center
pob 17839, tucson, az
85731