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copper state park

Our Position: oppose
Bill Number: SB1550
Sponsor: Flake, Brown, Chase, et al
Legislative Session: 2006 Legislative Session

This bill establishes a state park near Kearny, but is part of a very bad land swap deal.  SB1550 is premature, at best.  The measure to facilitate the congressional land swap has not passed out of the Congress.  That land swap bill will allow a foreign-owned mining company, Resolution Copper Company (Rio Tinto—55% owner— headquartered in the United Kingdom, and Broken Hill Properties —45% owner—headquartered in Australia) that acquired the old Magma Mine near Superior and is planning to resume mining in the area, to acquire Oak Flats Campground via a congressionally legislated land swap so that they can mine in the area.  Oak Flats is an important recreation and cultural area.  The land swap is opposed by many environmental organizations as well as the White Mountain and San Carlos Apache tribes.  As written, SB1550 would allow Asarco to retain its mining lands in the middle of the park.  What kind of park has mining lands in its midst?

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Background

First of all, we are not normally opposed to establishing state parks, but we believe this bill has a number of problems and is, at best, premature.  The measure to facilitate the congressional land swap, which is part of this deal, has not been passed by the U.S. Congress.  That land swap bill will allow a foreign-owned mining company, Resolution Copper Company (Rio Tinto—55% owner— headquartered in the United Kingdom, and Broken Hill Properties —45% owner—headquartered in Australia), which acquired the old Magma Mine near Superior and is planning to resume mining in the area, to also acquire Oak Flat Campground via a congressionally legislated land swap so that they can mine in the area. 

Oak Flat campground was recognized by President Eisenhower as an important area back in 1955, when he signed Public Land Order 1229 which specifically put this land off limits to future mining activity. Oak Flat provides many recreational opportunities for Arizonans and others from around the country.  Recreational activities in the area include hiking, camping, rock climbing, birding, bouldering and other recreational activities.  The Oak Flat area is the largest outdoor climbing area in Arizona and home to the largest outdoor climbing competition in the world. Oak Flat is also a key birding area.  Four of the bird species that have been sighted at Oak Flat are on the National Audubon Society’s watchlist of declining species that are of national conservation concern:  Black-chinned Sparrow, Costa’s Hummingbird, Lewis’s Woodpecker, and Gray Vireo.  The Sierra Club is strongly opposed to this land swap. 

Cultural resources associated with the Apache are found at and near Oak Flat and it is a traditional tribal use area.  For this reason, the San Carlos and White Mountain Apache Tribes are also opposing this proposed land swap. (Please see the resolutions attached.) 

The second issue with this bill is that it would allow this Copper State Park to be established despite the fact that it would contain private land owned by Asarco, a company that can mine the land and a company that is in bankruptcy.  Who knows what they will do with this land in the future?  What kind of state park has private land owned by a mining company in its midst?  The Park is contingent on the conveyance of Bureau of Land Management lands and state trust lands, but no longer includes the private parcels including those belonging to Asarco, as it did originally in the Senate. We would like to support the Park (not the land swap), and did previously support the Park itself in the Senate, but cannot do so without some assurance that these lands will also be protected.

The third issue with this bill is it directs the State Parks Board to ignore its purposes and objectives.  Per 41-511.03., “The purposes and objectives of the board shall be to select, acquire, preserve, establish and maintain areas of natural features, scenic beauty, historical and scientific interest, and zoos and botanical gardens, for the education, pleasure, recreation, and health of the people, and for such other purposes as may be prescribed by law.”  Under Legislative Findings, it states:

“The legislature finds that areas in close proximity to the rock climbing state park authorized by this act have historically been or are currently the sites of past, present or potential future mining and mining related activities or operations, grazing and agriculture. The state park shall coexist with all the past, present and future uses in the area. The legislature does not intend that the establishment of the rock climbing state park authorized by this act will lead to the creation of protective perimeters or buffer zones around the park. The fact that nonpark related activities can be seen, heard or otherwise experienced in any way by visitors to the state park, whether from inside the state park, outside the state park or on the access road to it, or the fact that these activities might affect any environmental condition within the state park shall not, of itself, preclude these activities or uses up to the boundary of the state park.”

How is that consistent with preserving and maintaining scenic beauty or natural features?  In the past, such as some recent development issues in Benson, the Parks Board has weighed in when issues outside the parks (in the case of Benson, Kartchner Caverns) affect the parks.  They should not be precluded from doing so in this bill.

Finally, the State Parks budget is a challenge already and their fees are high relative to other states.  If the state is going to be part of this deal, we ask that you include a provision for Resolution Copper Company to convey to the State Parks Board  some royalties or fees from the mined copper in order to have funding for operation of this new park.