Rep. Grijalva Op-Ed in the Patagonia Regional Times: The Hermosa Mine Approval Sets a Dangerous Precedent for the Entire Country

Patagonia, AZ – Congresswoman Adelita S. Grijalva penned an op-ed in the Patagonia Regional Times responding to the Forest Service’s Final Record of Decision allowing the Hermosa Mine project to move forward. As Rep. Grijalva writes, this project “is the first critical minerals project in the nation to move through the federal FAST-41 permitting framework, making it a testing ground for how mining projects are approved across the country.” 

You can read the full op-ed online or below: 

My constituents have made it clear that the recent federal approval of the Hermosa Mine Project poses serious risks to natural resources, public health, and the local economy in Patagonia and Santa Cruz County. I previously urged the U.S. Forest Service to extend the public review and comment period on this complex and controversial mining project so community members could have enough time to provide meaningful feedback.  

Unfortunately, the agency proceeded in approving the submitted plan. Not only will this project have lasting consequences for the surrounding communities, but the rushed approval process also sets a dangerous precedent for how large-scale mining projects are reviewed and approved across the country. 

The Hermosa Mine is the first critical minerals project in the nation to move through the federal FAST-41 permitting framework, making it a testing ground for how mining projects are approved across the country. The Forest Service’s fast-track approval of this project – despite several unresolved questions about the mine’s public health and environmental impacts – establishes a dangerous precedent that prioritizes speed over science and expediency over meaningful public participation. Communities should not be testing grounds for a sped up permitting process, and South32’s Hermosa project should not become the model for weakening environmental review under the banner of critical minerals development. 

The concerns that my constituents have raised throughout this process – including effects on groundwater, public health, wildlife, and compliance with the Coronado National Forest Plan – remain unresolved.  

This remarkable area attracts birders, hikers, hunters and campers from across the United States and around the world, making ecotourism a significant and vital aspect of the local economy. The mining operation threatens this critical economic mainstay.  

The Forest Service provides South 32 a total of 24 “exceptions” to the Coronado Forest Plan to accommodate the company’s mining plans. The Forest Plan is not just a list of suggestions: it lays out critical standards to protect forest health and resilience, wildlife, recreation, and other uses of our public lands.  

One of the exceptions, for example, allows South32 to destroy wetlands that the Plan acknowledges as essential to Forest health. According to the agency’s own analysis, the mine operations’ groundwater pumping would dry 12 Forest springs and streams. How could this possibly be acceptable? The Forest Service should require South32 to meet the Coronado Plan’s well-reasoned and scientific standards instead of carving out special exceptions whenever compliance is inconvenient. 

South 32 wants to discharge treated mining process water into Goldbaum Canyon, Mowry Wash South, and Harshaw Creek, which flows through the Town of Patagonia. Although South32 revised portions of its proposal, including alternative water discharge locations, important questions remain about how treated mine water could affect downstream water quality and nearby communities. Preliminary tests already found antimony, a toxic heavy metal, in Harshaw Creek at levels beyond state and federal health standards. If the mine was operating, its discharges also would contain sulfites and traces of the metals its processes extract – lead, zinc, manganese and silver. 

Also concerning is the company’s proposal to conduct water quality testing downstream from the mine, instead of at its discharge point. Nearby residents deserve to know that their surface water and groundwater will be safe. 

These concerns are not new. In 2020 and 2021, the Town of Patagonia formally requested that the Coronado National Forest conduct a comprehensive groundwater study of the Patagonia Mountains because of the potential impacts of the Hermosa Mine. 

My dad, Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva, supported those requests. Despite repeated calls from local leaders, that study was not conducted. Moving forward without this fundamental scientific analysis leaves significant uncertainty about how the project could affect groundwater supplies and undermines confidence in the environmental review. 

Many mines such as the proposed Hermosa Mine also emit dangerous substances to the air from ore processing, blasting, excavating, windblown tailings, haul-road dust, and truck and heavy equipment diesel fumes. These emissions can seriously impair public health. Community advocacy organizations including Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA) have been critical of the Forest Service’s responses to these concerns, stating that the federal documents do not quantify the total air emissions of the proposed mining operations or analyze their cumulative impacts.  

The Forest Service’s approval will allow South32 to construct a new 138-kilovolt electric transmission line through seven miles of pristine Forest land to reach the mine. In addition, the company wants to build 4.7 miles of new “primary access road” through the Forest. Together, these projects would fragment wildlife habitat, increase wildfire danger through the proposed transmission line, and threaten the habitat of endangered species such as jaguars and Mexican spotted owls. To make matters worse, South32 wants to dump mine tailings that contain pollutants on more than 225 acres of Forest Service land. It remains unclear whether South32 has the legal authority to do so.  

The Forest Service has not evaluated the cumulative environmental impacts of these proposals, instead considering each in isolation. The bottom line is that the Forest Service should never have allowed this project to move forward until the input of affected communities, Tribal leaders, and local residents were fully addressed. My constituents—and future generations of Southern Arizonans—deserve nothing less. Unfortunately, the flawed approval process for the Hermosa Mine is just a preview of what is to come in other parts of the country if there are not serious reforms to FAST-41.