A crucial backer for big copper mine
What will be one of the largest copper mines in the United States owes its existence, in part, to Sen. John McCain.
McCain moved mountains in Congress so that the Resolution Copper Project could one day move mountains of ore out of the hillsides near Superior, 70 miles east of Phoenix.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Sen. McCain’s family,” Resolution Project Director Andrew Lye said. “He was a man true to his word, and if he felt strongly about something, he’d see it through. We are what we are today because of him, and we are eternally grateful for that.”
McCain long supported the mine for the economic benefit it promises Arizona. Resolution officials have said the project could create 3,700 mining jobs and 3,000 construction jobs, and generate nearly $20 billion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments during the mine’s 66-year lifetime.
About 400 workers are employed at the site today, preparing the mine.
Before they can dig for copper, Resolution needs a federal land swap, trading 2,400 acres of federal land for 5,300 acres of environmentally sensitive land around the state that Resolution acquired to make the deal.
The land swap needed congressional approval, and it was difficult to obtain after former Congressman Rick Renzi was caught trying to force the copper company to buy his friend’s property in 2005.
Renzi eventually spent three years in federal prison for those and other crimes related to corruption.
Over the next nine years, Congress introduced but did not pass multiple versions of the land swap. Opposition from Native Americans also made the land swap unapproachable for some in Congress.
Resolution, a joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP-Billiton, spent more than $1 billion testing the concentration of copper in ore and completing a massive shaft 6,943 feet deep that workers and equipment will use to get down to the metal.
But because Congress was not acting on the land swap, Resolution in 2012 pulled hundreds of workers off the project.
Company officials said at the time they could not continue to justify the expense of developing the mine without some assurance that Congress would eventually pass the land swap and allow the mine to develop.
McCain took the threat to the project seriously and redoubled efforts to win support for the land swap.
In October 2014, he visited the Resolution project, where he dressed out in blue coveralls, a safety harness, a hardhat and a headlamp worn by the underground workers.
He got in a bucket-style elevator and descended more than 1,000 feet below the surface to tour the mine.
In a large, dark cavern underground, workers covered in muck from digging gathered around McCain. He asked them several questions, including how safe the operation was and when was the last work-related accident.
After returning to the surface, McCain remained in his coveralls while sitting with a reporter in an equipment room and talking about the economic benefits of the mine.
McCain said the nearly decadelong effort to move the land swap through Congress was one of the three or four most difficult challenges he faced in Washington.
Two months after his visit, McCain got the land swap added to a must-pass Defense Department spending bill, and the Senate passed the measure 89-11 before the Christmas recess.
President Barack Obama later signed the bill into law.
McCain took credit for putting the mine on the defense bill.
“I think it has a lot to do with national security,” McCain said at the time. “This mine, when it’s fully operational, will supply 25 percent of America’s copper supply, and that is a national-security issue.”
The bill requires the project complete a federal Environmental Impact Statement through the National Environmental Policy Act, which Resolution is working through.
The land swap is not complete until that is done, although opponents of the land swap are concerned that no matter the outcome of the environmental review, the land swap will be consummated.
Like any major mine or other endeavor on federal land, the mine and land swap have detractors. The San Carlos Apache Tribe has been among the most vocal opponents of Resolution.
Resolution officials said McCain tried to address opponents’ concerns in the land-swap bill.
“He worked on finding solutions for all Arizonans,” Lye said. “He always was looking for shared benefit. With the land exchange, he tried to maximize those shared benefits. It is a testament to the kind of man he was.”
San Carlos Apache Tribal Chairman Terry Rambler posted a picture of himself with McCain on Facebook on Saturday after the senator’s death was announced, calling McCain a “friend.”
“Thank you for your tireless efforts in helping Indian Country,” Rambler said. “Even though we didn’t always see eye to eye, we remained friends nonetheless. I pray for your family in their time of need. I pray to our Creator God that he looks favorably upon your soul. God bless Senator John McCain.”
The tribe in recent years has brought legal action against the U.S. Forest Service because it opposes various plans for the mine, including where it will build its pile of waste rock, or tailings.
Rambler said Thursday that he respects McCain despite the controversial land swap.
“We opposed it, and my position hasn’t changed,” Rambler said. “But as one human being to another human being, he is still our senator, and in addition to just that one issue, we worked with him on many other issues.”
Ramber gave McCain credit for his work on the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
“Last year we opened our second casino,” he said. “That has helped our people.”
Other concessions in the bill included protections for the Apache Leap escarpment that looms over the town of Superior.
The mine will not be able to develop about 700 acres where it has mining claims to ensure the cliff is not damaged once Resolution starts drawing ore from deep beneath the forest at the site, said Victoria Peacey, senior manager of environmental permitting for Resolution.
“The tribes and other local stakeholders with these concessions were important,” said Peacey, who worked frequently with McCain on the land deal. She said McCain also encourage cooperation between Resolution and the other stakeholders in the project.
“The Native American communities have a voice in the outcome of this project,” she said.