Wednesday, November 18, 2015

"OURS IS THE LAND": THE TOHONO NATION OPPOSITION TO THE ROSEMONT COPPER MINE

A View Of The Proposed Site For The Rosemont Open Pit Copper Mine Along Scenic Highway 83.



By Judy Jennings
© Copyright 2015

Good news, Tucson!  The proposed Rosemont Copper Mine is far from a done deal.  You’ve probably already heard about the proposed mile-wide, half-mile deep open pit mine along Scenic Highway 83, thanks to the efforts of a group called Save The Scenic Santa Ritas.  

SSSR, which has been staging what film director Frances Causey calls a “robust opposition” to the mine, scored a major victory recently when their lawsuit successfully overturned Rosemont’s air pollution permit.  Other critical permits are in serious jeopardy, as well, such as the Aquifer Protection Permit, a crucial state water permit needed to begin construction of the mine.  SSSR currently has another lawsuit pending in Mariopa County challenging what they call the illegal issuance of this permit.

That position is supported by the Environmental Protection Agency, which stated in a November 2014 letter to the Army Corps Of Engineers that the proposed wetlands mitigation around the mine is insufficient to avoid ‘significant degradation’ of the aquatic ecosystem.  Importantly, the EPA has veto power over the proposal.

This is all great news.  But Causey’s film Ours Is The Land, which screened at The Loft this month, takes this fight to another level.  She makes it personal.

Ours Is The Land tells the story of the connection of the Tohono O’odham people to Ce:wi Duag, or the Santa Rita Mountains, entirely from the perspective of Tohono Nation tribal members.  In their own words, tribal members describe a connection to the land that is the foundation of their culture, both spiritually and physically.

The film brings home an important realization.  While many of us find the idea of an open pit mine in the Santa Ritas abhorrent, there’s a lot more than environmental protection at stake for our neighbors on the reservation, who are fighting for their very way of life. 

Causey’s film is powerful, in no small part because of the way she, herself, gets out of the way.  This is very much a film of the Tohono O’odham Nation, crafted through the words of tribal elders and basket weavers, profoundly conveying a sense of exactly what it is the Nation stands to lose with this mine.

This week’s screening at The Loft was only the second showing of Ours Is The Land, so follow the Facebook page for future show dates.  This is a great time to get informed about this issue!

For a lot more information, visit Frances Causey’s blog at the Huffington Post, where she writes extensively about issues and regulations regarding open pit mining in Arizona.

Ours Is The Land on Facebook:

Save The Scenic Santa Ritas website:

Frances Causey on the Huffington Post:


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