Update - March 30, 2023: Corps Revokes Clean Water Act Section 404 Permit for Rosemont Copper Mine
On March 30, 2023, Brig. Gen. Antoinette R. Gant revoked the Department of the Army permit issued on March 8, 2019, to the Rosemont Copper Company.
The permit has been suspended since August 23, 2019, following a district court decision that vacated the Environmental Impact Statement upon which the Corps relied in issuing the permit. Another court decision invalidated the biological opinion needed for compliance with the Endangered Species Act. Since that time, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision vacating the EIS and the permittee indicated it wishes to surrender the permit.
Prior to revoking the permit, Brig. Gen. Gant consulted with and considered information provided by the Tribes who opposed mining in the Rosemont area. Brig. Gen. Gant also met with and considered information provided by the permittee.
The revocation is effective immediately. Please see the Memorandum for Record signed by Brig. Gen. Gant and posted below for further details on this decision.
Memorandum for Record
Attachment C through Attachment O
Attachment A (ROD) and Attachment B (Permit) can be found below.
Update - August 23, 2019: Corps Suspends Clean Water Act Section 404 Permit for Rosemont Copper Mine
Following a recent court decision, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has suspended the Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for the Rosemont Copper Mine.
On July 31, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona vacated and remanded the U.S. Forest Service’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Rosemont Copper Mine project.
The U.S. Forest Service was the lead federal regulatory agency for the Rosemont Copper Mine project. USACE was a Cooperating Agency under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and adopted the Forest Service’s EIS to provide NEPA compliance for a USACE Clean Water Action Section 404 permit decision issued March 8, 2019.
Because the Section 404 permit relies upon the EIS vacated by the court, USACE is suspending the permit accordingly.
A letter has been provided to the applicant (Rosemont Copper Company) to communicate that, in absence of a permit, they are not authorized to discharge dredged or fill material into Waters of the United States.
PERMIT SUSPENSION LETTER
Update - July 1, 2019: Errata sheet, Corrected ROD, and corrected Biological Opinion added.
FINAL ROSEMONT ERRATA
FINAL ROSEMONT_ROD - CORRECTED
ATTACHMENT E - SECTION 7 COMPLIANCE - CORRECTED
Update - April 5, 2019: Attachment A of ROD updated to include appendices omitted from initial posting.
ATTACHMENT A - RESPONSE TO COMMENTS - Corrected
Update - March 22, 2019: The permit and its enclosures were added to this notice.
PERMIT WITH FIGURES
PERMIT ENCLOSURE-401 WQC
PERMIT ENCLOSURE - ESA COMPLIANCE
PERMIT ENCLOSURE - 106 MOA
March 8, 2019: Record of Decision (ROD) Completed
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), South Pacific Division (SPD) has completed a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Rosemont Copper Project in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. The ROD follows the issuance of a Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS), a Supplemental Information Report (SIR), and a Second SIR in July 2016. The Final EIS was prepared by the U.S. Forest Service, as the lead federal agency, to analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative effects associated with the development of the Proposed Action and a reasonable range of alternatives. The SIRs were prepared by the U.S. Forest Service to evaluate new information, including comments, received after the publishing of the Final EIS, to determine whether any additional analyses (including a supplement to the Final EIS) were necessary for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act.
FINAL ROSEMONT ROD
ATTACHMENT B - PROJECT FIGURES
ATTACHMENT C - FINAL MRSC
ATTACHMENT D - SECTION 401 WQC AND ADDENDUM
ATTACHMENT E - SECTION 7 COMPLIANCE
ATTACHMENT F - SECTION 106 MOA
ATTACHMENT G - FINAL EA-ROSEMONT COMPENSATORY MITIGATION