DoomsdaysCW<p>Another reason NOT to mine in the American <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Southwest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Southwest</span></a>! If we need "critical minerals," than RECLAIM THEM FROM CIRCUIT BOARDS AND BATTERIES!</p><p>Is the Southwest too dry for a mining boom?</p><p>Critical minerals for the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CleanEnergy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CleanEnergy</span></a> transition are abundant in the Southwest, but the dozens of mines proposed to access them will require vast sums of water, something in short supply in the desert.</p><p>by Wyatt Myskow, Inside Climate News</p><p>Jan 28, 2024 </p><p>"To understand mining in the U.S., you have to start with the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MiningLaw" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MiningLaw</span></a> of 1872. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill into law as a way to continue the country’s development westward, allowing anyone to mine on federal lands for free. To do this, all one needs to do is plant four stakes into the ground where they think there are minerals and file a claim. Unlike other industries that make use of public lands—such as the oil and gas industry—no royalties are paid for the minerals extracted from the lands owned by American taxpayers.</p><p>"The <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SanCarlosApache" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SanCarlosApache</span></a> tribe has fought for years to stop <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ResolutionCopper" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ResolutionCopper</span></a>’s proposed mine. It would be built on top of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OakFlat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>OakFlat</span></a>, a <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SacredSite" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SacredSite</span></a> to the Apache and other <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Indigenous" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Indigenous</span></a> communities, and a habitat of rare species like the endangered Arizona <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HedgehogCactus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HedgehogCactus</span></a>, which lives only in the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/TontoNationalForest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TontoNationalForest</span></a> near the town of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Superior" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Superior</span></a>. The fate of the mine now rests with the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/USDistrictCourt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>USDistrictCourt</span></a> in Arizona after the grassroots group <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ApacheStronghold" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ApacheStronghold</span></a> filed a lawsuit to stop it, arguing its development would violate <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NativePeople" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NativePeople</span></a>’s religious rights.</p><p>"But for communities located near the mine and across the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PhoenixArizona" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PhoenixArizona</span></a> metropolitan area, the water it would consume is just as big of an issue.</p><p>"Throughout the mine’s lifespan, Resolution estimates it would use 775,000 acre feet of water—enough for at least 1.5 million Arizona households over roughly 40 years. And experts say the mine would likely need far more. </p><p>"'By pumping billions of gallons of groundwater from the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EastSaltRiver" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EastSaltRiver</span></a> alley, this project would make Arizona’s goal for <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/stewardship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>stewardship</span></a> of its scarce <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/groundwater" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>groundwater</span></a> resources unreachable,' one report commissioned by the San Carlos Apache Tribe reads. In one hydrologist’s testimony to Congress, water consumption was estimated to be 50,000 acre feet a year—about 35,000 more than the company has proposed drawing from the aquifer.</p><p>"The Resolution <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CopperMine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CopperMine</span></a> isn’t the only water-intensive mining operation being proposed. Many of what the industry describes as 'critical minerals,' like <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/lithium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>lithium</span></a> and copper, are found throughout the Southwest, leading to a flurry of mining claims on the region’s federally managed public lands. </p><p>“Water is going to be scarcer in the Southwest but the mining industry is basically immune from all these issues,” said Roger Flynn, director and managing attorney at the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WesternMiningActionProject" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WesternMiningActionProject</span></a>, which has represented tribes and environmental groups in mining-related lawsuits, including the case over Oak Flat."</p><p>Read more:<br><a href="https://grist.org/drought/is-the-southwest-too-dry-for-a-mining-boom/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">grist.org/drought/is-the-south</span><span class="invisible">west-too-dry-for-a-mining-boom/</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SaveOakFlat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SaveOakFlat</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Arizona" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Arizona</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RioTinto" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RioTinto</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CopperMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CopperMining</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CorporateColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CorporateColonialism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ExtremeDrought" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ExtremeDrought</span></a></p>