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Hudbay Minerals Inc. has begun preparations for a massive copper mining operation in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson.

As bulldozers and heavy equipment accelerate the pace of destruction on properties owned by Hudbay Minerals in the Santa Rita Mountains, environmental groups, local tribes and agricultural interests in the region continue the fight to halt mining operations there. Read more»

Gov. Doug Ducey announced Friday that he has allocated $25 million in federal funds to the Department of Environmental Quality to partner them with Tucson Water in efforts to treat PFAS near the Tucson International Airport. Read more»

Officials from Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado convened at the White House for a forum on the impact Biden administration programs are having on Western states. Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said that infusions of federal funding under recently passed bills have allowed her city to do projects it would not have been able to afford otherwise.

Arizona local, tribal and labor leaders were at the White House Friday to hear administration officials highlight the billions in recent federal funding - Arizona is set to get $1.9 billion in 2022 - that is coming to states for everything from roads to water to broadband. Read more»

Fencing and signs like these near Dragoon, Arizona, aim to keep people away from some of the state’s estimated 100,000 abandoned mines. Minerals from such mines, many abandoned decades before environmental laws imposed clean-up requirements on mine owners, can leach out and pose a threat to nearby waterways.

Arizona could have as many as 100,000 abandoned mines, many leaching toxic minerals into the state’s waterways, and state environmental officials said cleanup has been hampered by the fear of litigation - but a proposed federal “good Samaritan” law could help address the issue. Read more»

Oro Valley may be the first jurisdiction in the Tucson area to take up some regulations on short-term rentals like those secured on Airbnb.

Oro Valley staff will present Town Council members with the option to (maybe) regulate short-term rentals. Violations could carry a punishment of $3,500 or suspension of a license to operate such a business. Read more»

The designation of the chemicals hazardous substances under Superfund law means that federal, state or tribal officials must be informed when certain levels of PFOA and PFOS are released into the environment.

Based on significant evidence that PFOA and PFOS may present a substantial danger to human health or the environment, the two chemical compounds used for decades earned the hazardous substances designation under federal Superfund law. Read more»

Water from the Santa Cruz River Heritage Project, which recharges water by sending it down the watercourse near Downtown Tucson, flows in the river in 2019.

A government advisory lowered acceptable amounts of certain PFAS chemicals to levels so low they can’t be tested by any modern laboratory - now, industry reps see exploding costs while environmentalists see a victory — mostly. Read more»

A cup full of single-use, ion-exchange, gel-based media sits atop valves that control a groundwater remediation system being used to remove PFAS from groundwater at the fire training area of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in, 2020.

Likely PFAS contamination had been found around at least 704 current and former military bases across the country, and advocates say the military should be doing more to address the problem and care for the families who have been affected by it. Read more»

PFAS, often used in water-resistant gear, also find their way into drinking water and human bodies.

PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are a large group of human-made chemicals that are used widely in consumer products and industry - chemicals the EPA recently issued new warnings about in drinking water even at very low levels. Read more»

Havasu Falls, one of five Havasupai waterfalls deep in Arizona’s Havasu Canyon, an offshoot of Grand Canyon National Park but on lands administered by the Havasupai Indian Tribe.

A letter of opposition to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, which recently issued an aquifer protection plan permit, is the latest attempt - after years of legal battles - by the Havasupai Tribe to oppose the Pinion Plain uranium mine. Read more»

U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva spoke with the press alongside several local government leaders who supported his Environmental Justice for All bill, whicht they say will help Tucson's communities of color impacted by pollution.

A group of public employees said the Biden administration is failing to provide scientific evidence regarding its definition of dangerous forever chemicals leading to more claims that the current definition is too narrow and the EPA is missing some toxins. Read more»

Tatahatso Wash, along the Colorado River at Grand Canyon National Park, during a flash flood in July, 2018.

Critics fear that Florida’s move to assume authority over wetland management could open the floodgates for more states to claim Section 404 authority - but the hurdles that have mostly stymied such efforts for decades remain significant. Read more»

Barbara Escobar

Barbara Escobar, the interim director for the county's Department of Environmental Quality, will take over the role permanently starting on May 8, Pima County announced Monday. Read more»

U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva spoke with the press alongside several local government leaders who supported his Environmental Justice for All bill, whicht they say will help Tucson's communities of color impacted by pollution.

Local leaders in Southern Arizona came together Wednesday to throw their support behind the Environmental Justice for All Act, a congressional bill that aims to treat pollution in communities of color as a civil rights violation and create local funding for environmental cleanup. Read more»

The Canyon Mine, about 15 miles south of the Grand Canyon.

The Uranium Producers of America are expected to use the crisis in Ukraine to plead for more taxpayer-funded subsidies, so they can ramp up production quickly and cheaply. This may sound like an opportunistic ploy to use a brutal war as a profit-making scheme. Make no mistake, it is. Read more»

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