TUCSON — Pima County officials have decided to drop a lawsuit seeking to block mining lease renewal on state trust land near a county-owned conservation preserve.
County lawyers told the Board of Supervisors on Feb. 12 that the case was hopeless because a trial judge refused to order the state to allow experts onto the limestone mine site southeast of Tucson, in Davidson Canyon near Vail.
The county was trying to show that mining was not the most potentially profitable use of the state trust land, a requirement the state Land Department must meet when it makes land use decisions. The Land Department has renewed four mining leases in the area, saying they'll make the most money.
Pima County was trying to shore up protections for the 13,000-acre Bar V Ranch, which it purchased as a preserve for $8.6 million in 2005. Attorneys argued that mining nearby would pollute water resources and harm habitats around the ranch.
Supervisors aren’t giving up. They said they want to try other measures to block mining. Those may include trying to get the Legislature to place a referendum on the November ballot that would force the Land Department to consider applications for trust land uses for conservation. The law now favors mining and grazing.
Supervisors also said they will ask the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to designate watercourses in the area as protected unique waters. They hope that will halt mining plans. ?