The Lower San Pedro Watershed (LSPWA) is hosting a free Workshop on How to Write Effective Public Comments, led by Russ McSpadden of the Center for Biological Diversity on Tuesday, April 1, from 6 to 7.30 PM, at the Wilson Barn in Oracle, compliments of RLV Oracle Art. The Workshop will guide participants on how to submit public comments to the Bureau of Land Management on its Draft Environmental Assessment of the Faraday Copper/Redhawk Mining Exploration Project, in ways that meet the Bureau’s “substantive” standards. Workshop attendees have the option to participate either in person or on Zoom.
Copper Creek, which is located on an uphill tributary of the San Pedro River eight miles east of Mammoth, is the site of current copper exploration by Canadian Faraday Copper and its U.S. subsidiary Redhawk Exploration. The company’s technical report proposes a series of open-pit and block cave mines covering 28-square miles.
Many residents have expressed concern that industrial mining at Copper Creek will deplete both community and wildlife water sources, while causing irreversible harm to one of Arizona’s last pristine and unfragmented wilderness areas—second only in scale to the Grand Canyon. As a unique and irreplaceable river bio-habitat, the San Pedro also serves as home to countless rare and endangered species, as well as a migratory flyway used by some 1 million birds each year.
LSPWA, in collaboration with the Center for Biological Diversity, urges members of the public— whether they canattend the Workshop or not—to submit comments before the BLM’s deadline of Monday, April 14, 2025. Those seeking more information about the Workshop or about comment submissions can visit: LowerSanPedro.org.