COUNTY CONSIDERING ROSEMONT AIR QUALITY PERMIT

posted by Andrea Kelly

Rosemont Copper Company hopes to open a copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains, but one of the hurdles the company must clear is to get an air quality permit from Pima County.

The company has to submit a plan for controlling air pollution in the proposed open pit mine, and the county is reviewing the plan and seeking public comment on it, starting Aug. 30.

But just how much sway does the county have to issue or deny that permit?

Ursula Kramer, director of the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality, says not much. The mine either meets the requirements, and gets a permit, or it doesn't meet them and the permit is denied.

"There’s a set of laws and a set of rules our there that companies have to comply with depending on what type of an air pollution source they are, and if a company comes to us and they demonstrate that they can meet all of the requirements that are applicable to them, then we do have to issue an air quality permit to them. It’s not really a discretionary function,” Kramer said in an interview.

As a matter of disclosure, Rosemont Copper Company is an underwriter of Arizona Public Media.