[El Jefe, one of at least seven jaguars documented north of the
border since 1996, became a powerful symbol for environmentalists,
Native tribes, and others who vehemently oppose both mining and border
wall construction in remote areas.]
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THE OTHER BORDER CRISIS: MINING  
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Miriam Davidson
May 17, 2023
The Progressive
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_ El Jefe, one of at least seven jaguars documented north of the
border since 1996, became a powerful symbol for environmentalists,
Native tribes, and others who vehemently oppose both mining and border
wall construction in remote areas. _

A mural in Tucson by local artist Kati Astraeir is a tribute to El
Jefe. The jaguar has been adopted as a symbol of resilience in the
borderlands, Lisa Harris/Flickr

 

With the end of the pandemic-era Title 42 that allowed the United
States to turn away asylum seekers, the Biden Administration’s
own similarly draconian measures
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could replace it, and a humanitarian crisis that continues to rage at
the U.S.-Mexico border—few may be aware of another, non-immigration
related disaster brewing there. That is, the possibility that Congress
may soon open up these lands to a slew of destructive mining projects.

In 2016, trail camera footage was released
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prowling the Santa Rita Mountains about twenty miles south of Tucson,
Arizona. Nicknamed El Jefe (“The Boss”), the cat caused
an international sensation
[[link removed](jaguar)]. Not only was the
video proof that jaguars were crossing the border and coming as far
north as forty miles into the United States, it was compelling
evidence that at least one of these rare and endangered animals was
roaming around the site of the proposed
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Rosemont copper mine.

El Jefe, one of at least seven jaguars documented north of the border
since 1996, became a powerful symbol for environmentalists, Native
tribes, and others who vehemently oppose both mining and border wall
construction in remote areas. His presence energized the decade-long
court battle to prevent Canadian mining giant Hudbay Minerals from
turning the eastern slope of the Santa Rita mountains, where the
mile-wide mine is set to be built, into an industrial wasteland. 

Under the Biden Administration, border wall construction in wilderness
areas that raced ahead during the Trump years has slowed or stopped.
Still, conservationists say much damage has already been done and the
walls need to be taken down. As for the Rosemont mine, which has been
stalled
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a district court ruling in 2019, a bipartisan bill
recently introduced
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Congress threatens to give the go-ahead to this and other
controversial mining projects. 

The bill, brought to the floor in late April by Senators Catherine
Cortez Masto, Democrat of Nevada, and James Risch, Republican of
Idaho, and co-sponsored by Arizona Independent Kyrsten Sinema, among
others, would overturn the court’s ruling in the Rosemont case and
potentially open up two other delayed mining projects in Nevada. 

Environmentalists are outraged and disappointed with Cortez Masto.
“[The senator] has become a mining industry puppet and is throwing
communities, tribes and wildlife under the bus,” Patrick Donnelly,
Great Basin director of the Arizona-based Center for Biological
Diversity, told the Associated Press. 

The bill seeks to update and clarify the archaic 1872 Mining Law
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which allows pretty much anyone, including foreign mining companies,
to search for minerals under public lands and own whatever they find.
But rather than rein in mining interests, it gives them even more
power. 

The legislation would reverse the district court’s ruling, later
upheld by the Ninth Circuit, which found that mines may have the right
to extract minerals from public lands proven to have deposits, but do
not have the right to dump tailings on adjacent lands that do not have
deposits. Mining companies say if this is the standard, they won’t
be able to operate. Rosemont opponents say that’s fine with them. 

Rosemont is not the only controversial Arizona mine currently under
consideration by Congress. Oak Flat, the site of another proposed
open pit mine
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Superior, has been a subject of intense debate because the land is a
popular recreation area and considered sacred to the Apache. It had
been protected from development until a 2014 deal brokered by former
Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake transferred the site to an
Australian mining firm that had previously employed Flake as a
lobbyist. 

Representative Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who also opposes
Rosemont, has introduced
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bill to undo the land transfer and save Oak Flat. In April, he joined
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leaders and others at a vigil in front of the White House. “We’re
here to pray that Biden reverses the destruction of a sacred site,”
Grijalva said. 

Even the Arizona mountain range near the border where El Jefe likely
crossed is under threat from mining. The Australian-owned Hermosa
project
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an open-pit zinc, silver and manganese mine in the Patagonia Mountains
about eight miles north of the border, has just been fast-tracked
under a rapid-permitting process put in place during the Obama
Administration.  

Rosemont is going forward under another name: Hudbay has started
mining on private land it bought on the western slope of the Santa
Ritas and renamed the project Copper World. But that effort has also
been tied up in court
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improper permits and potential damage to the region’s underground
aquifer.

As the fights over mining and the border walls rage on, there is some
good news. In November 2021, El Jefe, then thought to be about twelve
years old, was caught on camera in the rugged mountains of central
Sonora, more than 100 miles south of the border. (In addition to
enormous ranges, jaguars have unique spot patterns, so experts are
sure it’s the same cat.) 

It’s reassuring to know El Jefe and other jaguars are still out
there, crossing the line—for now. 

_Miriam Davidson is author of The Beloved Border: Humanity and Hope in
a Contested Land (University of Arizona Press, 2021)._

_Since 1909, The Progressive has aimed to amplify voices of dissent
and those under-represented in the mainstream, with a goal of
championing grassroots progressive politics. Our bedrock values are
nonviolence and freedom of speech._

_Based in Madison, Wisconsin, we publish on national politics,
culture, and events including U.S. foreign policy; we also focus on
issues of particular importance to the heartland. Two flagship
projects of The Progressive include Public School Shakedown
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to resist the privatization of public education, and The Progressive
Media Project [[link removed]], aiming to diversify our
nation’s op-ed pages. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization.  Donate [[link removed]]_

* border wall
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* mining
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* Environmentalism
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* Native Americans
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