A coalition of conservation advocates is asking a U.S. District Court judge to halt exploratory drilling in southern Arizona's Patagonia Mountains. Two mining companies were granted permits to drill at two sites earlier this year to explore for copper and critical minerals. One of those sites is part of the larger Hermosa Project, which is applying for its permits under an expedited process known as FAST-41.
But the conservation groups are requesting a preliminary injunction and have filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S Forest Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for violating the Endangered Species Act. The groups argue that the Forest Service relied on incomplete and irrelevant information when considering the impacts of drilling activity, and that the Forest Service failed to account for the cumulative impacts of drilling at multiple sites. The notice also points out that endangered species have been documented in the drilling area. The groups have already sued the Forest Service for violating the National Environmental Policy Act.
The Patagonia Mountains are one of southern Arizona's Sky Islands—unique biodiversity hotspots that are home to a wide variety of wildlife and plants from endangered Mexican spotted owls and Western yellow-billed cuckoos to desert sand verbena and desert globemallow. These animal and plant communities provide important migratory habitat for ocelots and jaguars that move between Arizona and Sonora in Mexico.
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