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Community swept by mine tailings

By Jaime Richardson  December 19th, 2009

Windy days are dreaded in a community bordered by mines.

In Green Valley and Sahuarita, the tailings from those mines — piles of finely crushed rock left over from the mining process — blow clouds of white dust that some compare to a Minnesota blizzard.

Earlier this month, there was a big one.

The dust coated patio furniture and vehicles and seeped past window panes into houses. Besides the cleanup bill, residents are concerned about their health — everything from chemicals they might be breathing in to Valley Fever, a respiratory disease caused by a fungus found in desert soil.

Those questions were asked at a meeting Thursday for residents of Rancho Resort, a development at Sahuarita Road and La Canada Drive and northeast of two tailings from Asarco mine.

Gary Olson, who lives there, can see the mine tailings from his front yard.

He said a wind storm Dec. 7-8, with winds of over 30 mph that knocked down trees and blew off a portion of a mobile home roof in Green Valley, left a coat of dust covering every home on his street. The dust was so thick in the air he could barely see his neighbor’s house, he said.

The meeting was packed with more than 80 residents who came to get answers from mining officials.

Dr. Krishna Parameswaran, director of environmental services for Asarco, and Arturo Burgos, a senior environmental engineer at Asarco’s Mission Complex at Pima Mine Road, spoke to residents about the dust issue but didn’t have many answers.

They said the tailings are controlled with the use of a green-colored acrylic polymer that acts as a kind of seal coat for the loose tailings. During high winds, trucks are sent out to wet down the tailings with water and chemicals.

They said they didn’t know why the dust was fine and a white-gray color when residents say it used to be sand-colored with a thicker consistency.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc., which owns the mines south of Duval Mine Road, faced a similar issue in 2006, when a freak wind storm covered more than 2 square miles of Green Valley with dust. The company was fined by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and said it spent more than $170,000 to clean up more than 600 homes.

“When we were buried in it, why didn’t (Asarco) come out and ask us if you could clean it up?” one resident shouted on Thursday.

Another woman threatened to complain to the Environmental Protection Agency, gather her neighbors and file a class-action lawsuit if it happens again.

According to the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality, the Air Quality Index (AQI) reached the moderate range on Dec. 8, spokeswoman Beth Gorman said. The AQI is a measure of very small particulates that can get into the lower parts of the respiratory system and cause health problems.

On Dec. 7, the AQI, which is measured from midnight to midnight, was 33; it jumped to 62 on Dec. 8, and was back down to 32 on Dec. 9. A measurement between 0 and 50 is in the good range; 51-100 is moderate, and above 100 is unhealthy. There is no standard for larger particulates, which likely would make up a bulk of what settled on cars and porches, because they generally are expelled by the body and present fewer health issues.

Richard Ducote, a spokesman for Freeport McMoRan, who also spoke at the meeting, said tailings are made of “clean material, nothing acidic or caustic.”

Both mining operations began in 1959, and mining in the area has been prevalent for more than 100 years, he said. Green Valley and Sahuarita are not “mining towns,” but growing communities independent of the mines, and Asarco and Freeport have got to work to comply with residents’ needs, he said. The mines are collaborating, he said.

Buying next to a mine

Construction began on Rancho Resort, an age-restricted, gated development that is part of Rancho Sahuarita, in 2000.

“We all signed the sales agreement knowing the tailings were there,” said resident Paul Williams, who said his home was one of those covered with dust — inside and out— after the storm.

Sales representatives told people that the “green stuff,” the acrylic polymer, applied to the tailings heaps would prevent issues with dust, he says. But prospective homebuyers should have done more research into what living so near to an operating mine would entail. “I used to work for a chemical company, and it’s a tough position to be in,” Williams said. Though he’s not happy with the dust, “I feel for the industry, because we cannot live without copper.”

Another resident was worried that because the company recently came out of a four-year bankruptcy when it was bought out by Grupo Mexico, this might affect Asarco’s ability to finance the maintenance of the tailings.

Parameswaran said that while Asarco has “less resources that other companies at this time, money is not an issue at all — we must comply with (environmental) permits.”

The Arsarco representatives agreed to come back to another Rancho Resort meeting early next year to address the dust issue and provide more specific answers for residents.

“We are committed to being good neighbors,” he said.

jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726