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A Pima County regulator acknowledged Friday that the county failed to enforce a condition in Asarco's permit that required the mine to apply water to its tailings, an action that could have alleviated or prevented two dust storms in December.

Meanwhile, the Pima County administrator said in a memo that Asarco's air quality permit has expired and county staff will pursue a "new, more effective permit."

Follow up:

And Asarco has told the county that 60 percent of the tailings dam near Rancho Resort in Sahuarita has not yet been watered on top to prevent dust clouds.

Pima County Department of Environmental Quality Director Ursula Kramer, after speaking to a Rancho Resort crowd Friday, said, "we should have" required the mine to apply wet tailings to the top of nearby tailings dam No. 8 within 60 days after Asarco started the dam expansion project Sept. 14.

Dam No. 8 is southwest of La Canada Drive and Helmet Peak Road, and south/southwest winds blow from the mine over Rancho Resort.

Tailings are the leftover powdered rock created in the processing of ore. Dry tailings blow around in strong winds and wet tailings largely prevent that from occurring. However, the top of the dam must be dry during expansion, Asarco officials said, so the mine applies a green co-polymer as a dust suppressant agent during construction season.

The county sent an inspector to the mine for a dust incident on Nov. 12, one day before the 60-day limit expired. Had the wet tailings been applied, they might have minimized or prevented a dust incident that occurred overnight Dec. 7-8 and one Dec. 22.

Asarco began applying wet tailings on its own Dec. 22, about five weeks later, because the expansion project ended then, an Asarco manager said last week, and because of that day's dust storm. Kramer told a packed house Friday at Rancho Resort that Asarco has applied wet tailings to 40 percent of the top lawyer of the dam so far.

Assistant Director Richard Grimaldi said the county failed to enforce the wet tailings requirement because there is no automatic trigger mechanism to go follow up on the 60-day requirement.

Expansion of the dams occurs about once a year, an Asarco official said recently, and it took just over three months this year. Asked how Asarco can expand its tailings dams without creating dust problems, Kramer said she would prefer requiring the mine to devise a solution rather than impose one.

On Dec. 23, the county issued a violation notice for the Nov. 12 episode and on Dec. 31, the county cited the mine for the Dec. 22 incident. The Dec. 7-8 incident occurred at night and could not be documented because the standard is measured by the amount of light the dust blocks, county officials said.

"The air pollution problem in Green Valley area from particulate matter (particles) related to mine tailings is historic and problematic. The most recent violation by Asarco show poor management practices with regard to the tailings impoundments and the need to contain and/or relocate the tailings impoundments in the Green Valley area," Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said in a Jan. 5 memo to the Board of Supervisors.

Huckelberry's memo noted that "the air quality permit under which Asarco is operating expired, and operations have continued without renewal due to Asarco's bankruptcy. The bankruptcy has now been resolved, and I have asked staff to diligently pursue a new, more effective permit."

Asarco officials did not attend Friday's meeting, though they were invited, Rancho Sahuarita community director Tom Murphy said. Asarco officials did attend an earlier Rancho Resort meeting and have said they are working on ways to change their construction plans to mitigate the dust problem.

Kramer told the Rancho Resort audience the county will use all legal means to order Asarco to prevent dust clouds from escaping the mine in the future.

After hearing dozens of residents recounted health care and home repair problems they have incurred since the Dec. 22 dust episode, Kramer said she will consider those impacts in fashioning a remedy.

Kramer urged residents to send photos and personal accounts of those dust problems to her department or to Rancho Resort officials.

Several residents said they were concerned about what is in the dust that has blown off the mine tailings a number of times in recent months.

"What about our health? I'm a chemical engineer and I'm scared. I know what chemicals and heavy metals are in the mine. I don't know if I could sell my house," resident Jack Belove said.

"I have a screen porch and it got completely dusted. I have been very reluctant to go clear it out. I don't want to breathe it - I don't know what it is. I'd like a real commitment that someone will test the dust on my table," Judith Pottle said.

Kramer was handed several plastic bags of gray powder collected by residents from their patios and homes and said the county would contract with a lab to conduct tests of the powder, then would consult with the Arizona Department of Health Services to determine health risks.

Other speakers said a fine the size of the $77,000 fine levied several years ago against Freeport McMoRan for dust at the former Phelps Dodge Sierrita mine complex would have no impact on Asarco, and demanded that the mine be threatened with a shut-down.

Grimaldi said the agency can issue a shut-down order, but the case would go before a judge and could drag on for years.

Kramer said her agency has not set a fine amount and is still awaiting an initial response from Asarco on the two violation notices the county issued on Dec. 23 and Dec. 31. The company has 30 days to respond to each notice.

She said the county in the past has not required a mine to pay for clean-up of nearby property, but said the pattern of recent problems with Asarco is an unusual problem.

By Philip Franchine, Green Valley News
pfranchine@gvnews.com | 547-9738