News

Residents of Rancho Resort and other parts of northwestern Sahuarita nearly had a white Christmas, but not the kind they might expect.

Many found their homes, patios, windows and fruit trees coated with dust, and some are still running air purifiers after wind on Tuesday blew clouds of dust off the Asarco mine tailings nearby.

County regulators said in a Notice of Violation issued Wednesday that Asarco violated standards in a Nov. 12 incident, when dust from the tailings was so thick it blocked 61 percent of light passing through for a six-minute period. The county standard is 20 percent opacity, or light blockage.

Asarco could get another violation notice for Tuesday's dust incident, as the mine told the county in a self-reporting document filed Wednesday that dust blocked 75 percent of the light at one point.

Follow up:

The Pima County Department of Environmental Quality said in the notice issued for the Nov. 12 incident that Asarco has not frequently enough "smeared" the tailings dam with wet tailings, which help control dust, since the mine began expanding the dam on Sept. 14.

The county's notice ordered the mine to immediately smear the tailings dam and to do so at least every 60 days.

Asarco Mission Mine Manager Richard Rhoades said Tuesday the company had started smearing the dam; was employing two tanker trucks to spread a dust suppressant polymer; and had suspended construction work on the 10-foot lift, or increase in the height of the 100-foot tall dam. Rhoades said the company and has nearly completed construction.

The county also ordered the company to develop and implement a plan to put down wet tailings every 60 days during construction work and to "develop criteria when meteorological conditions warrant more frequent application to control fugitive emissions."

This week's incident was the third since early November, counting the Nov. 12 and Dec. 22 incidents, both of which Asarco self-reported, and a Dec. 7-8 overnight incident that triggered complaints from neighbors. That one was not subject to self-reporting or county sanctions because it occurred at night and so the opacity, or blockage of light, could not be measured, PDEQ spokeswoman Beth Gorman said.

Gorman said that because there are two documented incidents and the overnight incident within two months, it is possible the county would fine the mine up to $10,000 a day. However, the mine has 30 days to respond to the Notice of Violation for the Nov. 14 incident before any sanctions would be imposed, and the investigation would have to be completed on the Dec. 22 incident, which could take several weeks, she said.

Consideration of a possible fine would include the following, Gorman said: seriousness of the violation; any economic benefit to the company resulting from the violation; good faith efforts to comply, and duration of the violation.

Asarco met with Rancho Resort residents after the Dec. 7-8 dust storm and pledged to do all it could to control dust. Some neighbors are not happy with the response.

"The dust storm affected all homes here and our clubhouse was probably hit the worst," resident Jack Belove said. Rancho Resort is south of Helmet Peak Road (Sahuarita Road), west of Interstate 19.

"Dust is getting into our houses - some say you can taste it inside their homes - each time we open the doors and the contaminant covers our patios, windows, screens and the outside walls of our homes. The fruit on our citrus trees are white, as are our other plants.

"Even our mailbox is filled with the powder. Our sunscreens, which are expensive, may be ruined. We have already had them cleaned of the dust once last week at a cost of $50. We have bought two air purifiers and have them going 24 hours a day, another expense. Some people are complaining about having coughs due to the dust," Belove said.

"People don't realize we were told when we bought here that the mines and county environmental protection agency had the dust under control."

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

REPORTING DUST PROBLEMS

To report a dust problem, call the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality's main line, 520-740-3340, during business hours or go to their Web site, www.deq.pima.gov, go under "Air" and near the top of the page there is a link to submit a complaint. Provide date, time, cross streets, description of problem and contact info (can be anonymous).