GRIP is a nonprofit environmental
advocacy group that draws on local support and private
foundations to promote community health and protect our
quality of life. Despite our small size, we have taken
on some of the largest challenges facing southwestern
New Mexico. The High Country News (12/3/01) described
us as 'a plucky group of activists' for prodding Phelps
Dodge and the state to develop acceptable plans for mine
closure and reclamation. We also promote planning, groundwater
protection, and free-running rivers in the face of unsustainable
development practices. Our approach to these challenges
has been to bring technical, policy, and - when necessary
- legal expertise to this area and then to combine these
resources with an informed and involved public.
GRIP Participates in White House Discussion on
Health Benefits of Clean Energy Reform Estimated $120 billion annually in health cost savings from developing clean energy By Allyson Siwik, Executive Director
A shift to a sustainable clean economy will create new jobs and improve public health was the message at an invite-only White House stakeholders meeting designed to engage communities from around the country and gain input from the trenches on the transition to a Clean Energy Economy. Because many of the same sources that emit greenhouse gases are major sources of air pollution, a switch to cleaner energy will reduce particulate pollution, smog and toxics in the air Americans breathe. A recent National Academies report estimated that fossil-fuel based energy production and use in the US contribute $120 billion annually in health and environmental costs. The National Institutes of Health estimates that the cost savings realized from improving health will offset the cost of addressing climate change and, therefore, should be considered as part of all policy discussions related to climate change. Read more.
Viva Verde’s Success has Positive Spin-offs for Community Fall '09 GetAGRIP Newsletter
Connections made -- and lessons learned -- at the Viva Verde Expo keep rippling through the region, as GRIP and its project co-sponsors turn their focus to future events and offerings.
Some 500 people from throughout southern New Mexico and beyond convened in Silver City in late June for the inaugural Viva Verde Expo. The associated Viva Verde Guide, listing goods, services and contact information for green businesses across the region, has been distributed to libraries, public gathering places and advertisers for free circulation. Read more here.
View from the Trenches: Update on GRIP Responsible Mining Activities By Sally Smith, Director of Responsible Mining
Fall '09
Monitoring operational and closure/reclamation permitting and related activities at the three Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FMI) Grant County mines continues to be a very important part of GRIP’s work.
The first five-year renewal for the Closure/Closeout Permits for eventual closing of the Chino, Cobre and Tyrone mines has been under consideration by the state agencies for more than a year. Required by the New Mexico Mining Act and Water Quality Act, these permits prescribe reclamation activities to protect the environment and restore mine lands to a self-sustaining ecosystem. Permit renewal is delayed because reclamation and clean-up issues are still being worked out between the company and state. GRIP continues to be involved in this permitting process to assure that surface and groundwater quality and quantity and air quality are protected for future generations of Grant Countians. Read more.
An India Travelogue Thursday, February 4, 2010, 7pm – 9pm
Silco Theater, Silver City
Slide Presentation with GRIP Board President, Sally Smith,on her travels throughout India during her recent sabbatical. In addition to a discussion of the variety of Indian customs, cultures and religions, Sally will also describe some of the country’s pressing environmental issues and opportunities for addressing them.
Mining Reform Update: Senator Bingaman introduces Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009
By Sally Smith, Director of Responsible Mining
Fall '09
For the first time in over a decade, the Senate seems to be moving forward with reform of one of the most archaic policies governing our public lands. Our own Senator Jeff Bingaman, Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENRC) introduced this past April S. 796, the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009, to regulate the mining of hardrock minerals, such as gold, copper and uranium. This bill if passed as written could create jobs and provide economic opportunities for rural communities while cleaning up a massive legacy of toxic mining pollution. Read more.
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
Thank Senator Jeff Bingaman for introducing S. 796 and encourage him to continue to move forward with mining reform.
As chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Bingaman is critical to moving mining reform through the Senate. Please take the time to write Senator Bingaman thanking him for introducing S. 796. You can also tell him that mining reform is vital to:
• cleaning up a legacy of abandoned mines in Southwestern New Mexico;
• protecting our water resources;
• assuring clean-up and reclamation of future mining activities;
• future sustainability of our local economies.
Senator Jeff Bingaman
703 Hart Senate Office Building
United State Senate, Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-5521/ (202) 224-2852 fax
senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov
FAREWELL, MY SUBARU - Doug Fine
Tyrone Mine Appeals WQCC Permit Decision Closure
Goes Back to Court of Appeals - a Second Time by Allyson Siwik, GRIP Executive Director, Spring 2009
Freeport-McMoRan’s Tyrone Mine has appealed a February decision by the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) requiring that the polluted groundwater underneath the 12,000-acre Tyrone Mine Site be reclaimed and protected from further pollution by Tyrone’s ore and waste rock stockpiles. The company’s notice states that the appeal is taken on “all substantive, procedural and evidentiary issues” related to the WQCC decision. Bruce Frederick, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center attorney who represents GRIP in the Tyrone appeal, stated that “the company is basically taking the position that its ownership and control of property allows it to pollute the groundwater below the mine.” Read more
Freeport-McMoran Fined $276,000 for Million-Gallon 2007 Chino Acid Spill
by Allyson Siwik, GRIP Executive Director, Spring 2009
The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) has fined Freeport-McMoRan
$276,000 for violations of the New Mexico Water Quality Act and Water Quality Control
Commission regulations. The action follows discharge of an estimated one million gallons
of highly acidic pregnant leach solution into a tributary of Lampbright Draw during the
summer of 2007. The liquid, which contained a solution of copper and heavy metal-laden
sulfuric acid, flowed more than 2 ½ miles down the creek, contaminating surface and
groundwater in its path. Read more
NMED Releases Record of Decision for Hurley Soils Clean-up
A draft Record of Decision (ROD) has been written by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) regarding remediation completed this summer in the town of Hurley. Out of 670 Hurley properties sampled, 523 were found to be contaminated with copper in excess of 5,000 parts per million, and in some cases with other metals. It has been almost 14 years since an agreement between the state and Chino Mines was signed to investigate and to clean up potentially dangerous “historic contamination” which occurred prior to 1970 in Hurley as well as an estimated 50 square miles in and around the Chino Mine. Read more
A Bird's Eye View of Mine Reclamation:
GRIP Mining Photo Essay 2nd Installment
As a follow-up to our last aerial photo-essay of PLS ponds at the Chino and Tyrone mines, we’re sharing more images from our collection, available at www. gilaresources.info. This time we’re highlighting the progress made in reclaiming tailings piles at Freeport-McMoRan’s Tyrone mine. Read More
For Immediate Release
Date: June 26, 2008
Contact: Allyson Siwik, Executive Director
Gila Resources Information Project
575.538.8078 office 575.590.7619 cell
GRIP Settles Appeal of Chino Mine Dilution Proposal
Freeport-McMoRan Agrees to Water Treatment,
Saving 9000 acre-feet of Clean Groundwater Annually
Silver City, NM – The Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP) has won its five-year fight against Chino Mine’s proposal to dilute contaminated water with clean groundwater rather than use more effective treatment technology. The environmental group announced today that it had reached a settlement with the mine under which Chino will use an advanced form of reverse osmosis to remove metals and sulfates from the wastewater it will produce for hundreds of years after mining stops at the site. Read more
New
to the GRIP Library! Available for Short-term Loan
Building with Awareness the Construction of a Hybrid Home
DVD & Guidebook by Ted Owens
“The overwhelming process of green home construction just got a lot easier, thanks to this entertaining and informative [book]…. Combining natural and reclaimed materials with solar technology, designer and owner/builder Ted Owens has crafted an artful home of timber, straw bases, adobe and stone, that is powered by the sun. Owens turned his years of research and two-year construction process into a 5-hour instructional DVD, and a full-color 150-page companion book that contains supplemental photos, diagrams and text as it follows the DVD step-by-step from foundation to finishing touches.” From Catherine Wanek, author of The New Straw Bale Home.
Let the Water Do the Work: Induced Meandering,
an Evolving Method for Restoring Incised Channels
by Bill Zeedyk and Van Clothier. Donated by Van Clothier
“Let the Water Do the Work is an important contribution to riparian restoration. By “thinking like a creek,” one can harness the regenerative power of floods to reshape stream banks and rebuild floodplains along gullied stream channels. The book is an artful blend of the natural sciences – geomorphology, hydrology and ecology – which govern channel forming processes. The book directly challenges the dominant paradigm of river and creek stabilization by promoting the intentional erosion of selected banks while fostering deposition of eroded materials on an evolving floodplain. The river self-heals as the growth of native riparian vegetation accelerates the meandering process. Anyone with an interest in natural resource management in these uncertain times should read this book and put these ideas to work.” From the book cover.
Gila
Resources Information Project 305A North Cooper St. Silver
City, NM 88061 phone/fax 575.538.8078 grip@gilaresources.info
Recognizing that human and environmental systems are inseparable
and interdependent, Gila Resources Information Project pursues two
goals: 1. To protect and nurture human communities by safeguarding
the natural resources that sustain us all; 2. To safeguard natural
resources by facilitating informed public participation in resource
use decisions. Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP) was
incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1998.
