Center for Biological Diversity: SUPERIOR, Ariz.— Conservation groups filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today in response to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s decades-long failure to limit pollution in Queen Creek.
Excerpt from this press release from the Center for Biological Diversity:
Conservation groups filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today in response to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s decades-long failure to limit pollution in Queen Creek.
Resolution Copper’s proposed mine would discharge copper and other pollutants into the creek. The mining operation would also destroy the Oak Flat area, an Indigenous sacred site east of Phoenix.
“Instead of doing its job to protect Queen Creek, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is allowing Resolution Copper Company to add more pollutants to an already polluted stream,” said Roger Featherstone, director of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition. “It is time for EPA to step in to protect a creek that is valued by so many Arizonans.”
Pollution limits are an important Clean Water Act tool to improve water quality. In 2002 the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality said Queen Creek failed to meet federal water-quality standards because of dissolved copper; later it added lead and selenium to the list. But despite the creek’s formal listing as impaired, there are no pollution limits because the state has failed to finalize these standards.
The Clean Water Act requires states to identify polluted waters and limit pollution dumped into those waters. Impairment designation triggers a state agency’s duty to measure pollutants and identify potential reductions to ensure the water is safe for people, plants and animals. The EPA is required to step in if states fail to implement pollution standards for impaired waters.