Feds' Consultant Hire at Issue
Posted on: Thursday, 15 May 2008, 09:00 CDT
By TONY DAVIS
Tucson lawmakers question process of choosing enviro firm for Rosemont mine-proposal study
The U.S. Forest Service is reviewing the recent hiring process for a consulting firm to help draft an environmental document for the proposed Rosemont mine.
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Tucson asked the service to spell out how and why it picked SWCA Environmental Consultants, a Giffords aide said last week.
Also, fellow U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva said he will ask the Inspector General's Office of the U.S. Agriculture Department, the service's parent agency, to review SWCA's hiring.
Grijalva, like Giffords a Democrat, is concerned about whether the company can be objective in judging the Rosemont mine application, given a long track record representing developers and other businesses.
The Coronado National Forest's top official, Forest Supervisor Jeanine Derby, was out of town last week on personal leave.
She won't be available for comment on SWCA's hiring until early May, said her deputy, Reta Laford.
The Rosemont mine, proposed by Canadian firm Augusta Resources, would be built in the Santa Rita Mountains on 995 acres of private land, 3,670 acres of national forest, 15 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and 75 acres of state trust land.
A draft environmental statement is due in March 2009. A final statement is due in November 2009.
Opponents have raised concerns that the mine will draw down the water table, pollute the air, hurt water quality and cause traffic safety problems.
Augusta has said the mine will pipe in Central Arizona Project water from outside and generate lots of jobs.
As of late last week, little information was available on the consultant's selection, including why SWCA was chosen, which companies were considered and how the companies came to be considered.
The amount of money the company will be paid also is not known, although it is known that Augusta will be paying for the environmental review. That's aimed at saving taxpayers money, said an SWCA official.
Giffords also wants to know whether Augusta had recommended SWCA or other companies, said Ron Barber, Giffords' district director in Tucson.
Augusta issued a brief statement Friday, saying it had not been involved in helping the service decide whom to hire.
"The congresswoman believes that making this information available to her and to the public will ensure the credibility of the service's environmental impact statement for Rosemont," Barber said.
"There's been enough questions that we need straight answers," Barber said.
"Was it three companies or two? (Was) there only one? What was the decision based on, money or expertise? Was it made because Augusta said, 'We want these people'?"
SWCA can be objective because it's routinely represented many local and federal agencies, including the city of Tucson and the Pima County government, as well as the Forest Service, said program director Tom Furgason, the firm's top official on the Rosemont mine issue.
"We have a diverse client base, including several local governments in Southern Arizona," Furgason said.
"It has included some developers, but that's not the majority of our work, by any means."
Grijalva pointed to SWCA's background as a developer consultant, including its role more than two decades ago representing developers of houses on Pusch Ridge and in Ventana Canyon in the Catalina Foothills.
The La Reserve development on Pusch Ridge was particularly controversial during the 1980s and '90s because other scientists blamed it in part for having driven out Pusch Ridge's bighorn sheep herd.
"The analysis that needs to be done needs a high degree of objectivity. I'm sorry that the Forest Service said OK," Grijalva said.
"We're dealing not only with an important issue, but an issue that affects public lands and will have long-term impacts in this whole region.
"We need a firm not so company-oriented. Their history is that whoever writes the check influences the process."
SWCA was founded in the early 1980s by Steve Carothers, who had been curator of biology for the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.
Carothers has since sold the company, and it is now employee- owned.
"Our long-term interest is in serving the Forest Service," Furgason said.
"By serving the Forest Service well, it helps the service know we can do the same job in the future, if another job comes along."
SWCA ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS
* Founded 1981, has 350 employees and 22 offices in nine states, including Arizona.
* Ranked as one of the top 200 environmental firms nationally and one of the top 500 design firms nationally by Engineering News- Record, a construction industry weekly magazine.
* Had $45.8 million in consulting revenues in 2006.
* Worked on a Forest Service review of a proposed Tucson Electric Power Co. line from Tucson to Nogales, and projects in the Prescott, Apache Sitgreaves and Kaibab national forests.
* Worked as an environmental consultant for developers in Tucson and elsewhere.
* Worked on a habitat-conservation plan for the city of Tucson, and endangered-species surveys for Pima County.
* Worked a review of the Dos Pobres/San Juan mine near Safford for the Bureau of Land Management.
* Contact reporter Tony Davis at 806-7746 or tdavis@azstarnet.com.
Originally published by TONY DAVIS, ARIZONA DAILY STAR.
(c) 2008 Arizona Daily Star. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Arizona Daily Star
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