Despite heavy public opposition, on June 30, 2025 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved Redhawk/Faraday Copper’s mining-exploration project on Copper Creek, an uphill tributary of the San Pedro River located in the Galiuro Mountains near Mammoth, Arizona.
Only three days after receiving LSPWA’s appeal letter (and a joint letter from the San Carlos Apache and Center for Biological Diversity), State Director Raymond Suazo issued an immediate refusal to consider any of the appeal letters.
Not only has BLM given the green light to round-the-clock industrial operations with no meaningful oversight, they have set the stage for a future large-scale mining operation that threatens to deplete local water sources and cause irreparable harm to one of Arizona's few remaining—and most unique— desert-river biohabitats.
(Review our appeal letter to the Arizona State Director of the Bureau of Land Management regarding the recent approval of 67 exploration sites at Copper Creek by Redhawk/Faraday Copper. And learn more about the joint appeal letter written by the San Carlos Apache Tribe and Center for Biological Diversity that we, and other organizations, signed on to.)
Email Director Suazo at rmsuazo@blm.gov and the BLM Safford Field Office at blm_az_sfoweb@blm.gov.
Include a subject line, such as: Opposition to Copper Creek Exploration Project
Feel free to cut and paste any of the points below into a few paragraphs – and personalize your email as you see fit.
You may reference LSPWA’s appeal letter and/or the joint appeal by the San Carlos Apache Tribe, Center for Biological Diversity and other partners, which were sent out on July 28.
I am disappointed to learn of the State BLM office’s immediate “decline to review” response to the recent appeal letters submitted by the San Carlos Apache Tribe, Center for Biological Diversity and the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance regarding the Copper Creek Exploration Project.
A resident of [City, State], I continue to agree with the emphasis in both letters regarding the importance of protecting one of the Sonoran Desert’s last remaining wild, riparian areas, the precious water resources in this unique zone, and the cultural sensitivities of local Native Tribes.
The BLM’s refusal at the local level, and now at the state level, to respond to community concerns is a violation of meaningful public participation that should be afforded to US residents regarding their public lands.
Exploratory mining in the Galiuros – and the full-scale mining it will lead to – in such close proximity to the San Pedro River, should be off limits in our fragile, historically significant desert environment. Negative impacts on local water supplies must be fully analyzed, even during the exploratory phases of foreign exploratory mining.
[If you wrote an Environmental Assessment response appeal letter and received no response*] First the Safford BLM office, and now the state BLM office, have failed to recognize the concerns I raised during the comment period of the draft environmental assessment. I don’t feel my questions were answered in any meaningful way. [Cite examples.]
It is an injustice to silence local communities – and US citizens overall – who have legitimate water, health and environmental concerns. It is regrettable that your offices did not even attempt to reconsider the Finding of No Significant Impact decision; the request for a stay; the repeated calls for a more rigorous environmental review through an Environmental Impact Statement analysis; or the selection of the No Action Alternative.
* The BLM appears only to have published a portion of the public comments. If your questions were addressed in another commenter’s letter (see Appendix G of BLM’s Final Environmental Assessment), BLM provided only a single response. If you feel your questions were unique, substantive and were not addressed at all, please note as much in your email to Director Suazo and the Safford BLM.