EPA is ordering significant changes to the state-issued Clean Air Act permit for the South32 Hermosa mining project in southern Arizona’s Patagonia Mountains.
In an order signed Friday, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin directed the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to rework the permit to address concerns raised by environmental groups about monitoring, particulate matter emission limits and several other requirements for the $2.16 billion undertaking to produce zinc and manganese.
The state agency now has 90 days to make the fixes, Jeremy Nichols of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an interview Monday. The Arizona-based center had the lead in a coalition of a half-dozen groups that sought EPA’s intervention in a petition filed last September soon after the state permit was issued.
“I hope that Arizona DEQ takes its job to protect clean air and public health more seriously this time around,” said Nichols, a senior advocate.
