Appeals court blocks land swap between BLM and miner Asarco, citing bad environmental analysis

Appeals court blocks BLM-Asarco land swap

PHOENIX — A federal appeals court ruled Monday that a land exchange between the federal Bureau of Land Management and copper miner Asarco LLC violates environmental laws as proposed.

The ruling in the lawsuit filed by three environmental groups in 2001 overturns a lower court decision backing the exchange long sought by Asarco.

The swap would give Asarco nearly 11,000 acres of public land in exchange for 7,300 acres of the company’s private holdings. It would allow Asarco to expand its Ray copper mine 50 miles north of Tucson.

A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, the Grand Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club and the Western Land Exchange Project that the BLM’s environmental reviews of the deal’s consequences were inadequate.