County removes mining-related ordinance from agenda

(The Center Square) – Pima County removed a controversial ordinance affecting a copper mine from a Board of Supervisors meeting.

And one law firm hopes the whole thing does not come back for debate.

At issue was a proposed ordinance to limit the number of heavy-duty trucks on county roads to 75 trips per day. The same proposal would also require a permit “for all persons, firms or entities driving or causing heavy-duty trucks to be driven, among other changes.”

Reasons for the proposal included efforts to improve air quality, but the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute has warned that such an ordinance would substantially impair the copper mine that operates in the county.

“Counties don’t have legal authority to act unless there’s a state law that permits them that authority,” Goldwater Institute attorney Jon Riches told The Center Square. “Here, there is no state law that says the county has the legal authority to impose this limitation on heavy-duty trucks.”

Riches added that the mine is “a crucially imp...