Send this letter (or your version of it is better) to the clerk at the Senate Public Lands Sub-Committee for the public record. Parks_subcommittee@energy.senate.gov I live in Arizona and know very well the wonderful terrain that is being considered for destruction by a mining company through a land exchange. This land is "significant natural, scenic, recreational, water or riparian sites." The exchange properties are old over-grazed ranches. You cannot imagine what devastated landscape looks like until you have seen these ranches. I am sure none of the Arizona Congressman have looked at these properties to see what the public is getting in exchange for prime, pristine recreational land. Oak Flat is so unique that President Eisenhower protected it. Just because there is high quality copper ore under it does not mean that it needs to be sacrificed. The swap lands and the Public Lands should be surveyed and compared for diversity of plants, trees, birds and wildlife before any type of exchange is considered. Not only is the quality of the lands being exchanged a disparity, the company that is proposing the exchange has a horrific environmental record. BHP already has environmental problems in Arizona. Kennecott, another Rio Tinto company, has a superfund site in Utah. This exchange is giving beautiful—even sacred land—to foreign companies that have proven their profit is above all else. They say they are going to provide jobs. But the output for jobs won't even be 5% of their profits. They are in it for the money, and we in Arizona are going to lose if they are allowed to proceed. A devastated landscape, waste piles a height of a 20 story building spread over 2,389 acres, an endless line of haul trucks on what is now a scenic highway! Thank you for your time and consideration, sign your name and give your full contact info.
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