COPPER, AN ACID STORY

from the NMCCA&W Newsletter, Special Earth Day Edition, April 22, 1990:

...and from the Albuquerque Journal, October 8, 1991, a headline says

That was a successful action. It brought about improvements in water management at the mine. But that was not our only encounter with acid pollution from this particular mine. One of our early big battles was with the air emissions, including acid-forming sulfur oxides, from this same mine (which was initially owned by Kennecott Copper).

The story goes 'way back. We think it easiest to tell it through the words of an independent observer. In the early 1990's, Christopher Huggard completed a Ph.D. dissertation at UNM, entitled, "Environmental and Economic Change in the Twentieth-Century West: The History of the Copper Industry in New Mexico." Some of Huggard's story is told in his subsequent article "Mining and the Environment: The Clean Air Issue in New Mexico, 1960-1980," New Mexico Historical Review 69, 369-388, October 1994. The following quotes are all excerpts from his article.
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" By the 1960's ... environmentalists introduced a new awareness of the injustices against the atmosphere ... Congress also reacted by imposing regulations on industry. Among these remarkable measures was the Clean Air Act of 1967, and its amendments ... .

"In many ways, the air pollution battle in New Mexico paralleled the national fight. ... The climax of New Mexico's air battle occurred in June 1975. At that time, the Kennecott Copper Corporation was pitted against the environmentalists of the New Mexico Citizens for Clean Air & Water ... The tension was so high that a local labor leader tried to pick a fight with John Bartlit, chair of the NMCCA&W. ...

" ... workers and their families living in Hurley regularly experienced respiratory problems ... Larry Himes ... recalled that winters were the worst time for bad air. Paint jobs on automobiles 'went bad within two years. We accepted...[these things]...as part of living in Hurley.'

" ... Class B counties, like Grant County, were self regulated. As a result, Kennecott determined the 'safe' quantities of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter ... to be emitted from its smelter.

" To establish air quality standards, the state held several public hearings. The first important meeting occurred in Santa Fe in October 1971. ... One of the main issues was emissions at the Hurley smelter.

" The pro-industry forces, however, met strong opposition at the meeting. ... Most of the sparring pitted Kennecott lawyer William Dempsey ... against Mike Williams ... [now with NMCCA&W]. Whereas Dempsey reiterated the company's argument that SO2 emissions at Hurley were safe for workers and the plant life nearby, Williams attacked these assumptions. His calculations showed that as much as 650 tons of SO2 poured daily out of the smokestacks. At these levels of discharge, he said, the smelter was '...spewing more of the chemical into New Mexico skies than Houston, Texas, Marietta, Ohio, or Los Angeles, California.' ...In the end, however, the mining industry made a most compelling argument. Its activities, it pointed out, although detrimental to the environment, were a large part of why Americans lived in such an affluent way. The exploitation of the environment benefited everyone...This economic factor weighed heavily in the EIB's [New Mexico State Environmental Improvement Board's] decision to set lenient regulations.

" But environmentalists in New Mexico were not willing to give up, and leading the way was the New Mexico Citizens for Clean Air & Water.

" Rooted in opposition to the utility plant [Four Corners Power Plant] emissions and a proposed paper mill in Albuquerque, the NMCCA&W soon took up the fight for clean air throughout the state. ... John [Bartlit] became the chair ... while Nancy [Bartlit] served as 'troubleshooter' ... Mike Williams took on the role of the 'scientific genius ... . John brought national recognition to the NMCCA&W in 1972, when he testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution ...

" ...As a technocratic environmentalist his biggest complaint was that the utility and mining companies had not implemented the most efficient environmental equipment available ... His hope was to pressure Kennecott to install the best technology to meet 90 percent control of SO2 and 99.7 percent clean-up of particulates matter. These standards could be met, he argued, because the converters, scrubbers, and modern furnaces were already in use in Japan, Canada, and Finland. Borrowing from traditional industrial rhetoric, Bartlit also argued that implementation of new technology created jobs in the manufacture and operation of the equipment.

" Through the 1970's, NMCCA&W played an extremely important role in keeping air quality issues before governmental agencies, the mining companies, and the general public. Bartlit, Williams, and [NMCCA&W's lawyer] Burnett skillfully cross-examined the industry's expert witnesses at hearings to prove, for example, that the technology was available to change emissions levels at Hurley. ... Bartlit ... turned the stratagem [of cross-examining witnesses] on the mining industry and himself cross-examined corporate experts to reveal deception and contradictions in their statements ...

"In 1975, the air debate reached a climax in New Mexico. [At] the EPA hearing at Silver City...Everybody of any importance in Grant County was there ... The EPA and the NMCCA&W confronted a 'hostile audience' ... More than a hundred people showed up to taunt the environmentalists, called 'petty despots and their little friends' by Grant County Chamber of Commerce manager ...

"...In 1982, Kennecott finally met the 90 percent standards. ...

" ...And even though Kennecott was a casualty of the air war, having sold out to Mitsubishi of Japan and Phelps Dodge by 1986, a rejuvenated smelter now stood as a tribute to his technocratic environmentalism, which Bartlit claimed was pro-environment and pro-industry. The philosophy created jobs and cleaned up the air. ..."

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There you have it--a few excerpts from an intense period of history. That time was filled with subterfuge and political wrangling by the industry. It tells not only some of our story, but industry's story, Senator Domenici's story, and others. We recommend it as good reading for anyone interested in how pollution control is obtained or lost in the real world.