Public opinion on the proposal by Rosemont Copper to open a mine in the Santa Rita Mountains is so heated that one aspect of an effort to increase public participation in the decision-making process may be falling apart.

Nevertheless, the organizer is seeking commitments from stakeholders to create a working group that would meet monthly to advise the Coronado National Forest on the proposed mine. A possible comment review group, which would partly overlap with the monthly working group, would review the thousands of public comments given to the Forest Service.

Mediator Carie Fox has scheduled a public meeting to be held from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 13) at Empire High School, 10701 E. Mary Ann Cleveland Way, in Vail.

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Fox said in a telephone interview she is not certain that a group could analyze comments productively because nearly all stakeholders she has surveyed are focused on their preferred outcome, either stopping the mine or promoting it, rather than on creating guidelines for an open process.

In fact, opposition to the mine is so intense some stakeholders are debating whether to encourage a more complete process, in hopes it will turn up information they can use to block the mine proposal, or whether to drop out of the process in hopes the process will turn out to be incomplete or flawed, which would make it easier for them file suit on procedural grounds, Fox said.

Still, Fox said she will pursue efforts to convene a working group and comment review group because members of a group that continues beyond the comment analysis stage will be able to track the scientific analysis used by the Forest Service, ask questions about what method is being used and learn about what data are being used. Fox said she has seen cases where working groups can actually improve the scientific inquiry that follows the comment analysis and enhances the entire decision-making process.

Fox has talked to more than 100 people in Southern Arizona so far. The purpose of the working group would be twofold: to build confidence in the process among the public, many of whom do not trust the Forest Service, and to sharpen the agency’s analysis, by raising questions about its scientific methodology.

Fox, who is based in Portland, Ore., has been hired as a consultant by the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution/Morris K. Udall Foundation, at the request of the Forest Service. Her responsibility is to design a fair process to increase public participation in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. The Forest Service must use NEPA as part of its decision-making process in whether to grant the mine permission to operate to Forest Service land.

Thursday’s meeting will provide an opportunity for the public and interested stakeholder groups to familiarize themselves with Fox and the U.S. Institute and to provide comment and brainstorm on guidelines that should be followed by the working group.

The ultimate decision on the mine proposal rests with Coronado National Forest Supervisor Jeanine Derby, but  opponents expect to file a lawsuit if the mine is proposed, and hope to delay any decision for perhaps a decade.

One reason so many stakeholders don’t trust the Forest Service is that at the beginning of the process the service posted on its website a statement implying that its role was simply to negotiate the terms of the mine’s activity, not whether to approve or reject the mine proposal. Those opponents may view the current process as an effort to make the Forest Service process more palatable to the public.

Fox’s website is http://foxmediation.com/.

Contact Sahuarita Sun reporter Philip Franchine at pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com or (520) 547-9738.