Pima County Supervisors have called a special meeting this Friday morning to discuss the recent action by the Army Corps of Engineers to revise their two-month old decision designating parts of the Santa Cruz River as navigable. Opponents of the Rosemont copper mine hoped having the river determined as navigable would slow or stop the mine from being developed because the river would be subject to the Clean Water Act, which restricts development that impacts it.
The Corps said they need to reconsider the decision in light of a Supreme Court decision. Mine opponents are raising question as to whether the change is politically motivated.
Interestingly, the Green Valley News reports that a state commission in the 1990s ruled that no part of the Santa Cruz River was navigable.