Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar introduced legislation in the U.S. House to effect the land exchange needed by Resolution Copper to develop its huge underground mine near Superior. Rep. Gosar's two predecessors, Ann Kirkpatrick and Rick Renzi had also pushed for similar indicted over his involvement in related land deals and the bill was tainted by association. [right, parcels in the land exchange. Credit, Resolution Copper]
The Hill newspaper reports that "One of the main differences between Gosar and Kirkpatrick's bills is that the Republican's requires an environmental impact assessment to be done after the land is conveyed to Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto and BHP-Billiton, rather than before."
The Resolution copper mine will be an underground operation, expected to meet up to 20% of the nation's copper needs for 30-40 years.