U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords will join her colleague and fellow southern Arizonan, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, in a Congressional Field Hearing on mining that will be held in Tucson on Saturday, Feb. 24.
The hearing, “Our National Forests at Risk: The 1872 Mining Law and its Impact on Arizona's Santa Rita Mountains,” begins at 10 a.m. in the Pima County Board of Supervisors hearing room, 110 W. Congress.
Giffords was invited to participate in the hearing by Grijalva, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands.
Witnesses are expected to provide testimony on the proposal for an 800-acre open-pit copper mine on the Rosemont Ranch south of Tucson. Giffords has said she has deep concerns about the mine's possible environmental impacts.
“The Santa Ritas are a national treasure,” she said. “Any threat to them must be taken seriously.”