Tribe and Environmentalists Sue Feds Over Arizona Mine’s Exploratory Drilling Impacts to Threatened Owls

This story is co-published with Arizona Luminaria, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to community-centered reporting.

When the Bureau of Land Management approved mineral exploration for a proposed copper mine in southern Arizona last June, it concluded that the project would have no impacts on the threatened Mexican spotted owl because of a “lack of suitable habitat” for the bird in the area. Even after being presented with photographs of the birds living in the area, the federal agency maintained that the owl is not found there.

Now, the Center for Biological Diversity, Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance and the San Carlos Apache Tribe are suing the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for violating the Endangered Species Act, alleging that the approved project threatens the Mexican spotted owl, which trail cameras set up by the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance found less than half a mile away from drill sites, along with other rare wildlife, like the yellow-billed cuckoo. Both bird species are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). 

“Federal officials were warned that Mexican spotted owls are in the area but pushed this mining project ahead anyway and skipped steps required by law,” said Russ McSpadden, a Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Endangered Species Act is supposed to protect imperiled wildlife before damage is done, not after agencies brush aside the evidence and greenlight industrial drilling. This mining project is clearly illegal and it must be stopped.”

Last June, the BLM approved Faraday Copper to drill at 67 sites across 18 acres of land for its Copper Creek project, with drilling permitted around the clock daily for the next two to three years. Each drill pad consumes 70,000 gallons of groundwater a month. Currently, the project is in its exploration phase, when the area’s mineral resources are analyzed, after which a final decision is made about whether to proceed with a potential open-pit mine.

The Copper Creek project is located just a few miles north of the small town of Mammoth, Arizona, and has generated pushback from the former mining community since its inception. Threats to the region’s scarce water and biodiversity have been at the forefront of those residents’ concerns.

Since its approval, the project has gathered momentum, being added by the Trump administration to its FAST-41 transparency list, and the company has plans to purchase the shuttered San Manuel Mine nearby from BHP, one of the world’s largest mining companies, with BHP taking a 30 percent interest in Faraday if the deal is approved.

Nestled in the heart of the Galiuro Mountains, the project overlooks the San Pedro Valley, one of Arizona’s last intact natural landscapes. Copper Creek feeds into the San Pedro River, the Southwest’s last major undammed river, which carves northward through 143 miles of northern Mexico and southern Arizona. Mountains like Galiuros and Rincons form what are known locally as “sky islands”—a series of mountains across the region that are famed for the biodiversity nurtured by their elevation. The peaks provide isolated refuges from the hot desert floor, both inspiring their island moniker and serving as a bridge for wildlife connecting the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre range in Mexico.

One of the largest owls in North America, the nocturnal Mexican spotted owl, sports an ashy-chestnut brown color with brown and white spots, and has been listed as threatened since 1993. Throughout Copper Creek’s permitting process, local environmental groups raised concerns about the project’s potential impacts on the species, specifically from noise and light pollution. 

The ESA prohibits a federal agency from disregarding scientific evidence, the lawsuit argues, and the BLM, in this case, allegedly failed to properly respond to the group’s data and to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on potential impacts on the owl. 

According to communications between the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the BLM obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity and shared with Inside Climate News, the project’s timeline was pushed forward from September 2025 to June 2025. Staff from the state game and fish department wrote “it just wouldn’t be realistic given the expedited timeline” to provide comment, which was announced just days before comments were due.

A BLM staff member responded apologizing for the position in which the agency had put the state department, and said that “due to the timeline and pressure with this project” it was unrealistic to “work out additional requirements” for conservation during drilling with the company. 

The BLM did consult USFWS on potential impacts to the yellow-billed cuckoo. The agencies determined the species could be found in the area and the project poses a risk to the habitat of the small, grey-and-white bird with yellow highlights, but posed no long-term threats. 

The lawsuit, however, argues the agencies failed to assess the long-term consequences of the project’s groundwater withdrawals. The region is already stricken by drought, and farming, mining and residential development have depleted the groundwater basin’s water resources.  Despite that, in the final environmental assessment, the BLM stated “impacts to surface water and groundwater levels resulting from groundwater pumping are unknown,” but conceded that species dependent on the riparian ecosystem could be affected. 

“When we save and protect endangered species, we save and protect our water, because the two go hand in hand,” said Melissa Crytzer Fry, chair of the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance.

Also unstudied, the lawsuit says, is the effect of noise pollution on the cuckoo. The agencies assessed noise from the drill pads, but not from increased road traffic in the area. 

Further, the lawsuit argues that the BLM failed to develop any mitigation or conservation programs for either the Mexican spotted owl or the yellow-billed cuckoo, and photos taken by the groups show that Faraday Copper’s mitigation requirements for its lighting equipment are not being followed. The company is now doing extensive low-altitude helicopter flights, which were not disclosed during permitting, and can impact wildlife, the lawsuit alleges. 

“When agencies ignore clear evidence and fail to follow the law, local communities are left to defend the river, the habitat and the species that make this place irreplaceable,” Crytzer Fry said. “We shared trail camera images with the BLM showing Mexican spotted owls in the area and were utterly ignored.”