Goldwater: Pima County Lacks Power to Block Copper Mine Access

After objecting to a new copper mine in Southern Arizona, the Pima County Board of Supervisors is now attempting to restrict access to and from the site. The Goldwater Institute is urging the board to stand down from these restrictions, which aren’t authorized under Arizona law.

Pima County is considering an ordinance that would cap the number of daily trips “heavy duty trucks” can make on unpaved county roads—including a road that serves the mine. The proposal goes further by imposing a new permit requirement before these trucks could drive on the road at all.

“Pima County doesn’t have the authority to adopt this ordinance,” Goldwater Institute attorney Adam Shelton said. “Counties in Arizona only have those powers that have been explicitly granted to them by state law or the Arizona Constitution. No statute gives the county this power, and state law prohibits these restrictions outright.”

To be sure, counties do have limited authority to regulate traffic, like establishing speed limits for certain areas or temporarily restricting traffic for legitimate safety reasons. But the law draws a clear line: counties may not restrict or prohibit a “vehicle of legal size from operating on a highway that is a major arterial street that connects two or more local jurisdictions.” The sole exception applies only if the county can show that “a vehicle of a legal size may not safely operate on the highway,” after satisfying other criteria.

“Pima County has not and cannot meet these statutory requirements,” Shelton said. “Vehicles of this size are currently and will continue to operate safely on the road targeted by this ordinance.”

That’s because this ordinance isn’t really about safety or road integrity at all.  And Pima County has failed to show any other statutory basis to impose these onerous restrictions that will negatively affect the local and state economy for years to come.

On Friday, the Goldwater Institute sent a letter to Pima County urging county leaders not to adopt these restrictions. Pima County is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposed ordinance on Tuesday, Dec. 16.

Read Goldwater’s letter to the Pima County Board of Supervisors here.