Los Angeles Times - 02.08.2019

A6 FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2019 LATIMES.COM

THE NATION

PHOENIX — A federal

judge has overturned the

U.S. Forest Service’s ap-

proval of plans for a new cop-

per mine in southeastern Ar-

izona in a decision that

comes amid a larger battle

across the West over the use

of public land for mining.

The judge ruled late

Wednesday that the agency

improperly evaluated and

considered water use issues

associated with the Rose-

mont mine project in the

Santa Rita Mountains in the

Coronado National Forest.

The $1.9-billion Rose-

mont mine, at half a mile

deep and a mile wide, was

proposed to sprawl across

federal, state and private

land, leaving a waste pile the

height of a skyscraper.

Conservation and tribal

groups on Thursday praised

the ruling, saying it recog-

nized that the Forest Serv-

ice failed to protect public

land and resources in moun-

tains that are home to en-

dangered jaguars and

cougars, black bears and

deer. The mountain range is

also home to Madera Can-

yon, one of the premier U.S.

bird-watching spots.

Toronto-based Hudbay

Minerals Inc. said it would

appeal the ruling blocking

construction of its project

southeast of Tucson. The

company’s stock plunged

22% to $3.81 per share in

Thursday afternoon trading

on the New York Stock Ex-

change.

Hudbay Minerals said

U.S. District Judge James A.

Soto misinterpreted federal

mining laws and Forest

Service regulations and that

it would appeal his ruling to

the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of

Appeals.

“We are extremely disap-

pointed with the court’s de-

cision. We strongly believe

that the project conforms to

federal laws and regulations

that have been in place for

decades,” said Peter Kukiel-

ski, the company’s interim

president and chief execu-

tive officer.

The judge’s decision

came after the Trump ad-

ministration in late 2017 re-

duced the size of the Bears

Ears National Monument in

Utah by about 85% to allow

for mining claims.

In New Mexico, tribal

leaders have pressured U.S.

officials to ban oil and gas ex-

ploration near the remnants

of an ancient Pueblo civiliza-

tion at Chaco Culture Na-

tional Historical Park.

Plans called for the Rose-

mont mine to be built along a

scenic highway that curves

along grasslands.

“The judge’s ruling pro-

tects important springs and

streams from being de-

stroyed,” said Randy Ser-

raglio, conservation advo-

cate at the Tucson-based

Center for Biological Diver-

sity. “We’ll move forward

with everything we’ve got to

keep protecting this south-

ern Arizona jewel from this

toxic mine.”

Serraglio’s group, along

with Save the Scenic Santa

Ritas, the Arizona Mining

Reform Coalition and the

Arizona Grand Canyon

Chapter of the Sierra Club

this year sued to stop Rose-

mont, as did the Tohono

O’odham Nation, the Pas-

cua Yaqui Tribe and the

Hopi Tribe.

“This is a victory for the

Nation and all of southern

Arizona,” said Ned Norris

Jr., chairman of the Tohono

O’odham Nation. “The dev-

astation that the Rosemont

mine would bring to our

land, water and cultural re-

sources is well-documented

and cannot be allowed to

happen.”

Arizona

copper

mine

project

blocked

Judge rejects Forest

Service’s approval of

plans. Conservation

and tribal groups

praise the ruling.

associated press

WASHINGTON — The
Senate on Thursday ap-
proved a $2.7-trillion spend-
ing agreement negotiated
between House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and the White
House, sending the deal to
President Trump’s desk for
his signature.
The bill passed 67 to 28,
with the support of 38
Democrats and 29 Republi-
cans. Its approval with more
Democratic support than
Republican in the GOP-con-
trolled chamber is a poten-
tial embarrassment for the
White House.
GOP leaders and the
president were lobbying
Senate Republicans this
week to support the plan,
hoping to soften the optics of
a Pelosi-White House-nego-
tiated bill passing on Demo-
cratic votes. Republicans
were focused on ensuring
that the “majority of the ma-
jority” party supported the
measure, a hurdle they were
able to overcome.
“He’s been involved, yes,”
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.),
the Senate majority whip,
said of Trump’s role in the
last-minute lobbying.
An hour before the vote,
Trump tweeted another en-
dorsement of the plan, call-
ing it “phenomenal for our
Great Military, our Vets, and
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! Two year
deal gets us past the Elec-
tion.”
And in a nod to the big-
gest GOP critique of the
plan — that it doesn’t do
enough to limit spending —
Trump said there would be
an opportunity to do that
later.
“Go for it Republicans,
there is always plenty of time
to CUT!” he added.
“We need to support the
president on this,” said Sen.
Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), one
of the GOP senators who
said Wednesday he would
back the plan. The White
House and congressional
leadership, he said, have
“done the best they can to
come up with an agreeable
solution in divided govern-
ment.”
The plan will raise the na-
tion’s debt ceiling through
2021 as well as raise caps on
federal spending for the next
two years. Lawmakers will

have to enact additional leg-

islation to determine how

and where the money will be

spent.

The agreement elimi-

nates the chance of political

chaos around raising the

debt ceiling, a task that has

become politically more per-

ilous in recent years as Re-

publicans have demanded

cuts to go along with raising

the debt limit. The next time

the debt limit will have be

raised will be mid-2021, after

the next presidential elec-

tion.

Many Republicans op-

posed the plan for lifting the

spending caps, resulting in

$320 billion more spending,

with only $77 billion in cuts.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)

dubbed the bill’s passage the

“final nail in the coffin” of the

tea party movement and fis-

cal responsibility.

“Adoption of this deal

marks the death of the

tea party,” he said on the

Senate floor. “Where are the

fiscal conservatives? What

happened to the tea party

movement?”

Republicans were torn

between supporting a White

House-approved plan that

eliminated caps on defense

spending — a significant

GOP priority — and sup-

porting a Pelosi-approved

plan that raised the debt

limit and resulted in new

spending for domestic pro-

grams.

Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

tried to frame the deal as the

best compromise possible in

a divided government. And

he stressed the importance

of avoiding the “chaos” that

would come if the govern-

ment defaulted on its debts.

“I am confident it is not

exactly the legislation that

either side of the aisle would

have written if one party

held the White House, the

House, and had 60 votes in

the Senate. That’s divided

government,” he said on the

Senate floor this week. “But

I am equally confident that

this is a deal that every one of

my colleagues should sup-

port.”

House Republicans were

not wild about the plan ei-

ther. The spending agree-

ment was passed by the

House last week in a 284-

vote, with 219 Democrats

and 65 Republicans approv-

ing it.

Senate approves spending bill

HOUSE SPEAKER Nancy Pelosi, pictured with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer after the bill’s

passage, negotiated the two-year deal with the White House. President Trump’s signature appears certain.

Photographs byJim Lo ScalzoEPA/Shutterstock

Many Republicans

were reluctant to back

$2.7-trillion plan that

raises the debt ceiling

and caps on spending.

By Jennifer Haberkorn

SENATE MAJORITY Leader Mitch McConnell urged Republicans to vote for

the spending bill, saying the compromise was necessary in a divided government.

WASHINGTON — The
Justice Department has de-
clined to prosecute former
FBI Director James B.
Comey for mishandling con-
fidential memos he wrote
documenting his interac-
tions with President Trump,
according to a person famil-
iar with the matter.
Prosecutors were acting
on a referral from the Justice
Department’s inspector
general, Michael Horowitz,
whose office has been inves-
tigating the genesis of the
federal inquiry into Russia’s
meddling in the 2016 elec-
tion. The disclosure of
Comey’s memos after he was
fired in May 2017 spurred
then-Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod
Rosenstein to appoint
Robert S. Mueller III as spe-
cial counsel overseeing the
Russia investigation.
Horowitz looked at alle-
gations that Comey had mis-
handled classified informa-
tion when he showed a copy
of a memo to a longtime
friend, Daniel Richman, a
Columbia University law
professor.
Prosecutors determined
that the allegations were too
weak to take to court, ac-
cording to the person famil-
iar with the decision.
One question concerned
whether Comey was aware

that some sentences in the

memos included classified

material. Security officials

determined that two of the

memos had the lowest level

of classified material in

them, but the determination

to designate them as “confi-

dential” came only after

Comey had disclosed their

contents. Comey testified

before Congress that he

wrote the memos in a way to

ensure they did not contain

classified information.

Comey wrote seven

memos about his interac-

tions with Trump. They

started with his briefing of

the president-elect at

Trump Tower on Jan. 6, 2017,

about the contents of a con-

troversial and salacious

dossier by a former British

spy about Russia’s meddling

in the election and its deal-

ings with the business

mogul.

The former FBI director

said he wrote the memos af-

ter interactions with Trump

because he knew he “would

need a record of what had

happened, not just to defend

myself, but to defend the

FBI.”

“It was a combination of

circumstances, subject mat-

ter and the particular per-

son,” Comey told Congress

in June 2017.

Comey testified he kept

the memos in a safe at his

home and showed one to

Richman so he could de-

scribe its contents to a New

York Times reporter. The re-

sulting article documented

how Comey believed that

Trump had tried to improp-

erly pressure him in the Oval

Office to drop an investiga-

tion of former national secu-

rity advisor Michael Flynn.

“I hope you can see your

way clear to letting this go,”

Trump told Comey, accord-

ing to the memo.

“I thought [the disclo-

sure of the memo and its

contents] might prompt the

appointment of a special

counsel,” Comey testified.

Richman, who repre-

sents Comey, declined to

comment on the decision

not to prosecute the former

FBI chief. “We strongly sug-

gest you wait for the [inspec-

tor general’s] final report,”

Richman wrote in an email.

Trump has denied he

pressured Comey to go easy

on Flynn, who later pleaded

guilty to making false state-

ments to FBI agents and co-

operated with Mueller’s in-

vestigation. Trump has re-

peatedly blasted Comey and

other FBI officials for being

out to get him and under-

mine his presidency.

The president has also

pushed the Justice Depart-

ment to investigate agents

and prosecutors who led the

initial investigation into

Russian interference in the

2016 campaign and whether

the Trump campaign con-

spired with the Kremlin to

tilt the election.

In addition to Horowitz’s

investigation, Atty. Gen.

William Barr has launched

an internal review of how the

FBI, Justice Department

and intelligence community

handled the Russia inquiry.

Mueller’s team con-

cluded that Russia had

sought to interfere in the

election in Trump’s favor

but did not establish a con-

spiracy between the Trump

campaign and Moscow. It

found numerous instances

in which Trump sought to

interfere in the special coun-

sel’s probe. Barr ultimately

cleared Trump of obstruct-

ing justice, however, saying

the president’s actions had

been justified by his frustra-

tions.

Horowitz, the Justice De-

partment’s top internal

watchdog, is expected to is-

sue his findings on how the

FBI and Justice Depart-

ment handled the Russia

investigation in coming

months.

Justice Dept. will not prosecute Comey

Inspector general had

referred the potential

mishandling of memos

to U.S. prosecutors.

By Del Quentin Wilber

FORMER FBIDirector James B. Comey faced allegations that he mishandled

classified information by showing a friend a copy of a memo about Donald Trump.

J. Scott ApplewhiteAssociated Press