Category Perspectives

Hearing on Copper Flat Mine, X: The dollars and sense of mining

Those who think about the economy in Sierra County should be comfortable with dollars and sense. Here is a dollar and sense way to think about copper mining at Copper Flat.

Hearing on Copper Flat Mine, VII: Talking about jobs on Labor Day

What was it like to work at Copper Flat Mine in 1982? Will that be what working at Copper Flat Mine will be like if the mine were reopened? This is a Labor Day meditation on working at the mine.

Hearing on Copper Flat Mine, III

NMCC’s amended application to mine Copper Flat Mine focuses on the change in tailings management and the claim of saving water. It neglects to discuss how the loss of 80% of their claimed water rights would affect their plan to reclaim the pit, because it doesn’t plan any change.

Hearing on Copper Flat Mine, II

This article is the second analysis of the Copper Flat Mine project. Mining and Minerals Division will hold a hearing on the application’s proposal to filter tailings to save water. It is doubtful if this change will save water and if it will save enough water to operate the mine.

Texas v. NM Upshot

The settlement of Texas’ suit against New Mexico ended the legal proceedings that have so vaguely and abstractly hovered unnoticed over our lives, but the consequences of that settlement will be dominating our lives specifically, concretely (meaning economically), and most noticeably in the coming years.

What you need to know, May 22, 2026: Overconsumption of water

We are depleting the Rio Grande Basin faster and faster every year, the groundwater 15 times faster than the river waters, reports the first comprehensive study of consumption in the whole Rio Grande/Bravo Basin system.

What you need to know, January 29, 2026: Alex Pretti was not a hero; he was a mensch

There’s still something left to be said about Alex Pretti. Saying it says what we already know, but we need to say it, because words -- misdirected, rhetorical, dishonest, sugar-coated, hiding threats, pretending to be other than what they say – are part of the problem today.