Arizona conservationists sue to stop exploration projects in biologically diverse mountain range

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Conservation groups are suing to stop two mineral exploration projects in southern Arizona's biologically diverse Patagonia Mountains.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Arizona Mining Reform Coalition and other groups want the U.S. District Court in Tucson to halt the exploration by Arizona Standard LLC, a subsidiary of a Canadian mineral exploration firm.

The lawsuit filed last month says the U.S. Forest Service didn’t adequately analyze how the exploration for copper and other minerals in the craggy mountains just north of the U.S.-Mexico border would have on public lands, water and endangered species like Mexican spotted owls, yellow billed cuckoos, jaguars and ocelots.

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A barrier is seen at the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona's Patagonia Mountains. A lawsuit filed by several conservation groups are urging the U.S. District Court in Tucson, Arizona, to halt two mineral exploration projects in the state's biologically diverse Patagonia Mountains. (GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images)

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American Standard denied in a filing last week that the federal environmental guidelines had been violated.

The Patagonia Mountains are among southern Arizona's dramatic and diverse "sky islands" that provide a key corridor for jaguars and ocelots roaming north from Mexico through a border wall gap to their range in the United States.

"Our priority must be to protect this critical habitat, which is the source of drinking water, clean air and the biological wealth that fuels our regional nature-based restorative economy," said Carolyn Shafer, board president and mission coordinator of the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance.