By Mila Besich-Lira
Last week during the first week of the Arizona Legislature, newly elected Legislative District 8 State Representative TJ Shope introduced a bill or what is called a concurrent memorial to urge the United States Congress to allow the Resolution Copper Project to proceed.
The bill explains that copper mining has played a historic role in Arizona for over a century. Since 1973 Arizona has produced over one-half of the total copper production in the United States each year. The bill also addresses the positive economic impact that the Resolution Copper project will have on the state.
The bill introduced has been supported by many Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives but has also received support from other House Democrats. LD 8 representative Frank Pratt has signed onto the bill; Sen. Barbara McGuire has not signed on to support the bill yet.
There has not been a formal announcement of when another bill to approve the land exchange will be introduced into the current US Congress.
To read more about the bill you can read it online at:http://1.usa.gov/141jmFY.