Astronomers in Tucson versus everyone else
by Hugh Holub on Jul. 05, 2011, under environment water and energy, politics
Photo from http://www.mmto.org/
The Arizona Daily Star has another in what promises to be a long series of articles about the negative impacts of the Rosemont Mine as determined by the Draft Environmental Impact Statement that is floating around.
The Tuesday July 5th story is about the potential impact of the mine on local astronomy.
For those not familiar with Tucson’s role in astronomy, various mountain tops around the region have telescopes perched on them…Kitt Peak west of Tucson, Mount Hopkins in the Santa Ritas and the Mount Graham scopes that are being sought to be torn down because of the Mount Graham Red Squirrel.
The current issue is light pollution.
Tucson and Pima County have some of the toughest light pollution ordinances in the country. The Rosemont Mine project has agreed to comply with Pima County’s ordinance even though legally it probably does not have to.
One would think…end of story.
Not in Pima County.
The gang of astronomers at the Smithsonian site on Mount Hopkins have waged a constant war against all new development in the region around their mountain.
I personally ran into this bunch when I was working on a proposed master planned community at I-19 and Chavez Siding Road.
Even though this development not only was going to comply with the toughest light pollution ordinance imaginable, it even offered to put light code enforcement into the covenants conditions and restrictions inside the project so homeowners could enforce the light controls. We agreed to every one of their demands.
Not good enough for the Mount Hopkins gang.
Their goal was no higher density development anywhere in the region, period.
I came away with the impression that if they could get away with it, they would sterilize all the land within 50 miles of their mountain to protect their stargazing activities.
The Mount Hopkins gang is characteristic of a kind of mentality that is dominating the debates in Tucson now…I’ve got mine and there is no compromise for anything else new.
What this ultimately does is leave the hard liner “no way” people out in the cold because the real world works inside of compromise…you don’t get 100% of what you want and I don’t either. We’re going to have to find a middle ground.
What is ironic about the opposition to development from Mount Hopkins is the biggest source of growth in light pollution is coming from the south….Nogales, Sonora … which is expected to grow from 500,000 people today to over one million in 30 years. There is no light pollution control in that city.
The Star story features amateur astronomer David Levy who has without question done spectacular comet discovery work.
His scopes are 3.5 milkes south of Interstate 10 near Vail. He is worried about light pollution from the proposed mine.
When Levy moved out to Vail ibn 1996 it was a sparsely settled remote area. But that is changing and light pollution is increasing in the Vail area without regard to the Rosemont Mine.
There are many square miles of state land near Vail that were annexed by the City of Tucson and one can reasonably assume all that land will be developed into an urban extension of Tucson. Vail itself is growing.
Levy is threatening to leave if the Rosemont Mine goes forward. As the Star notes, a lot of people would be upset of this world class astronomer leaves.
My guess is the days of his dark skies in Vail are numbered anyway. Rosemont is just a convenient excuse.
And that is an example of a chronic problem in the region…whenever someone moves here they expect the status quo as it existed when they arrived to be maintained unchanged. They are in denial of the contant change that has been occuring in the region as far as urban development is concerned.
I can remember when people were upset about all those new subdivisions being built at Swan and Broadway. Tucson had less than 100,000 residents back then.
Coming back to the Mount Hopkins gang…what is the point of getting everyone to agree to your tough light pollution ordinances if that is not enough for you?
Astronomers on Arizona mountain complain about Border Patrol lights
July 5th, 2011 on 3:13 pm
It should be noted that the devlopment Mr. Holub worked on was roundly rejected by more than 70% of Santa Cruz County voters, after citizens had to resort to putting it on the ballot when two of three supervisors approved the plan. So, it is not “astronomers versus everyone else,” it is Mr. Holub who is out of touch with a large majority of his neighbors.
July 5th, 2011 on 4:09 pm
“gang” as astromoners? Think you are on the wrong side of history on this one Hugh.
July 5th, 2011 on 7:23 pm
The astronomers have every right to fight for their resource, the dark night sky, as do we. Compromise is something for politicians and government officials to work out.
July 5th, 2011 on 9:07 pm
If a line in the sand had been drawn when the city ended at swan and broadway with the 100K population in accord with that decision, this would be a far better place right now. But the rich people in charge wanted to get richer and the natural habitat has paid a huge price and now look at the mess we are in. If the astronomers are going to fight for their rights to observe the natural heavens at the expense of further development, I say more power to them. The mere presence of humans here sucking up water and electricity and oil and oxygen is a bad thing on its face. Nobody seems to get that.
When they build it, they will come.
July 5th, 2011 on 10:09 pm
How horrible that a group of scientists should want to preserve the landscape and use it for a non-destructive, socially positive purpose. God forbid that we value land for reasons that are not monetary.
July 6th, 2011 on 7:14 pm
It is probably not widely appreciated that astronomy is actually a $230 million per year ”business” in Arizona. In short, the state benefits greatly from having these world class facilities here, supporting high tech employment, telescope manufacturings, education and leading edge science. Tucson and Flagstaff have been recognized world wide as model cities that promote sensible light abatement to preserve our dark skies. Like all non-renewable resources, however, once they are gone, they are gone.
July 7th, 2011 on 5:38 am
Wow, I’m impressed to see a string of sensible, right-thinking replies to this blog posting. I was about to have a bit of a rant, but you’ve all stolen my thunder, for which I roundly applaud you all. Here, here!
July 11th, 2011 on 8:29 am
Another Lawyer crying because he lost out on making $$$ on unneeded develpoement! As if he did’nt know there ’s so much realestate vacate, and in forclosure now… And Oh…calling Astronomers a “gang”… Wow, you are THE JOKE Mr Holub ! Most folk know Astronomers are quiet, , law abiding, very freindly ”starry” eyed citizens that contribute greatly to the community, and AZ in general.
Maybe we need more Astronomer types in AZ, and less Dishonest, make money at any cost.. Lawyers?? What a great thought!