Comments closed August 31
Coronado National Forest faces exploratory drilling approval
U.S. Forest Service · Coronado National Forest, Nogales Ranger District
- What
- The Forest Service is near-final approval of limestone exploratory drilling in the Santa Rita Ecosystem Management Area.
- Where
- Coronado National Forest, Nogales Ranger District, AZ
- How much
- Only people who submitted written comments during scoping are eligible to file a formal objection.
- Decided
- Comments closed August 31, 2026. No decision document is on file yet.Date from Forest Service legal notice in Nogales International ↗, read August 15, 2026.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the Forest Service project page ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words under Case.
- WhereThe places and states the project page names, as PLAN read them.
- How muchThe first sentence of our What’s at risk read of the notice; the whole read is under Case.
- DecidedAugust 31, 2026, from Forest Service legal notice in Nogales International, published July 15, 2026, plus 45 days under 36 CFR 218.6 ↗. Read August 15, 2026. The decision document is the one on file in PLAN’s record.
- Read from PLAN’s record November 9, 2026.
What the proposal said, and what the decision did
No figure from the proposal has been checked against the decision on this fight yet. What the record does hold is the issues ledger below.
No decision document is on PLAN’s record for this fight yet. When the agency’s decision lands, what it answered goes here.
Affects public lands
The Forest Service is near-final approval of limestone exploratory drilling in the Santa Rita Ecosystem Management Area.
What’s at risk
If this goes through
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
In the agency’s own words
Plan of Operations submitted by Cimbar Resources for three phases of definition drilling at the Santa Rita Quarry to confirm the presence, extent (volume), and assess the grade of limestone.
The groups on this fight
4 groups predicted likely to care in Arizona
Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in Arizona, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Center for Biological Diversity
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Ironwood Forest National Monument, Arizona: Tucson-based litigant that in 2003 pressured BLM to order Grupo Mexico/Asarco to remove an illegal pipeline, powerline, and road crossing the monument near the Silver Bell mine.
- Grand Canyon Conservancy
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona: A nonprofit partner of Grand Canyon National Park.
- Grand Canyon Trust
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument, Arizona: Intervened in federal court to defend the monument designation against the Arizona Legislature's lawsuit.
- Sierra Club
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Sonoran Desert National Monument, Arizona: The Grand Canyon Chapter has been co-plaintiff with Western Watersheds Project in the monument grazing litigation, including the 2021 case that produced the 2024 restricted-grazing plan.
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
Who signs it
The notice names no signer PLAN could read. PLAN names a decision-maker only when the document names one.
The ground
The window has closed, so there’s no watch to set on it here.
The photograph on this page: Santa Rita Mountains, Arizona. More Than Just Parks.
In court on this ground
No court case we track is over Coronado National Forest.
Who holds the vote
PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.
See how your members vote ↗Forest ServiceWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
Know an open comment period we are missing, or spotted a wrong deadline? .
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