Two weeks after saying it has no timetable for deciding on the Rosemont Mine, the Forest Service has one - December.

Coronado National Forest officials disclosed the new timetable this week, predicting a final environmental impact statement will be published in the same month.

"In the last two weeks, we got a boatload of information" sought from various sources, Coronado Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch said Thursday. That includes results of studies on water quality, water supplies, transportation and other issues, he said.

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Augusta Receives Rosemont Draft Air Permit from ADEQ

August 6, 2012

MarketWatch

Augusta Resource Corporation ("Augusta" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality ("ADEQ") has asserted complete jurisdiction over Rosemont Copper's ("Rosemont") Air Quality Permit due to the confusion and uncertainty caused by the inappropriate denial of Rosemont's Air Quality Permit application by the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality. Rosemont has thereby received the draft Air Quality Permit from the ADEQ.

Glendale officials: Luke Air Force Base chosen as new training center for F-35 fighter jets

August 1, 2012

The Washington Post  

The Department of Defense has chosen Luke Air Force Base in Glendale for the new pilot training center for the F-35 fighter jets, city officials announced Wednesday.

The 71-year-old base west of Phoenix was competing with bases in Tucson, New Mexico and Idaho for the F-35 mission.

Glendale officials said the Air Force will station 72 F-35s at Luke for the training of both U.S. and foreign pilots.

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ASU, YMCA in Phoenix partner on building

July 15, 2012

By Emily Gersema

The Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA in Phoenix is about to become a construction site.

Arizona State University is paying an estimated $25 million to build a 64,283-square-foot building addition to the recreation center that was built in 1955 and last renovated in 2006.

ASU officials say the five-story project will increase classroom space for the campus and improve the YMCA's fitness amenities. The new building will be connected to the current building, at First Avenue and Van Buren Street in downtown Phoenix.

On July 16th, 2012 NRG Energy Inc. (Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.), MidAmerican Solar (Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.) and First Solar Inc. (Tempe, Arizona, U.S.) announced that they have commissioned 200 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity at their Agua Caliente plant.

The companies describe Agua Caliente as the largest operational PV plant in the world, and the plant will have a capacity of 290 MW-AC when completed. Agua Caliente is located in Yuma County in the U.S. state of Arizona and comprised of First Solar thin-film cadmium telluride PV modules.

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Phoenix expedites building process

July 29, 2012

By Dustin Gardiner

The Arizona Republic

Phoenix is fast-tracking its process for building-plan reviews and inspections, eliminating red tape and making the city a magnet for new companies, supporters of the move say.

The changes have been widely praised by business leaders who say they give Phoenix a competitive edge in attracting employers looking to open their doors quickly and for less money. Few cities around the country have pursued similar outsourcing.

SOLON Corporation Begins Construction on 460kW Solar Project in Gila Bend, Arizona

July 9, 2012 

MarketWatch  

SOLON Corporation, one of

the largest providers of turnkey solar power plants and photovoltaic (PV) products in the U.S., today announced it has begun construction on a 460 kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic (PV) system for the Town of

Gila Bend's Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water Treatment Facility in Arizona.

SOLON will engineer, design, construct, and commission the fixed-tilt system, expected to be completed later this year. As a full service system provider, SOLON will continue to operate and maintain the system on behalf of the Town once it is operational.

The Interior Department released a final plan Tuesday for solar-power plants to be permitted and built quickly on 17 designated sites in the West, including two in Arizona.

So far, most solar-power plants are built or planned on private or state land. The plan is significant because the federal government controls vast holdings of rural land that are suitable for solar. The Bureau of Land Management controls 12.2 million acres in Arizona.

That loud noise you heard over north Mesa last week was the sound of a city popping its buttons with pride.

Not that there weren't a few tears shed for Riverview Golf Course, which will never again host a weekend duffer or hear the cry of "fore!"

But the bright city of Mesa and Chicago Cubs logos painted on dead fairway grass betokened a new day, the birth of a spring-training and recreation complex including a stadium, ballfields that the public can use most of the year, and a renovated Riverview Park physically and visually tied to the baseball facilities.