Mr. Renzi Offers Field To Mining Companies; Grand Jury Is Active

SUPERIOR, Ariz. — As they dig for nickel, copper and other commodities in the far corners of the earth, the world’s largest mining companies, Rio Tinto PLC and BHP Billiton Ltd., are used to solving geological problems. Here, though, the problems they encountered were political.

North America’s largest copper lode is believed to be buried more than a mile beneath Apache Leap, the stark red cliffs that loom above this storied Old West town about an hour east of Phoenix. Resolution Copper Co., a joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, wants to mine it. But first it needs Congress to approve a federal land exchange, under which Resolution would swap 5,000 acres of private land for 3,000 acres of public land near its planned mine.

In exchange for supporting the bill, the local congressman, Rick Renzi, a Republican, insisted on something in return: He wanted Resolution to buy, as part of the land swap, a 480-acre alfalfa field near his hometown of Sierra Vista, according to documents and people involved in the deal….
….Mr. Renzi said Friday he would take a leave of absence from the House intelligence committee “until the matter is resolved.” John Boehner, the House Republican leader, had warned colleagues in a letter earlier this year that “clear likelihood of serious transgressions will lead to suspension from important committee positions; guilt will lead to immediate and severe consequences,” according to Congressional Quarterly.

Mr. Renzi continues to serve on the House Natural Resources Committee, which handles land-swap legislation.

Resolution is pressing ahead with its effort to line up congressional support for a land swap. Bruno Hegner, who was Resolution’s president when Mr. Renzi proposed that the company buy the alfalfa field, was so troubled by the incident that he wrote a letter detailing what happened and mailed it to himself, people close to the case said. He wanted a postmarked record of what occurred, these people say. That letter is now in the hands of the FBI, they say.

Wall Street Journal