Phelps Dodge

Sydney Hay, the Republican candidate in the 1st Congressional District, still stands behind the lawsuit she filed on behalf of mining company Phelps Dodge as president of the Arizona Mining Association, she told PolitickerAZ.com Wednesday.

After the Arizona Democratic Party attacked her over the suit on Tuesday, Hay fired back with an email to PolitickerAZ.com saying the EPA's regulations on toxic waste reporting are "burdensome."

"This type of burdensome reporting requirement takes precious time and resources away from the serious work of real environmental compliance - the important regulations that we want and need for all of our health and safety," wrote Hay in an email.

The Arizona Democratic Party is attacking 1st Congressional District Republican candidate Sydney Hay for a lawsuit she filed against the Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of a lobbying client of hers.

Hay, president of the lobbying group Arizona Mining Association, filed suit against the EPA on behalf of Phelps Dodge Bagdad, Inc., one of the biggest copper mining concerns in the world, which sought to exempt mining companies from an EPA rule requiring that harmful chemicals left in mines be reported. The suit alleged the requirement was "burdensome."

"I would hardly call protecting the basic health of Arizonans 'burdensome,'" said Emily DeRose, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party, in a release from the party. "Putting corporations before people is exactly the kind of flawed priority that needs to change in Washington."