AZ State land board approves legally flawed agenda to cure Open Meetings Law violation
The Arizona State Land Department’s Board of Appeals voted 3-1 on October 8, 2024 to rectify an Open Meetings Law violation related to the issuance of a right of way that would allow Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals, Inc., to construct mining waste pipelines across the Santa Rita Experimental Range for its Copper World mining complex.
We believe the Board of Appeals did not legally ratify the Open Meetings Law violation during the Oct. 8 meeting. We believe the Board’s agenda did not meet the legal requirements to cure an Open Meetings Law violation.
We are currently considering all of our options for how to best move forward and we will share more on our next steps when the time is appropriate. We know this is disappointing news, but rest assured knowing that our team is working hard behind the scenes to make sure this isn’t the final word.
To learn more, read the our SSSR press release.
Tony Davis with the Arizona Daily Star published this piece on October 9, 2024. In do-over, Arizona board gives go-ahead for Copper World tailings pipeline.
Tony Davis with the Arizona Daily Star published this piece today. In do-over, Arizona board gives go-ahead for Copper World tailings pipeline.
Thank you for showing up!
We wanted to take a moment to thank the 300+ people who wrote emails and letters to the Board in advance of this meeting, as well as the countless others who wrote the Governor and Land Commissioner last month.
We recorded the full meeting and you will see a mention of this at the 22-minute mark. While the Board still chose to ratify the valuation of the right-of-way, your emails resulted in the addition of a public comment portion which was not required by law. We have also secured a meeting with Land Commissioner Sahid to discuss this matter further. Know that your efforts have garnered attention and we are not giving up.
Find a link to the full meeting recording here (with timestamps) in the YouTube video description.
Note that we kept in the first 14 mins before the meeting officially started as it shows Deputy Commissioner Jim Perry from the Arizona State Land Department spending a notable amount of time laughing and chatting with Jerry Bustamante (Hudbay's Public Affairs Manager), and his representatives, prior to others entering the room.
Watch the full recording
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Photo Description: Santa Rita Mountain Range, showing current destruction to the ridgeline and the Sahuarita and Green Valley communities to the west. Photo credit: Erick Meza, Sierra Club Borderlands