Cubillo’s opposition comes as Hudbay begins construction of water pipeline on the Santa Rita Experimental Range
Sahuarita Town Council candidate J.D. Cubillo on Saturday said he is opposed to the planned Copper World mine during a candidates forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Southern Arizona held at the Sahuarita Public Library.
“Alright, I’m going to be very straightforward about this and I’m not going to sidestep it,” Cubillo said in response to the first question asked about candidates’ position on Copper World. “My personal view is I am 100% against mining in the Santa Rita Mountains.”
His definitive statement drew a round of applause and cheers from attendees, who were quickly chastised by the LWV moderator to refrain from expressing vocal support or opposition to candidates’ positions.
Cubillio is one of five candidates seeking three council seats in the July 21 election. Sahuarita Mayor Tom Murphy, who has endorsed Copper World, attended the forum along with candidate Chelsea Hundal. Council member Deborah Morales, who is seeking reelection, was out-of-town. Candidate Robin Earl did not attend.
“I’m 100% against because just like many families, we moved here for the views, for the sites, for the tranquility, which you can’t get in many other places in Arizona. We have seen examples of what happens when there is an over abundance of mining in those towns. We’ve already seen it happen,” Cubillo said.
“So why wait to see it happen here? Right now, as a potential council member I also have to be grounded in reality, right? The Council, doesn’t have the jurisdiction to say, ‘no to mining’ or ‘yes to mining’. I understand that.
“But the council can monitor the compliance of the 2013 groundwater agreement. The council can monitor agreements and not make it a straight line, a straight shot forward here. Give it to them easy.
“We can really scrutinize the agreements to try to do what’s best for our residents. My thing is if you are going to exploit the Santa Rita Mountains, don’t exploit our residents. We shouldn’t be stuck with the bills of higher costs because of corporate interests.”
Whether the town council will seize the opportunity to seriously review the groundwater agreement is uncertain.
Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals, which owns Copper World, has begun installing the mine’s water pipeline along the Santa Rita Road outside the town limits. SSSR photographed construction Friday showing the pipeline being installed along the north side of the Santa Rita Road within the state-owned Santa Rita Experimental Range.
SSSR contacted Sahuarita council members Kim Lisk and Morales on Saturday and asked whether the town has issued work permits to install the pipeline within town limits. Neither Lisk nor Morales was aware of whether the town has issued permits but said they would check with staff.
In 2013, the town signed a Right-of-Way encroachment agreement with Rosemont Copper Company, now owned by Hudbay Minerals, that allows the mine developers to install an underground water pipeline along Santa Rita Road within the town limits.
The pipeline would connect Hudbay’s well field east of Sahuarita with the Copper World mine site on the western flank of the Santa Rita Mountains. The pipeline will transport more than three billions gallons of groundwater a year to Copper World.
Hudbay is obligated under the agreement to replenish 105% of the groundwater it pumps with Central Arizona Project water. The agreement requires the CAP water to be recharged into the aquifer in the same area from where it is pumped.
SSSR submitted a petition on May 26 with more than 130 signatures from Sahuarita residents requesting the town council to hold a public hearing on whether Hudbay had sufficient CAP water supplies to replenish 105% of the water the mine will pump from the aquifer beneath Sahuarita. The town never responded to the petition.
There is overwhelming evidence that there is no feasible way for Hudbay to recharge 105% of the groundwater water with CAP water. There simply isn’t enough CAP water available to accomplish this obligation.
SSSR presented evidence to the town in April that Hudbay is already operating five production wells covered by the agreement and that Hudbay has not replenished the groundwater with CAP water. SSSR requested the town to enforce the agreement and refuse to issue permits needed to install the pipeline.
The town rejected SSSR’s request, claiming, without evidence, that CAP water Hudbay has stored at the Pima Road Recharge Facility north of Sahuarita inexplicably flowed upgradient and into the replenishment zone defined in the agreement that is south of the recharge facility.
For more information see: https://scenicsantaritas.org/sahuarita-pipeline/
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