Town staff was aware of the backdoor deal prior to March 12
Sahuarita—The Town of Sahuarita said Thursday it will request Tucson Electric Power Company to attend the June 22 council meeting and explain its plan to use the proposed Santa Rita Connection power line extension to provide power to Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals’ planned Copper World mine.
TEP has repeatedly stated the $18 million Santa Rita Connection project had nothing to do with Copper World during the months long public notification process.
But emails buried in TEP’s application for state approval of the project show that TEP intends to use the 138 kV power line extension to power the joint TEP-Copper World Santa Rita Substation. The substation would also house a second 138 kV power line approved in 2012 that would extend to the mine’s processing operation planned for the western flank of the Santa Rita Mountains.
TEP and town records show Sahuarita town staff was aware of TEP’s plans to supply power directly to Copper World before March 12 and possibly as early as Jan. 12.
During last Monday’s meeting, Sahuarita Town Councilmember Kim Lisk requested Town Manager Shane Dille to ask TEP to attend the June 22 council meeting .
“The Council’s intent is to provide TEP with an opportunity to shed more light on and to discuss proposed system upgrades…and how those proposed upgrades do or don’t interact with TEP’s mandate to serve the Copper World Mine,” the town stated in June 11 email to Save the Scenic Santa Ritas.
The town sent the email in response to SSSR’s June 9 request for the town to pass a resolution opposing TEP’s pending application before the Arizona Corporation Commission until TEP fully discloses its relationship with Hudbay and supplying power to Copper World.
SSSR also requested the town to ask the ACC to require TEP to obtain an independent System Impact Study to analyze the impact of Copper World being added to the grid.
“SSSR supports the town’s plan to bring TEP before the council,” SSSR Executive Director John Dougherty said. “But this should not be an excuse for the town to continue refusing to fully disclose when staff knew about TEP’s plan to power Copper World.”
On Jan. 12, town staff and TEP discussed whether the power line project would have any connection to Copper World. Dille did not disclose what was discussed in his staff report for the Jan. 26 town council meeting.
TEP denied any connection with Copper World during that meeting after Mayor Tom Murphy said the power line “is really just connected to having future capacity and growth. This is not connected to Hudbay in any way, is it?”
In a March 12 email, Sahuarita Development Services Director Anna Casadei, who attended the Jan. 12 meeting with TEP, asked TEP to “refresh my memory” about TEP’s plans to combine Copper World’s electric switch yard with TEP’s Santa Rita Substation.
A TEP official responded stating the combined facility would be on TEP’s property and would provide a power line connection to the mine.
Dille was clearly aware the joint substation would send power to Copper World when he sent an April 22 email to TEP expressing confidence in Hudbay’s willing to contribute funding to the project.
“With the Santa Rita Substation in place, I’m confident that Hudbay would take appropriate steps to pay for the infrastructure needed to connect its project to the sub-station to secure power to meet its operational needs,” Dille stated in the email to a TEP official.
Dille, however, did not include this information in his staff report to the council and the public for the May 11 council meeting when TEP appeared before council for the second time this year. There was no discussion about the Santa Rita Connection providing power to Copper World during the council meeting.
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