Sahuarita was staunchly opposed to open-pit mining in the Santa Rita Mountains for nearly a decade

Town’s position shifted under Mayor Tom Murphy’s 10-year tenure beginning in 2016

Sahuarita—The Town of Sahuarita used to be strongly opposed to open pit copper mining in the Santa Rita Mountains. But that was before the town’s current leadership assumed power in 2016.

In 2007, the town passed a resolution opposing plans to build the Rosemont Mine on the eastern flank of the Santa Rita Mountains. The town just didn’t want to stop Rosemont, but it wanted to protect the entire range that lies within the Coronado National Forest from mining. The resolution was signed by Mayor Charles E. Oldham.

“The Town of Sahuarita requests the Arizona Congressional Delegation initiate the permanent withdrawal from mining and mineral exploration all federal lands within the Santa Rita Mountain area of the Coronado National Forest,” the resolution stated in part.

And in 2013, the town signed a progressive agreement under the direction of Mayor Duane Blumberg with Rosemont Copper Company. The agreement requires Rosemont to recharge 105% of the groundwater it withdraws with Central Arizona Project water. In exchange, the town granted Rosemont a right-of-way along the Santa Rita Road for its primary water pipeline needed to operate the mine.

The water line connects to Copper World’s primary well field located north of Davis Lane and east of the Santa Rita Road. Copper World has three of its major groundwater production wells on the 53-acre San Rita West parcel.

Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals assumed the agreement when it purchased Rosemont in 2014 and subsequently changed the name of the project to Copper World in 2022. The proposed Copper World project includes the Rosemont pit, which Hudbay now calls the “East Pit” and three other pits, one straddling the top of the mountains and two on the western flank.

Rarely, if ever, has an Arizona copper mining company agreed to replenish 105% of the groundwater it withdraws for operating a mine. State laws don’t require mining mining companies to replenish a drop.

There is now serious doubt whether Hudbay can obtain sufficient CAP water to recharge the more than 9,400 acre feet of water the company reports the mine will require every year during the first 20 years of operation. That amount would increase by 50% in the subsequent 24 years of mining in the second phase of Hudbay’s long term mining plan.

“Sahuarita’s 2007 resolution and the 2013 recharge agreement are testaments to how strongly opposed Sahuarita was to open pit copper mining destroying the Santa Rita Mountains,” said John Dougherty, Executive Director of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas.

“The mountains create a vital watershed on the eastern flank, with runoff flowing into Davidson Canyon and Cienega Creek, both Outstanding Arizona Waters protected by state law from any degradation,” Dougherty said. “Sahuarita’s leadership once understood that the Santa Rita Mountains should be protected from all mining.”

But the attitude shifted from protection to development about 10 years ago when Tom Murphy, after serving on the council for three years, replaced Blumberg as mayor in December 2016. Murphy nominated himself and was elected mayor by his fellow council members in a 6-1 vote.

Murphy is unabashedly pro-mining and in April endorsed Copper World in a full-page advertisement in the Arizona Capitol Times, a Phoenix newspaper that covers the state legislature. Hudbay paid for the ad and the only photo was the Sahuarita Town Hall rather than Murphy.

“Sahuarita has long balanced economic opportunity with environmental stewardship,” Murphy stated in the advertisement. “The Copper World project represents a significant opportunity to strengthen our regional economy while maintaining that balance.”

Murphy’s assertion that Copper World represents “environmental stewardship” misrepresents what the mine actually do to the land, water and air.

“The only thing sustainable about Copper World is environmental destruction,” SSSR’s Dougherty said.

Two years earlier, after a tumultuous community struggle over plans for a hot-mix asphalt plant at Vulcan Materials was defeated by organized and persistent community opposition, Murphy again expressed strong support for mining.

“We have been very supportive of our mining community overall. We have Freeport-McMoRan and ASARCO Minerals,” Murphy was quoted as saying in an April 24, 2024 story on KOLD News. “ We love our mining community, and that will continue as they move forward.”

“The only thing sustainable about Copper World is environmental destruction.” — John Dougherty

Murphy, along with Town Manager Shane Dille, have supported Copper World by limiting the town’s involvement in the project even when it had an opportunity to intervene.

The town has not notified residents, for example, that the community will be besieged by more than 40,000 heavy trucks a year carrying explosives, chemicals, ammonium nitrate and copper concentrate from the mine site through downtown Sahuarita. The traffic would continue nonstop, 24 hours a day, for at least 20 years.

The most recent example of skewing public information in Copper World’s favor is Dille’s decision not to inform the public or the town council that Tucson Electric Power Company was planning to provide Copper World with power from the proposed Santa Rita Connection power line project.

The town’s silence about the project raises questions of whether it was working with TEP and Copper World to shift the cost of building the power line extension to residential ratepayers and away from the mine, which would be the largest single load by far.

TEP repeatedly stated the $18 million project had nothing to do with Copper World. TEP claimed the power line was necessary to provide additional capacity and stability to about 14,000 residential customers.

Town staff, however, was raising questions about the Santa Rita Connection power line’s potential linkage with Copper World by January 12 during a meeting with TEP officials.

Dille did not mention what staff learned in his Jan. 26 staff report to council before TEP made a presentation. Murphy, during the meeting, suggested that the power line project was not connected in anyway to Copper World’s owner Hudbay during a discussion and question to a TEP representative.

On Feb. 23, Hudbay’s manger of public affairs attended the council meeting and praised Dille for his transparency and knowledge of the Copper World project at the same time Dille’s contract was under review. The council voted the next month to give Dille a $40,000 pay hike.

By March 12, a staff email buried in 1,000 pages of TEP regulatory filings revealed the town had known for an unspecified period prior to that date that TEP was going to provide power to Copper World from a joint TEP-Hudbay substation at the terminus of the Santa Rita Connection power line.

Neither Dille nor Murphy have brought this information to the council or the public since that date.

By April, Dille was emailing TEP about the utility’s plan to provide power to Copper World. But Dille did not present this information to the town council at the May 11 meeting when TEP provided another update. Once again, there was no mention that TEP was planning to provide power to Copper World during the discussion before council.

“Town Manager Dille’s lack of transparency on when the town learned about the joint substation combined with Mayor Murphy’s unabashed support for Copper World raises serious questions of whether Sahuarita’s leadership is putting the interests of a foreign mining company ahead of the community,” Dougherty said.

At least one other council member is starting to raise questions about TEP’s backdoor deal to provide power to Copper World and the town’s knowledge of the agreement.

During the June 8 council meeting, Council member Kim Lisk requested TEP 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 the Copper World mine.