May 15, 2026
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: John Dougherty, Executive Director
jdougherty@scenicsantaritas.org
Tucson—Save the Scenic Santa Ritas has placed a lien on the 160 acres of State Trust Land sold to Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals at an April 29 auction and has filed a second lawsuit seeking to overturn the sale.
“The sale shortchanges Arizona public schools and is a gift to Hudbay worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” Save the Scenic Santa Ritas Executive Director John Dougherty said. “We have now placed a cloud on the title that will remain until litigation is concluded.”
Hudbay requested the Arizona State Land Department sell the land that it intends to use as a mine tailings waste dump for its proposed Copper World mine in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson. Proceeds from the sale of State Trust Land go into a state managed trust where most of the money benefits public schools.
The land department, which reports to Governor Katie Hobbs, moved forward with the auction over strong opposition from Southern Arizona political leaders, environmental organizations and a petition presented to Hobbs that had more than 1,100 signatures.
The lien was filed in the Pima County Recorder’s Office and is part of SSSR’s lawsuit alleging the department violated the federal Enabling Act, state Constitution and a state statute when it moved the auction’s location without providing the required public notice.
The lawsuit was filed on April 30 and is pending in Pima County Superior Court.
SSSR filed a second lawsuit on May 11 in the state Court of Appeals seeking to overturn the department’s April 21 order rejecting SSSR’s formal protest over the terms of the auction. SSSR filed the protest on March 6. Pima County subsequently sent a March 12 letter to the department supporting the protest.
The lawsuit alleges the department failed to comply with a statute requiring a five-year disposition plan be conducted prior to State Trust Land being sold. The disposition plan is intended to ensure that State Trust Lands are sold for their highest value. The land department has not conducted a disposition plan in more than a decade.
The lawsuit also alleges the state approved an invalid appraisal that failed to value the property as industrial land but instead used less valuable rural residential land for the basis of the appraisal.
“The land department’s appraisal ignored the fact that this land is intended to be used for Hudbay’s mining waste dump, which is needed to process copper ore worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” Dougherty said. “Instead, the state approved an appraisal that valued the land suitable for rural homesteads.”
The state-approved appraisal valued the 160 acres at $993,000. Hudbay was the only bidder at the auction, which lasted about three minutes.
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The people of Sahuarita have no idea what the impact of possibly hundreds of semi trucks will to the their community, safety, and noise. Two schools right next to this huge safety hazard. Everyone on the city council should go the Heber City, Utah and see just what its like to have hundreds of tankers full of crude oil go right through the heart of the community and on their way too I-80 and Salt Lake. We have been there multiple times and it is absolutely crazy. I did hear that during one council meeting all council members voted against the copper mine, But, was told the major voted for it. I personally think if this is true it should be carefully investigated!!!
I live in Quail Creek and back right up to the state land looking east at our beautiful mountains. Has Robson made this clear to any of the new residents moving here? We’ve been here six years and not heard a word from Quail Creek officials or their corporate office. Withholding this from buyers is completely unethical and should be made public as soon as they meet with a sales person in Quail Creek. The people of this entire region has got to wake up or deal with all of the consequences you have already brought forward.