Activity Report Explorer

Tucson Broadband • Entered by Andrea Hoerr on April 15, 2024

Protests against Hudbay Copper World Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains

January 1, 2024 – April 15, 2024

Key Issue: Oil, Gas, or Mineral Development
Activity Type: Advocacy (rallies, lobbying, meeting decision makers, letters/calls/emails)
Key Partners: Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, Sierra Club Borderlands
Landscape/area: Coronado National Forest (AZ) (1718945 acres)

Measurable Outcomes

Outcome 1: Advocacy actions (2 published LTE)
Outcome 2: Advocacy actions (30 comments)
Outcome 3: Advocacy actions (2 attended public hearings)[/if 1231]

Short Description of Activity

Hudbay Copper World Mine – Santa Rita Mountains
This issue became urgent for the Tucson Broadband in January 2024. We mobilized our membership, attended 2 public hearings on water quality permit by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. Prior to both public hearings, we sent out press releases to 86 media outlets with one running our story. At the second event, we protested with signs and flyers before and after the event. 3 Broads were able to register our formal comments at the hearing. We followed up with 2 letters to the editor which were both published. TV interview coverage by 2 Tucson media outlets.

These events proved effective in connecting with other local environmental organizations and bolstered the Broads reputation in Tucson. 6 Broads attended an awareness hike on March 16 which was hosted by the Sierra Club Borderlands. There were 50 people in attendance, with excellent speakers who covered topics ranging from poetry, technical information related to mining and its’ attendant risks, and effective protest tactics that have worked for other fights.

Finally, the Tucson Broadband signed on to 2 formal letters as a coalition partner. One from Center for Biological Diversity and one from Save the Scenic Santa Ritas.

We remain vigilent and will be mobilizing for the next round of public hearings which will focus on water quality permits. We are currently scheduling strategy meetings for concerned Broads to understand how we wish to move forward as a group.

Reflection/Evaluation

Goal 1 is to raise awareness of the pending permits for a copper mine in the Sky Island of the Santa Rita Mountains.
Goal 2 is to provide formal comments to the permitting process by Arizona Dept of Environmental Quality
Goal 3 is to strengthen local partnerships to ensure that we are working in concert with other orgs

Photos/Uploads

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Photo Captions

1 – March 16 hike with the Sierra Club to the mine location
2 – Montage of pictures from the March 16 hike
3 – protest!