Members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and students from Brophy and Xavier high schools protested outside Sen. Mark Kelly’s office Thursday, urging the Arizona Democrat to support legislation protecting a sacred site threatened by a proposed copper mine near Superior. ... Read more»
As Arizona enters what is likely to be its third decade of unprecedented drought, the proposed Resolution Copper mine just east of Superior at the site of Oak Flat will use 250 billion gallons of water, according to a water study released by the San Carlos Apache Tribe.... Read more»
Congress now has a historic opportunity to protect American Indian cultural and religious resources and prevent destructive economic development by enacting the Save Oak Flat Act, which is currently included in the House version of the pending budget reconciliation legislation. ... Read more»
Proposals targeting specific areas for conservation in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and federal waters off Louisiana's coast made their way into the gigantic budget reconciliation bill that Democrats are moving through Congress.... Read more»
Along with sacred places including hot springs, ceremony sites and ancestral burials, the valley about halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas also holds an enormous lithium deposit, and the push for electric vehicles threatens the Hualapai Tribe’s religious practices.
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The prospect of whether to turn sacred Apache land over to a mining company, whose plans for the site would “obliterate” the ability of tribal members to worship there, has turned an environmental fight over the mine into one over religious rights and drawn a diverse cast of supporters to the Apache cause. ... Read more»
The mayor of Superior told a House panel Tuesday that a bill canceling a massive copper mine at Oak Flat would be “devastating” for the Pinal County town and its hopes to revitalize its economy.... Read more»
The government Monday rescinded its approval for a proposed massive copper mine at Oak Flat, just days before it was to transfer thousands of acres of federal land for the project. The Department of Agriculture said it ordered the rescission to allow for a “thorough review based on significant input from collaborators, partners and the public” after the Jan. 15 release of a final environmental impact statement on the project.... Read more»
While Senate Republicans used the Interior confirmation hearing for Rep. Debra Haaland to air their grievances about the Biden administration’s energy policies, supporters at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing focused mostly on the historic nature of the nomination. ... Read more»
National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp said the state of Indian nations is strong despite long-running problems of disrespect for tribal sovereignty and of missing and murdered Indigenous women, as well as new challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sharp did acknowledge hopeful signs in the early days of the Biden administration.... Read more»
U.S. District Judge Steven Logan rejected a request by the group Apache Stronghold for a preliminary injunction against the proposed Resolution Copper Mine on Oak Flat, saying the group did not have standing to challenge the project and questioning the merits and likelihood of success of the claim.... Read more»
Members of the group Apache Stronghold told a federal district judge Wednesday that the federal government violated their due process rights by rushing through the final approval last month, just days before President Donald Trump left office. They also claim the mine would violate their constitutional right to worship.... Read more»
As we recently witnessed in Australia, Rio Tinto's promises to protect sacred sites are meaningless. Congress must pass the Save Oak Flat Act to protect an Arizona grove where tribes have gathered to conduct ceremonies and gather traditional medicines for millennia.... Read more»
Activists took part in the fifth annual walk to protest the proposed Resolution Copper Mine slated for land that the San Carlos Apache tribe calls sacred. ... Read more»
Oak Flat in Eastern Arizona lies in the midst of an environmental and economic controversy. The San Carlos Apache revere the federally owned land. Environmentalists consider it a sanctuary. Climbers, hikers and campers gravitate there for recreation. And Resolution Copper covets the rich veins of ore running beneath the surface.... Read more»
The U.S. Forest Service has started its formal review of the environmental impact of the proposed Resolution Copper mine, but opponents charge the outcome of the process is “already pre-ordained.”... Read more»
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