#SanCarlosApache Tribe welcomes Federal Court ruling delaying trade of sacred Oak Flat to Chinese-backed #ResolutionCopper

By San Carlos Apache Tribe, Censored News, June 9, 2025

#SanCarlosApacheNation, #Arizona — "The San Carlos Apache Tribe welcomes Friday’s federal court ruling preventing the Trump Administration from trading sacred Oak Flat to Chinese-backed Resolution #CopperMining no sooner than 60 days after the government releases an environmental report expected to be published later this month.

"The #Trump Administration had indicated that it intended to trade 2,422 acres of #TontoNationalForest 70 miles east of #PhoenixAZ that includes Oak Flat to Resolution Copper immediately upon publication of the mine’s updated environmental report.

U.S. District Court Judge Dominic W. Lanza’s order 'preclude(s) the United States Forest Service from proceeding with the challenged land exchange until 60 days after the issuance of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which is anticipated to be issued on June 16.'

" 'We are grateful that Judge Lanza has provided us an opportunity to be heard,' said San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler. 'The two-month window provides the Tribe an opportunity to file an amended lawsuit challenging the legality of the pending environmental report and request an injunction to stop the land exchange until the merits of our case are settled.'

"The Oak Flat land transfer was mandated by a last-minute amendment to the FY2015 #NationalDefenseAuthorizationAct that was added by the late Arizona Senator #JohnMcCain and former Arizona Senator #JeffFlake. The land transfer provision, which failed to pass Congress in previous years, avoided the normal course of business and was not debated before it was added to the mustsign [#NDAA] defense spending bill that was signed into law by President Barack #Obama.

" 'The bill that authorized the land exchange is not in the best interest of the American people, Arizona or the San Carlos Apache Tribe,' Chairman Rambler stated. 'We have filed this lawsuit because of our concerns of the mine’s massive use of groundwater, which will be devastating for both Arizona
and eventually the Tribe. We are also deeply concerned about the environmental destruction and the obliteration of Oak Flat will have on Apache culture and religion.'

"Resolution plans to collapse Oak Flat, known as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel in Apache, into a two-mile wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater. Chi’chil Biłdagoteel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Place.

"Resolution Copper is owned by Melbourne-based #BHP (45%) and London-based #RioTinto (55%), the two largest mining companies in the world. The Chinese state-owned Aluminum Corporation of China, which spearheads China’s acquisition of strategic minerals worldwide, is Rio Tinto’s single largest investor with a 14.6% stake. Both BHP and Rio Tinto rely on China for the majority of their revenue.

" 'We fully expect Resolution’s copper to be exported to China, which poses a national security threat,' Chairman Rambler said. “The United States already exports 30 percent of the copper produced by U.S. mines because of a lack of copper smelting capacity.

"'The Trump Administration’s Oak Flat appraisal concludes that Resolution’s copper will be exported to southeast Asia,' Chairman Rambler added. 'It’s clearly in the best interest of the United States to withhold publication of the Resolution environmental report at least until there is a change in the ownership of this project to companies that are not reliant on China for more than half their business.' "

Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/06/san-carlos-apache-tribe-federal-court.html

#Fight4OurExistence #ProtectOakFlat #LandBack #sacredland #OakFlat
#SaveOakFlat #SanCarlosApache #Apache #ReligiousLiberty #NativeAmericans #FirstNations #CensoredNews #ReaderSupportedNews
#ProtectTheSacred #ApacheStronghold #NativeAmericanNews #NativeAmericans #RioTinto #CopperMining #Arizona #LeaveItInTheGround #ChichilBildagoteel #WesternApaches #BecketLaw #ResolutionCopper #USPol #MiningTheSacred #NationalForests #CorporateLandGrabs #CorporateColonialism #CulturalGenocide #McCainShame

The Silent Killers in #IndianCountry: #Copper, #Lithium, #Uranium and #Plutonium

Judge finds plutonium plants in #NewMexico and #SouthCarolina violated environmental laws

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Oct. 10, 2024

"The U.S. government's plan for increased plutonium production at #LosAlamos National Laboratory, in the heart of Pueblo lands in northern New Mexico, has been delayed by a federal judge.

"Continuing the U.S. legacy of poisoning Indian country with #radiation, this comes as the U.S. government is granting leases to foreign #mining companies targeting Native #sacred lands and communities.

"#CopperMining is targeting San CarlosApache's sacred #OakFlat; #Hualapai are suing the US Department of Interior to halt lithium mining at their sacred spring Ha'Kamwe'; and the U.S. government is promoting the ongoing digging into the #Paiute Massacre Site in northern Nevada for #lithium, in violation of all federal laws that protect Native religious and historic sites, the environment and endangered species.

"Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon threatens #Havasupai's aquifer, the haul route endangers everyone in the Four Corners region, and the uranium mill at White Mesa Ute in #Utah is poisoning #Utes.

"Interior Sec. #DebHaaland said in Farmington, N.M., that Los Alamos Labs would be the leader in the so-called '#GreenEnergy transition' in the #FourCorners region.

"More than 500 radioactive #UraniumMill sites remain on the #NavajoNation that have not been cleaned up by the U.S. #EPA, which deceives the public by announcing plans and promises to clean up the #ColdWar sites.

"In the current federal lawsuit, a federal judge in South Carolina ruled that U.S. energy officials illegally neglected to study impacts to the #environment in efforts to increase plutonium production for nuclear weapons in New Mexico and South Carolina.

"'South Carolina District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sided with environmental, #AntiNuclear proliferation and community groups last week who sued the National Nuclear Security Administration (#NNSA), which oversees the nuclear weapons stockpile as part of the U.S. Department of Energy [#DOE],' reports Source New Mexico.

"The U.S. is investing billions into restarting the manufacture of #PlutoniumPits, the grapefruit-sized spheres developed for #nuclear weapons. The plutonium is produced from uranium.

"'The federal government halted its manufacturing program at the #RockyFlatsPlant in #Colorado in 1989 after an FBI raid due to safety concerns and #EnvironmentalCrimes,' Source New Mexico reports.

"The U.S. government's #AtomicBombTesting in #Nevada left a trail of cancer and death for #WesternShoshone. The documentary 'Downwind' reveals the truth.

"'This is a very serious issue and that's why I can't let it go. I can't move on. People say, 'oh, why don't you just let it go?' Because it's killing my family. It's killing my land. It's killing my people. And that will not stand. It's being done in secret. And killing Indians in secret will not stand,' said Ian Zabarte, Principal Man of the Western Bands of the #ShoshoneNation of Indians. Zabarte is featured in '#Downwind' about radiation poisoning from U.S. #NuclearTests.

"Currently, foreign companies -- which receive the profits and find it easy to avoid clean up and responsibility for #environmental crimes and deaths from #cancer -- are receiving the mining leases from the U.S. government. The leases are granted by the U.S. Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and in the case of #UraniumMining in the #GrandCanyon, it is the USDA's Forestry Service. #Biden's attorneys have joined the lawsuit with #RioTinto to devastate #OakFlat.

"Australian and Canadian mining corporations are devastating Native lands and communities, poisoning the water and causing widespread cancer.
Rio Tinto, targeting Apaches #OakFlat, is an Australian company which destroyed 46,000 years of #Aboriginal sacred history in caves in #Australia.

"Another Australian mining company is targeting #Hualapai's sacred site. It is #Hawstone / #ArizonaLithium, in Perth, Australia.

"#EnergyFuels, now uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, and operating the uranium mill at #WhiteMesaUte, is a Canadian company. Another Canadian company is digging into the #Paiute Massacre Site. It is #LithiumAmericas.
#Hopi judge #DianeHumetewa granted a temporary restraining order to halt the lithium mining at #Hualapai's sacred spring."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-silent-killers-in-indian-country.html

#ApacheStronghold Asks #SupremeCourt to #SaveOakFlat

By Becket Law, via #CensoredNews
Sept. 11, 2024

WASHINGTON – "A coalition of #WesternApaches, other #Native peoples, and non-Native #allies asked the #SupremeCourt today to protect their sacred site at #OakFlat from destruction by a multinational mining giant. In Apache Stronghold v. United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stop the federal government from transferring Oak Flat to #ResolutionCopper, a foreign-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending #Apache religious practices forever (Watch video linked below to learn more).

"The Apaches and their allies hosted a day of prayer outside the Court as they asked the Justices to save the spiritual lifeblood of their people.
Since time immemorial, Western Apaches and other Native peoples have gathered at Oak Flat, outside of present-day Superior, Arizona, for sacred religious ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else. Known in Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, Oak Flat is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been protected from mining and other harmful practices for decades. These protections were targeted in December 2014 when a last-minute provision was inserted into a must- pass defense bill authorizing the transfer of Oak Flat to the Resolution Copper company. Resolution Copper is a foreign-owned mining company that plans to turn the sacred site into a two-mile-wide and 1,100-foot-deep crater. The majority owner of Resolution Copper, #RioTinto, sparked international outrage when it deliberately destroyed 46,000-year-old #Indigenous rock shelters at one of #Australia’s most significant cultural sites.

“'Oak Flat is our Mt. Sinai—the most sacred place where generations of Apache have come to connect with our Creator, our faith, and our land,' said Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. of Apache Stronghold. 'We pray the Justices will protect Oak Flat and ensure that our place of worship is not treated differently simply because it lacks four walls and a steeple.”
Apache Stronghold—a coalition of Apaches, other Native peoples, and non-Native allies—filed this lawsuit in January 2021 seeking to halt the proposed mine at Oak Flat. The mine is opposed by 21 of 22 federally recognized tribal nations in Arizona and by the National Congress of American Indians. Meanwhile, national polling indicates that 74% of Americans support protecting Oak Flat. The Ninth Circuit ruled earlier this year that the land transfer is not subject to federal laws protecting religious freedom. But five judges dissented, writing that the court 'tragically err[ed]' by refusing to protect Oak Flat. After unsuccessfully asking all 29 judges on the Ninth Circuit to rehear the case, Apache Stronghold has filed their appeal to the Supreme Court.

"'Blasting the birthplace of Apache religion into oblivion would be an egregious violation of our nation’s promise of religious freedom for people of all faiths,' said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. 'The Court should uphold its strong record of defending #ReligiousFreedom by ensuring that the Apaches can continue worshiping at Oak Flat as they have for centuries.'

"In addition to Becket, Apache Stronghold is represented by Erin Murphy of Clement & Murphy PLLC, Professor Stephanie Barclay of Georgetown Law School, and attorneys Michael V. Nixon and Clifford Levenson.
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Ryan Colby at media@becketlaw.org or 202-349-7219."

Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/apache-stronghold-asks-supreme-court-to.html

Legal document:
https://www.becketlaw.org/media/breaking-apache-stronghold-asks-supreme-court-to-save-oak-flat/

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh68xOn0B_8

#SCOTUS #CopperMine
#ProtectOakFlat
#ProtectTheSacred
#DefendTheSacred
#IndigenousActivism
#SaveOakFlat
#WaterIsLife
#SacredSite
#CopperMining
#RecycleCopper
#NoMiningWithoutConsent
#CulturalGenocide
#Ecocide #NativeAmericanNews
#CorporateColonialism
#WashingtonDC
#PrayerRide
#PeacefulProtest
#FightForReligiousRights
#ChichilBildagoteel

If #OakFlat were a #Christian sacred site, we know how certain #SCOTUS judges would vote.

Solidarity with #ApacheStronghold all the way to the #USSupremeCourt

After several legal hurdles, the Apache Stronghold will file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court in a final effort to protect the sacred land of Oak Flat

By #CPT #TurtleIsland Solidarity Network
May 20, 2024

"For nearly a decade, Apache Stronghold has been fighting in federal court to preserve the heart of their spiritual practices: Chi’chil Biłdagoteel (Oak Flat). The equivalent of Notre Dame or the Temple on the Mount, Oak Flat is a sacred site threatened with destruction by the bottomless hunger of #capitalism in the guise of #ResolutionCopper, which promises to turn the vaulted arches of #oak and #juniper into a two-mile sinkhole.

"On 14 May 2024, Apache Stronghold’s tireless march for justice via the legal system turned on to the final approach, when the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to re-hear the en banc arguments before the entire bench of 29 judges. The next and final stage will be filing an appeal before the United States Supreme Court later this summer.

"CPT stands with Apache Stronghold and the next leg in this quest to make the United States recognize the truth: that Oak Flat is #SacredLand. As sacred land, Oak Flat is part of the delicate and resilient web of relationships between soil and stone, water and wind that make this biosphere a home for all our relations. For all our sakes, Oak Flat must be protected.

"Please continue your support for and solidarity with Apache Stronghold through prayer, and action including signing this petition [link below] and organizing groups to sign amicus briefs committing to support Oak Flat and all sacred sites.

"CPT has been accompanying Apache Stronghold since May 2023 in prayer and action to protect Oak Flat.

"Oak Flat is under threat from the mining corporation Resolution Copper (a wholly owned subsidiary of #RioTinto and #BHP). In 2014, legislation in the United States Congress laid out a plan for a land transfer to give the area to Resolution Copper. While the legislation requires an Environmental Impact Statement before the land transfer, it allows Resolution Copper to do whatever it wants and exempts them from environmental regulation.

Resolution Copper plans an underground mining technique (“block cave”) that would turn this sacred site into a two-mile wide 1,000-foot crater and destroy it. Even though the land transfer has not yet taken place, Resolution Copper has already begun '#dewatering' which removes the #groundwater from shafts they drilled into the earth from property they already own. This endangers #OakTrees and other plants that depend on groundwater to survive."

Source:
https://cpt.org/2024/05/20/solidarity-with-apache-stronghold-all-the-way-to-the-supreme-court

Link to petition:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/i-support-oak-flat

Diverse coalition urges 29-judge appeals
court to #ProtectOakFlat

#TribalNations, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs among broad coalition seeking to protect historic #NativeAmerican #SacredSite

By Becket Law, #ApacheStronghold, #CensoredNews
April 26, 2024

"Meanwhile, national polling indicates 74% of Americans support protecting #OakFlat. The Ninth Circuit ruled last month that the land transfer is not subject to federal laws protecting religious freedom. But five judges dissented, writing that the court 'tragically err[ed]' by refusing to protect Oak Flat.

"Including the 8 briefs filed yesterday, there have now been a total of 23 friend-of-the-court briefs filed in support of Apache Stronghold in this case, representing the voices of hundreds of federally recognized tribes, scores of religious organizations of diverse faiths, and leading scholars of Indian law and the Constitution. A full listing of briefs is available here. Highlights from yesterday’s filings in Apache Stronghold v. United States include:

· Tribal Nations and Tribal Organizations arguing that this case will set vital precedent for tribal nations across the continent.

· The Mennonite Church USA and 20 Mennonite conferences, churches and ministries explaining how the government can manage federal lands while still providing full protection to Native American religious practices;

· Religious liberty law scholars arguing that the plain language of federal civil rights law requires protection of Oak Flat;

· A diverse array of 38 religious and indigenous groups—including the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon, the Southwestern Conference of the United Church of Christ, and the National Council of Jewish Women demonstrating broad support for Native American religious exercise from across the country;

· The Sikh Coalition, the Christian Legal Society and the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team of the Religious Freedom Institute noting that the legal standard for judging Native religious liberty claims should be consistent with that for other land-use and prisoner claims;

· Protect the First asking the court of appeals to reconsider its narrow, inflexible approach toward Native American sacred site cases.

· The Native American Law Students Association pointing out the unique effect this case will have on Native American religious believers under the current interpretation of the law.

· The Multi-Indigenous Community Action Group, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, and a Tribal Elder explaining that the court’s decision creates an unfair double standard for Native American religious exercise.

"'It is heartening to see a broad coalition of tribes, religious groups, and scholars stand up in defense of Oak Flat,' said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. 'Our nation has a history of destroying Native sacred sites without consequence, and it’s long past time for that dark tradition to end.'"

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/04/diverse-coalition-urges-29-judge.html

#ResolutionCopper #SaveOakFlat #RioTinto
#CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism #CorporateColonialism #CopperMining #Mining #LandBack #WaterIsLife
#IndigenousLands #SacredSpaces #ReligiousFreedom #IndigenousRights