Title To NFS Land Sacred To AZ Apaches Confirmed By Appeals Court; Foreign Copper Mining Companies To Benefit
The transfer of federal forest land in Arizona to a pair of international companies that plan to mine one of the largest copper deposits in North America is complete, but a group of Apache women is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene as a last-ditch effort to stop the project.
The title to the land was conveyed by the federal government to Resolution Copper on Friday after an appeals court denied requests by the San Carlos Apache Tribe and environmentalists seeking to block the move. The appeals court determined that the plaintiffs’ legal claims likely would not succeed and lifted an emergency injunction that was put in place last summer.
The land includes Oak Flat — an area used for centuries for religious ceremonies, prayer and gathering of medicinal plants by the San Carlos Apache people and other Native American tribes. The tribe, the activist group Apache Stronghold and other plaintiffs have been fighting for years to save what tribal members call Chi’chil Bildagoteel.
The appeals court in Friday’s ruling recognized that the land transfer will fundamentally alter the nature of the land and lead to the destruction of sites sacred to the tribe and other plaintiffs. “Despite those grave harms to Native religious practice, Congress has chosen to transfer this land, and plaintiffs have not raised any viable challenges to that decision,” the court stated.
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https://apnews.com/article/arizona-oak-flat-copper-mining-apache-024697a87552094c70abf8afa0ed8241