Oak Flat, part of a national forest in central Arizona, has been at the center of a long-running struggle between Native American groups and mining interests, both of whom consider it critical to their future.
Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of international mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP, wants to develop Oak Flat’s massive copper deposits deep underground into a large-scale mine. The nonprofit group Apache Stronghold considers the land sacred and says it should be preserved for religious ceremonies.
In a major blow to Apache Stronghold, a divided federal court panel on Friday voted to uphold the denial of a lower court’s preliminary injunction blocking the transfer of the project’s land.
New federal policy gives Native American tribes the power to veto green energy development
Apache Stronghold said it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Here’s how the battle unfolded over the years:
November 2013: Resolution Copper releases an initial general operating plan for the proposed mine at Oak Flat.
Freddie Lane, a member of the Lummi Nation who traveled from Washington state, can be seen touring the country with a totem pole to stop the degradation of Indigenous lands. He and members of the Apache Stronghold group gathered to paint protest signs in Los Angeles on March 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Damien Dovarganes, File)
December 12, 2014: The U.S. Senate approves a must-pass military spending bill that includes the Oak Flat land swap, which gives national forest property to mining companies to develop the nation’s largest copper mine. One rider caught up in the bill asked Resolution Copper to acquire 3.75 square miles of forest land in exchange for eight parcels it owns in Arizona.
March 4, 2016: The Forest Service adds Oak Flat to the National Register of Historic Places. Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and Democratic Rep. Anne Kirkpatrick oppose the historic site designation, which Gosar says “interferes with important mining activities.”
May 24, 2020: Rio Tinto’s iron mining project destroys two rock caves in Western Australia’s Juukan Gorge where indigenous people have lived for 46,000 years, forcing the company’s CEO to resign.
January 12, 2021: Apache Stronghold sues federal government, Forest Service claims land around Oak Flat owned by Rio Tinto and reserved for Western Apaches in an 1852 treaty with the United States It argued that some of the land it controlled could not be legally transferred.
February 12, 2021: A federal judge says the Apache Stronghold is not a federally recognized tribe and therefore does not have the right to claim the land is Apache, and the Forest Service’s resolution・Rejected a request to stop the transfer of land to Copper.
March 1, 2021: The U.S. Department of Agriculture withdrew the environmental study that paved the way for the land swap, saying it needed more time to consult with Native American tribes and others.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
October 21, 2021: Apache Stronghold asks a three-member panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to block Rio Tinto from acquiring the Oak Flat property. A few months later, the commission ruled 2-1 that the federal government could transfer the Oak Flat land to Rio Tinto, but then referred the case to a larger appellate panel. I agree.
March 21, 2023: Apache Stronghold tells the full panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the resolution would prevent Native American groups from exercising their religion by destroying land they consider sacred. I told him it was a thing. The 11-member committee said it expected to make a decision in the coming months.
March 1, 2024: The 11-member En banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals votes 6-5 to uphold the lower court’s denial of a preliminary injunction blocking the transfer of land for the project. I supported it.
