Tribe warns US government against moving ahead with mine

[Mosby]

PHOENIX — Native American tribal members fighting plans for an enormous copper mine on land they consider sacred say they are increasingly worried U.S. officials will publish an environmental review paving the way for the project even as they await a federal appeals court ruling in the case.

....

"Obliterating Oak Flat for a copper mine will be a grave human rights violation against Indigenous people and an environmental catastrophe," Rambler said in a written statement this week. "The Biden Administration's commitment to Indian Country will be seriously eroded if it approves this mine."

Apache Stronghold, a group composed of San Carlos Apache members and others, wants to halt the land swap while the case plays out in court. The panel of 11 judges on the appeals court is expected to issue a decision in the next few months.

https://www.abc15.com/news/state/tribe-warns-us-government-against-moving-ahead-with-mine


Five years ago:

Oak Flat is a sacred site? It never was before

Former tribe historian: A mining shaft was built there in the 1970s with no protest from the tribe.

My book, “The History of the San Carlos Apache,” published by the San Carlos Apache Historic and Cultural Preservation Office in 1997, offers a much different perspective. There has not been a long history of ceremonial or cultural activities such as Sunrise or Holy Ground ceremonies taking place at Oak Flat.

From my personal perspective, the thought of having such a ceremony at Oak Flat, far from the support of relatives, clan members and friends in the San Carlos tribal area is almost unthinkable.

My uncle, who lived in Superior, would regularly attend most tribal ceremonies. He would travel to the San Carlos Apache reservation or the White Mountain Apache reservation. I attended my first tribal Sunrise ceremony at Cibecue, in the White Mountains; the idea of having a sunrise ceremony at Oak Flat was never considered.

....

In 1970, the Magma Copper Company built a mine shaft on Oak Flat that you can see from the passing highway. No member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe said anything about it being a sacred site. I know because I was living in Superior at the time. Some tribal people from San Carlos even talked about getting employment with the mine.

There were no protests, no publicity of any kind. Why not? If this area was sacred, wouldn’t opposition arise many years before today? There was never any statement made by tribal members or tribal leadership.

It wasn’t until recent years that the site of Oak Flat was called sacred in any kind of way. All one has to do is examine the records to see if the word sacred was ever used for the site.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2015/07/23/oak-flat-sacred/30587803/

[Magoo48]

1. Our administration must come down hard on the side of the tribe, or retract it professed support

for native nations. If we say it, we must put up.

[asiliveandbreathe]

2. Resolute Copper RCM..joint venture OWNED by Rio Tinto..been trying to

mine Oak Flat for years..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolution_Copper

Apaches have marched six times in protest of the site, most recently in February 2020. In face of the mounting protests, the Biden administration ultimately pushed back the environmental assessment due to inadequate public and tribal input in March 2021. In a June 2021 op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, the chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe objected that it would not only destroy his tribe's cultural heritage, but also the local tourism industry and Arizona's groundwater supply. It is estimated that the project would collapse a region 2 miles (3.2 km) wide around Oak Flat into a sinkhole 1,100 feet (340 m) deep.

Oh, btw..another final days of the pigs admin..rushing thru..

Both the Oak Flat Campground, an area dotted with petroglyphs and historic and prehistoric sites, and the steep cliffs at Apache Leap would be affected. In July 2015, a march protesting the land swap arrived in Washington DC.

The initial report was rushed through during the final days of the Donald Trump administration, and under the provisions of Section 3003 ownership was scheduled to occur on March 11, 2021. The Joe Biden administration withdrew the report on March 2 to demand more input from the public and Indigenous nations. On March 18, Representative Raúl Grijalva reintroduced the Save Oak Flat Act for the fourth time, which would repeal the mandate to transfer the land transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper.

The history of RIO TINTO company is littered with examples of environmental pollution, dispossessing people of their lands and destroying valuable cultural heritage, but the consequences it has faced have been few and far between. It still trades shares on the London Stock Exchange, still operates in 35 countries and still has an income of over $10 billion a year.