Feds to move ahead on Oak Flat copper mine swap in Arizona, despite pending Supreme Court case

Yahoo

18-04-2025

The Trump administration plans to reissue the final environmental impact statement for a long-delayed land swap that would hand over Oak Flat, a site considered sacred to Apache peoples and other Native peoples, to a copper mining company no earlier than June 17, according to a filing with the U.S. District Court of Arizona.
The government issued the notice on April 17 even as the U.S. Supreme Court continues to deliberate over accepting a 4-year-old court case filed by grassroots group Apache Stronghold to prevent the 2,200-acre site from being obliterated by a copper mine.
It's the latest twist in a more than 20-year-old struggle over the fate of Oak Flat, between the Native communities who hold the site sacred and Resolution Copper, which wants access to one of the country's remaining large copper deposits.
For the leaders of the opposition, the court filing confirmed their worst fears.
'The U.S. government is rushing to give away our spiritual home before the courts can even rule — just like it's rushed to erase Native people for generations,' said Apache Stronghold leader Wendsler Nosie. 'This is the same violent pattern we have seen for centuries. We urge the Supreme Court to protect our spiritual lifeblood and give our sacred site the same protection given to the holiest churches, mosques, and synagogues throughout this country.'
"The feds are barreling ahead to give Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, even as the Supreme Court considers whether to hear the case,' said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit legal organization that works to protect religious rights and practices. 'This makes the stakes crystal clear: If the court doesn't act now, Oak Flat could be transferred and destroyed before justice can be served.'
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Oak Flat, or Chi'chil Biłdagoteel, "the place where the Emory oak grows," is at the heart of a dispute over what should happen to the land.
In December 2014, Congress authorized the U.S. Forest Service to trade the 2,200-acre site, currently a campground about 60 miles east of Phoenix, for parcels of environmentally sensitive private land owned by Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of British-Australian mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP.
To obtain the copper ore, Resolution would use a method known as block cave mining, in which tunnels are drilled beneath the ore body, and then collapsed, leaving the ore to be moved to a crushing facility. Eventually, the ground would subside, leaving behind a crater about 1,000 feet deep and nearly 2 miles across where Oak Flat and its religious and environmental significance stand.
The U.S. Forest Service published the final environmental impact statement and draft decision for the copper mine and land swap five days before the end of the Trump administration in January 2021. The land deal could have been finalized within 60 days of that action.
Apache Stronghold filed its lawsuit in January 2021 in federal court to stop the land swap, citing religious rights guarantees under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Becket accepted the case and, along with a group of private attorneys and law professors, has represented Apache Stronghold, which includes Apache and other Native peoples and their allies.
The Biden administration rescinded the environmental impact statement in March 2021 for further consultation with tribes. That consultation is ongoing.
Resolution was granted permission to join the lawsuit in 2023.
After being turned down by the federal district court and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Apache Stronghold appealed to the Supreme Court.
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The filing by the administration acknowledged that Apache Stronghold's petition is pending at the high court: "The disposition of that petition may affect the timing of when Federal Defendants proceed with publication of any FEIS and Draft Record of Decision," the attorneys wrote.
They said in the filing that if the Supreme Court denies Apache Stronghold within the 60 days given by the notice, the Forest Service will proceed with the deal.
If the high court agrees to hear the case, or if the court is still considering hearing it by the June 17 deadline, the administration said it will reevaluate how to proceed.
Resolution Copper said the news was a positive step forward.
"The Resolution Copper mine is vital to securing America's energy future and infrastructure needs with a domestic supply of copper and other critical minerals," said Vicky Peacey, Resolution Copper's general manager. She said the mine would add $1 billion a year to Arizona's economy and create thousands of local jobs in the Copper Triangle.
Resolution made major changes to the mining plan after consultation with tribes and other communities to "preserve and reduce potential impacts on cultural interests, and this ongoing dialogue will continue to shape the project," Peacey said.
The Center for Biological Diversity, which would be a partner in reviving a lawsuit filed by it and other environmental groups when the new environmental impact statement is released, had a different take.
'Trump's decision to launch the Oak Flat land exchange shows his complete disdain for religious liberty, Native American rights and the protection of public lands," said Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate for the organization.
"Oak Flat is central to the spiritual and cultural practices of the Apache people and other tribes in the region." He said it is also a biological gem, home to rare desert ecosystems, springs and wildlife.
"Destroying it for the profit of foreign mining corporations is a moral, cultural and environmental catastrophe of historic proportions. We've been fighting this project for decades and we won't stop now.'
Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at [e-mail]. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @debkrol.
Coverage of Indigenous issues at the intersection of climate, culture and commerce is supported by the Catena Foundation.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Feds moving ahead with land swap for copper mine at Oak Flat in AZ