#tontonationalforest — Public Fediverse posts

[Film] The #ApacheStronghold defending #sacred #OakFlat land from a #CopperMine

The Real News Network
May 21, 2024

"In the heart of the #Arizona high desert lies a battle for the soul of the land. The ancient, sacred grounds of #Apache #Native territory are under threat from a looming giant — a massive copper mine that promises riches for the locals, and a pathway to the so-called green transition. But, as is often the case, it comes at a cost.

"The #SanCarlosApache tribe calls it Chi’chil Bildagoteel; English speakers call it Oak Flat. It sits on a mountainous plateau within a 17.3-kilometer oasis in the #TontoNationalForest. #RioTinto and #BHP, two of the world’s biggest mining companies, have staked their claim here through a joint venture called #ResolutionCopper. For over 10 years they’ve been lobbying governments for the right to build a colossal mine that would cover roughly 7,000 acres of surface area, and extend more than a mile into the ground.

"The only thing that stands in their way is the #resistance of the Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit community organization of #Natives and non-Natives uniting to counter ongoing #colonization, defend holy sites and protect freedom of religion, which was created to protect Chi’chil Bildagoteel.

"A short film by #BrandiMorin and #GeordieDay for #RicochetMedia. Support for this journalism provided by #CulturalSurvival."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCIGlv0xu_U

#ChichilBildagoteel #RioTinto #CopperMine #SanCarlosApache #Arizona #ProtectOakFlat #protectthesacred #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivism #SCOTUS #SaveOakFlat
#WaterIsLife #SacredSite #CopperMining #RecycleCopper #MiningWithoutConsent
#ProtectTheSacred #CulturalGenocide #Ecocide #NativeAmericanNews
#IndigenousNews
#Greenwashing #NoMiningWithoutConsent #CorporateColonialism

ICYMI from 2023: #Biden Moves Forward With #Mining Project That Will Obliterate a Sacred #Apache Religious Site

In court, the feds said #OakFlat would be in the hands of mining giants #RioTinto and #BHP by early summer.

“This is a people matter. This is about the people and their freedom: freedom to be Apache, to be Indigenous, to be Americans.”

by Ryan Devereaux
March 22 2023

"Biden administration attorneys were in court this week to defend a mining project that will obliterate one of the most sacred Apache religious sites in the American Southwest.

"In oral arguments Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service said it was nearing completion of an environmental impact study that will transfer land east of Phoenix to two of the world’s largest mining companies for the purpose of building one of the largest #copper mines on the planet. The massive project will hinge on the destruction of Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, a plateau otherwise known as Oak Flat, that is sacred to many Native American tribes, particularly the #SanCarlosApache, who consider the area among their most holy of sites.

"In a nearly two-hour hearing, an 11-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California, peppered lawyers on both sides of the high-stakes legal fight with an array of complex case law questions raised by the project. Begun nearly two decades ago, the battle for Oak Flat sits at the intersection of Indigenous rights and dispossession, religious liberty, public lands and private sales, and a growing demand for so-called green energy solutions in an era of #ClimateCatastrophe.

"'As the court is aware, this case is not about an agency action. It’s about an act of Congress, in which Congress considered demands on a piece of property, balanced those interests, and made a decision,' said Joan Pepin, an attorney for the Forest Service, the agency that exchanged the land in a controversial deal nearly a decade ago. 'It decided that Oak Flat should be transferred to #ResolutionCopper so the third-largest copper ore deposit in the world can be mined.”

"The legislation in question — the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act — was the product of a proposal then-Arizona Sens. #JohnMcCain and #JeffFlake added to a must-pass defense authorization bill late one night in 2014. The addendum, known as a rider, incurred no congressional debate.

"Described by the San Carlos Apache as a 'midnight backroom deal,' the law transferred Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a British-Australian concern jointly owned by the extractive giants Rio Tinto and BHP, both of which had sought access to the wildly lucrative ore deposit for years.

"The project centers on a 2,200-acre area known as Oak Flat Campground, part of the #TontoNationalForest, that has served as a centerpiece of Apache #ReligiousCeremony and #cosmology since before settler expansion into the West. To access the ore underneath, Resolution Copper will use a technique known as block cave mining, which over several years will turn the sacred mountain into a two-mile-wide crater deep enough to hide a skyscraper.

"Initiation of construction hinges on the publication of an #EnvironmentalImpact study from the Forest Service, which, under the law passed in 2014, starts a 60-day countdown before the transfer of the land from the federal government to the mining company must happen.

"Luke Goodrich, the lead attorney for Apache Stronghold, an Arizona-based nonprofit that brought the lawsuit to stop the transfer, told the panel of judges that the destruction of Oak Flat was a direct and flagrant violation of the #ReligiousFreedomRestoratioAct. Violation of the statute requires the imposition of a “substantial burden” on a person or group’s ability to practice their faith.

"'A fine is a substantial burden, but here the government is doing something far worse,' Goodrich said, 'not just threatening fines, but authorizing the complete physical destruction of Oak Flat, barring the Apaches from ever accessing it again and ending their core religious exercises forever.'

"In January 2021, five days before leaving office, the administration of President Donald #Trump released a study supporting the creation of the #OakFlatMine. #ApacheStronghold had filed a federal lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the project.

"Unsuccessful in the attempt, the group filed an emergency appeal to the 9th Circuit the following month. Six hours before its deadline to respond passed, the Forest Service — by then, in March 2021, under the leadership of President Joe Biden — announced that it was withdrawing the environmental impact study and postponing the land transfer.

"A three-judge panel of 9th Circuit dismissed Apache Stronghold’s case in October 2021 but agreed to hear the case again before a full panel last winter. The unusual decision set the stage for Tuesday’s hearing.

"While the postponement of the project had given opponents of the mine a moment of respite in the long-running battle, the government’s testimony this week confirmed that the Biden administration is moving forward with a new environmental impact study and stands behind the controversial land swap."

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2023/03/22/oak-flat-mine-arizona-biden/

#HumanRightsViolations #CulturalGenocide #CopperMining #Mining #CorporateColonialism #EnvironmentalRacism #IndigenousNews #SaveOakFlat
#NativeAmericanNews