#tontonationalforest — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #tontonationalforest, aggregated by home.social.
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#ApacheStronghold #HolyGround Ceremony
March 28, 2026
"On Saturday, March 28th at 8 am, a Holy Ground Ceremony will be held in #SanCarlosAZ, at the 7 mile Holy Ground. Those who do not know the location are welcome to camp at the Nosie’s Residence Friday night or meet there at 7 am to follow us to 7 mile Holy Ground. More information about Sunday March 29th will be available tomorrow. Announcements will be made in person at ceremony."
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/03/apache-stronghold-holy-ground-ceremony.html
#SaveOakFlat #ChíchilBiłdagoteel #ProtectOakFlat #Arizona #RioTinto #CopperMining #Fight4OurExistance
#SacredLand #TontoNationalForest
#WesternApache #ProtectTheSacred
#IndigenousNews #IndigenousActivism #CorporateColonialism #DefendTheSacred #CensoredNews #ReaderSupportedNews -
Trump to approve land swap for Rio Tinto copper mine opposed by Native Americans
By Ernest Scheyder
April 18, 2025- Forest Service to republish environmental report within 60 days
- Publication needed to approve land swap for Resolution project
- Native groups oppose project on religious grounds
- Related case still pending at Supreme Court"The #Trump administration said on Thursday it would approve a land swap needed for #RioTinto and #BHP to build one of the world's largest copper mines, despite concerns from Native Americans that it would destroy a site of religious value.
The move is likely to escalate tensions between Indigenous groups vocal about the need to preserve historical lands and Western governments eager to boost critical minerals production and offset China's sector dominance."The U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the Agriculture Department, said it will republish within 60 days an environmental report needed for the #ResolutionCopper project land swap to occur.
"Congress and then-President #BarackObama approved the mine in 2014 after it was added at the last minute to a must-pass military funding bill [#NDAA] with the condition that an environmental report be published.
"The underground mine - which President Donald Trump approved in his first term before successor Joe Biden reversed him - would supply more than a quarter of U.S. appetite for copper and be a key part of Trump's plan to boost U.S. mining.
"Copper is used in construction, transportation, electronics and many other industries. The United States imports roughly half of its copper needs each year.
"Yet the mine's construction would cause a crater that would swallow the Oak Flat site where Arizona's San Carlos Apache worship. That has fueled strong opposition from all but one of the state's 22 Native American tribes, as well as the National Congress of American Indians.
"Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and conservationists, asked the U.S. Supreme Court last September to block the land swap. The court has not yet decided whether to take that case.
Were the court to do so, however, the Forest Service said on Thursday it 'may reevaluate how to proceed' regarding the land swap." '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 #WendslerNosie, an #ApacheStronghold leader."
#Apaches #WesternApaches #NativeAmericans #SacredSite #ResolutionCopper #SaveOakFlat #ChichilBiłdagoteel #CorporateColonialism #ProtectOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews #SCOTUS #DefendTheSacred #CopperMine
#WaterIsLife #CulturalGenocide #WesternApache #SacredSites #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleCopper #TontoNationalForest -
#Apaches ask lower court to stop government’s imminent transfer of #SacredSite
Becket Law, via #CensoredNews, April 25, 2025
There will be a Hearing May 7, 2025 @ 0930 @ Sandra Day O’Connor
U.S. Courthouse, 401 West Washington Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85003WASHINGTON – "A coalition of #WesternApaches, other #NativePeoples, and non-Native #allies asked a federal court late yesterday to stop the U.S. government from handing over their sacred site at Oak Flat to a multinational mining giant as early as June 16, 2025.
"In #ApacheStronghold v. United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year refused to stop the federal government from transferring #OakFlat to #ResolutionCopper, a Chinese-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending Apache religious practices forever (Watch the short video linked below to learn more).
"The emergency appeal comes after the government announced last week it will forge ahead with the transfer even though the case is currently under consideration by the #USSupremeCourt."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/apaches-ask-lower-court-to-stop.htmlVideo link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh68xOn0B_8#SaveOakFlat #ChichilBiłdagoteel #CorporateColonialism #ProtectOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews #SCOTUS #DefendTheSacred #CopperMine
#WaterIsLife #RioTinto #RecycleCopper #CulturalGenocide #NDAA #WesternApache #SacredSites #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleCopper #TontoNationalForest -
#ApacheStronghold: U.S. Give-Away would Destroy Spiritual Home of #Apache
By Wendsler Nosie, Apache Stronghold, March 13, 2025, via #CensoredNews"In the heart of #TontoNationalForest in #Arizona lies a place that my people, the #WesternApache, still hold above all others. This place is Chi'chil Biłdagoteel, also known as Oak Flat. To us, it is more than a stretch of land; it is sacred and holy. It is where our ancestors walked, where we gather to pray, to carry out ceremonies passed down through generations, and to speak to our Creator.
"This land is part of who we are as a people, and its spirit is bound to our own.
Now, the federal government plans to give our sacred Oak Flat to a multinational #mining #corporation owned by the Chinese Communist Party. This will not just scar the land; it will destroy it, poisoning the environment and trampling on our tribal rights. But the deepest wound will be the loss of our spiritual home, a place our people cannot exist without. We are fighting this in the courts, all the way to the #USSupremeCourt. But this is about more than law and policy—this is about survival of our way of life and the spirit of this sacred land.https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/03/apache-stronghold-us-give-away-would.html
#SaveOakFlat #ChichilBiłdagoteel #CorporateColonialism #ProtectOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews #SCOTUS #DefendTheSacred #CopperMine
#WaterIsLife #ResolutionCopper #RioTinto #RecycleCopper #CulturalGenocide #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleCopper -
via @arizonamirror
If #Hobbs is serious about protecting #groundwater, she must work to close the #mining loophole
by Russ McSpadden
February 12, 2024"In her first State of the State address just over a year ago, Gov. #KatieHobbs was unequivocal about her commitment to tackling one of the state’s greatest challenges: our dwindling #water supply.
“Our groundwater should be used to support #Arizonans, not foreign business interests,” she said in that speech, referring to the Saudi Arabian conglomerate #Fondomonte. Over the past few years, Fondomonte has been pumping unlimited amounts of groundwater in La Paz County for alfalfa crops that it ships to feed cows on the other side of the earth.
"Though the Hobbs administration has already canceled one of Fondomonte’s four leases and says it won’t renew the others when they’re up this month, the problem doesn’t end with Saudi agriculture.
"It’s also mining companies that take advantage of loopholes in the state’s water laws to maximize profit at the expense of Arizonans — including mining giants #RioTinto and# BHP.
"Because of intense pressure from #lobbyists, when lawmakers adopted the much-heralded #ArizonaGroundwaterManagementAct in 1980 they exempted #mines from groundwater regulation, even when located in #ActiveManagement Areas — state-designated areas where groundwater pumping is controlled. That means that mines can pump unlimited amounts of water without paying the state a dime.
"This exemption was controversial in 1980. Today it’s existentially dangerous.
#ResolutionCopper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto and BHP, is a perfect example. Their proposed mine at #OakFlat — about 70 miles east of #Phoenix in the #TontoNationalForest and within the Phoenix Active Management Area — would pump 250 billion gallons of desert groundwater over the life of the project.
"That’s 17 million gallons of water every day for four decades.
"Under current water prices, that equates to $404 million worth of groundwater that Resolution Copper will get for free. Arizona won’t see a cent for it. And it’s more than likely that the copper ore from Oak Flat will be exported to China for smelting, again depriving local communities of economic benefit.
"This limitless pumping would happen even as the #megadrought that has plagued the #AmericanSouthwest for the past two decades is likely to worsen, straining the #ColoradoRiver and #Gila rivers even more and making us all more reliant on groundwater aquifers.
"If left intact, the mining loophole will facilitate construction of Resolution’s massive mine. The extreme water pumping from the #EastSaltRiverValley will lead to groundwater depletion and subsidence, threatening to deplete wells and damage infrastructure.
"The #CenterForBiologicalDiversity, where I work, has been fighting for decades to stop this mine, and Canadian mining company Hudbay’s disastrous plan to mine for copper in the #SantaRita Mountains south of #Tucson (in the Tucson Active Management Area).
"Both projects would devastate surrounding fragile #ecosystems, pushing endangered species like the #MexicanSpottedOwl closer to the brink of #extinction. They would also destroy sacred #TribalLands and gulp down massive amounts of water when other users are being asked to conserve.
"Handing mines unlimited access to Arizona’s precious desert groundwater would be an injustice to Arizona’s #Tribes and every resident of this state.
"Fortunately, Hobbs has the vision and courage to fight for a secure water future for Arizona. It is time for her to work with legislators to close the mining loophole in Arizona water law and subject mines to the same groundwater pumping limits that apply to other entities within the state’s Active Management Areas.
"We’re hopeful she will work to block #ResolutionCopperMine and other terrible mining projects like #Hudbay’s. At the very least, it’s time for mining giants to pay for the water they use just like the rest of us."
#WaterIsLife #HumanRightsViolations #CulturalGenocide #CopperMining #Mining #CorporateColonialism #EnvironmentalRacism #IndigenousNews #SaveOakFlat #IndigenousRights #Apache