San Carlos Apache tribal members fight to protect sacred site from mining operation

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — San Carlos Apache tribal members are at the center of a fight to protect their sacred land from being mined, saying the company at the helm will destroy their way of life.

The Trump administration just paved the way to fast-track the Resolution Copper project, among others across the country, in the name of economic development.

Apache Stronghold, the group at odds with the plans, is asking officials to wait. The cause is still going through the courts, with the Supreme Court actively considering whether to hear this case.

Arizona’s Family took you to Oak Flat last spring, near the mining town of Superior, about an hour east of Phoenix.

Apache Stronghold leader Wendsler Nosie Sr., the former chairman of the San Carlos Apache tribe, took up residence at the Oak Flat campground. His camper sits close to from Resolution Copper’s base.

Nosie Sr. says this is a reminder to the mining company that the land in question is sacred and ancestral to his people but is part of federal forest land.

“This is a critical place for everybody. It’s something that we cannot lose, something that we cannot leave behind. We can’t walk away from because it’s so strictly our identity and our religion that makes us who we are, and we can’t walk away from that,” Nosie, Sr. said.

San Carlos Apache tribal members are at the center of a fight to protect their sacred land... — San Carlos Apache tribal members are at the center of a fight to protect their sacred land from being mined.(Arizona's Family)

Over the last year, he’s taken his fight to the Supreme Court, with his lawyers requesting the high court to hear their case after a lower court decision denied their efforts to stop the mine. It was close, which prompted the group to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Apache Stronghold’s argument centers on religious freedom.

“It’s a place where Native Americans have worshipped for centuries, but the government now wants to give it to Resolution Copper and turn it into a giant copper mine that will swallow the site and make it impossible to ever again worship there,” said Apache Stronghold’s attorney Joe Davis, senior counsel at the Becket Fund For Religious Liberty.

The mining company, Resolution Copper, says the project will bring the state a billion dollars a year, create thousands of jobs, and secure the United States’ future in copper production, energy, and infrastructure. For that to happen, the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement must be published after June 16.

Once that happens, the land transfer can happen. But Resolution Copper tells Arizona’s Family that mining would not begin immediately. Permits would need to be obtained from the state, and construction and development would take years.

Now, all eyes are on the Supreme Court’s next steps in this case.

“The case, they’re actively considering it. They’ve considered it at a number of different private conferences, which is where they decide whether or not to grant cases. Yet the government is now trying to short-circuit that process, and they’ve said they want to forge ahead with the transfer anyway, even though the Supreme Court has not yet finished its review,” said Davis.

Here is Resolution Copper’s full statement regarding the issue:

“We recognize there are different views regarding the Resolution Copper project, all of which we respect. We will continue our efforts to actively engage with groups to understand any concerns and how we can look to address them.
Consultation for the project has been lengthy and transparent spanning almost a decade. The information collected and the two-way dialogue with Native American tribes and communities in a co-design approach has significantly reshaped the project – the company has agreed to forego portions of the ore body and major facilities have been completely relocated to avoid dozens of areas of cultural significance and hundreds of ancestral sites, medicinal plants, seeps and springs. Apache Leap, which houses one of the most significant Western Apache ancestral sites, has been placed in permanent protection. The Oak Flat campground will remain open and accessible for decades.
Resolution Copper has the potential to be one of the largest copper mines in the US, adding $1 billion a year to Arizona’s economy and creating thousands of local jobs in a region where mining has played an important role for more than a century. We are deeply invested in this community’s future and remain committed to maintaining an open dialogue with all stakeholders, including Native American tribes, to ensure responsible and sustainable development as the project progresses.”
Resolution Copper

The mining company also says that depending on what the Supreme Court decides to do, the federal government said it may reevaluate its approach. After the land exchange and publication of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, it said it would work with local communities on benefits and mitigation tied to the land exchange.

Nosie Sr. says he’ll continue to fight however he can, no matter what the court decides. If the court decides to take up the case, it will be heard at the next session.

“For me, my daughters, my granddaughters, my grandsons, and so forth. If this is wiped away from the face of the Earth, now what does it do for us?” he said.

On Sunday, Apache Stronghold will meet at Oak Flat with supporters and then run 80 miles to downtown Phoenix.

Next Wednesday, May 7, they have an injunction hearing at the federal courthouse, where a judge will hear their argument. For more info on that, visit http://apache-stronghold.com/.

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