A US appeals court ruling could allow mine development on Oak Flat, land sacred to Apaches

PHOENIX — An Apache group that has fought to protect land it considers sacred from a copper mining project in central Arizona suffered a significant blow Friday when a divided federal court panel voted 6-5 to reject a lower court’s denial of a temporary injunction to stop the transfer of raw materials. land for the project.

The Apache Stronghold organization hopes to stop the mining project by preventing the US government from transferring the land called Oak Flat to Resolution Copper.

Wendsler Nosie, who has led the Apache Stronghold fight, vowed to appeal the decision of the rare 11-member “en banc” panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“To us, Oak Flat is like Mount Sinai – our most sacred place where we connect with our Creator, our faith, our families and our country,” Nosie said. “Today’s ruling targets the spiritual lifeblood of my people, but it will not stop our fight to save Oak Flat.”

Apache Stronghold represents the interests of certain members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. The Western Apaches consider Oak Flat, dotted with ancient oak groves and traditional plants, as essential to their religion.

Oak Flat also sits atop the world’s third largest copper ore deposit, and there is significant support in nearby Superior and other traditional mining towns in the area for a new copper mine and the revenue and jobs it could generate.

A study into the project’s environmental impacts was withdrawn while the U.S. Department of Agriculture spent months consulting with Native American tribes and others about their concerns.

Apache Stronghold had sued the government to stop the land transfer, saying it would violate its members’ rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and an 1852 treaty between the United States and the Apaches .

The appellate panel’s majority opinion said Apache Stronghold was unlikely to achieve substantive success on any of the three claims before the trial court, and therefore was not entitled to a preliminary injunction.

The five dissenting justices said the majority had made a “tragic” mistake and will allow the government to “erase Oak Flat.”

Apache Stronghold, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, has 90 days to appeal to the Supreme Court.

“The destruction of a Native American sacred site is one of the most egregious violations of religious freedom imaginable,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior advisor at Becket. “The Supreme Court has a strong record of protecting religious freedom for people of other faiths, and we fully expect the Court to uphold that same freedom for Native Americans who simply wish to continue their core religious practices in a sacred place that belonged to them before the United States existed.

Vicky Peacey, president and chief executive of Resolution Copper, welcomed the ruling, saying there was significant local support for the project, which has the potential to supply up to a quarter of U.S. copper demand.

Peacey said it could bring as much as $1 billion a year to Arizona’s economy and create thousands of local jobs in a traditional mining region.

“As we deliver these benefits to Arizona and the nation, our dialogue with local communities and tribes will continue to shape the project as we seek to understand and address the concerns raised, building on more than a decade of government consultation and evaluation. ,” said Peace.

American Raúl M. Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, called the court’s decision “wrong.”

“Tribal communities deserve the same religious freedom protections for their sacred sites that are respected by every other American,” Grijalva said. “The court recognizes that Resolution Copper, a foreign corporation, will completely and irreversibly desecrate Oak Flat, but gives them the green light anyway.”

“It is a slap in the face to tribal sovereignty and the many tribes, including the San Carlos Apache, who are fighting to protect a place they have visited and prayed for since time immemorial,” he added.

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Daly reported from Washington.