Contributed Article/Courtesy SCAT
SAN CARLOS APACHE RESERVATION— The San Carlos Apache Tribe is challenging the legitimacy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rushed decision to transfer ownership of sacred Oak Flat to the Resolution Copper Company before the judicial review process has been completed.
“The federal government aggressively and unlawfully executed the land exchange before our legal challenge was concluded,” San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler said. “We will pursue all legal remedies to reverse this disrespectful action.”
A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge panel issued a ruling late Friday rejecting the Tribe’s appeal of an earlier U.S. District Court ruling allowing the land trade to proceed. Rather than following the normal process of allowing the Tribe up to 14 days to appeal the decision to the full 9th Circuit for review by an 11-judge panel, the federal government immediately transferred the land.
“The Trump Administration knows there is overwhelming public opposition to this disastrous copper mine, so it rushed through the land exchange to make it appear it is a done deal before we have completed our legal challenge,” Chairman Rambler said. “The consequences of this mine will be epic. We refuse to back down from this fight.”
Chairman Rambler authorized the Tribe’s attorneys to file an en banc appeal with the 9th Circuit requesting review of its case by a panel of judges led by Chief Judge Mary Helen Murguia and ten other judges selected at random for each case.
The Resolution Mine would destroy thousands of acres of sacred indigenous land, deplete massive amounts of East Salt River Valley groundwater, threaten downstream Gila River communities with one of the world’s largest tailings dams that is destined to fail, while giving Chinese-backed Resolution Copper access to copper for virtually free, which the federal government has concluded would be exported overseas.
Resolution Copper is owned by the two largest mining companies in the world, Australia-based BHP and London-based Rio Tinto. The Chinese state-owned Aluminum Corporation of China controls nearly 15% of Rio Tinto’s stock. BHP and Rio Tinto both generate more than half of their revenue from sales to China.
