A federal judge in Phoenix heard arguments Wednesday from the nonprofit Apache Stronghold urging the Arizona District Court to temporarily halt a land swap between the U.S. Forest Service and multinational mining company Resolution Copper.
The Trump administration announced last month plans to publish a long-awaited final environmental impact statement – needed for Resolution Copper to access one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper ore deposits.
It could be worth billions – but it sits thousands of feet beneath an Apache holy site nestled within the Tonto National Forest. Meanwhile, the Indigenous-led group seeks an injunction as the nation’s highest court is still deciding whether to hear its case on religious grounds.
Hundreds shouted outside the Sandra Day O’Connor Courthouse: “Protect Oak Flat.”
“We packed two courtrooms full and packed the sidewalk outside the court,” said Naelyn Pike with Apache Stronghold. “I heard Resolution Copper say that they spend $11 million [a month] to maintain the asset. My religion, my way of life, my culture, is not an asset. … It is priceless. You cannot pay our people off.”
Her grandfather, Wendsler Nosie Sr., founded the group.
“I don’t know when we can have a case like this again, that includes all of us,” Nosie added. “This is the battle of America, right here for the future. Don’t be the one sleeping. … We just seen their weakness. They don’t have a heart. This is our medicine.”
Apache Stronghold’s legal counsel, Luke Goodrich, is vice president of the nonprofit Becket Fund in Washington, D.C. He asked District Judge Steven Logan to delay the land swap – which was approved by Congress a decade ago – until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the nonprofit’s petition that has been rescheduled 13 times.
“Now, we don’t know how this court is going to rule, but the court asked some good questions, asked good questions of both sides,” Goodrich said. “[That] showed that the court is listening, and we are hopeful that we can get a just result.”
U.S. government officials did not deny or dispute that Oak Flat would be destroyed, but stated there’s no immediate harm.
The hearing's sole witness – Vicky Peacey, president and general manager of Resolution Copper – emphasized that a 2-mile-wide crater caused by block-cave mining, just outside the town of Superior, wouldn’t occur anytime soon.
While on the stand, she explained that subsidence crater isn’t expected to start forming until at least six years after mining begins, underscoring that it’ll take the company a decade to construct networks of tunnels to reach the behemoth 1.4 billion metric ton copper ore body.
However, Goodrich stressed the opposite, arguing in court that “rushing” to finish the land transfer of Oak Flat from public into private hands may lead to an irreversible outcome not only for the land – but the Apaches and their ways of life.
“That is profoundly unjust, that is deeply evil,” said Goodrich, reiterating that the Apaches’ religious rights would be waived once Oak Flat is owned by Resolution Copper as private property.
Then, he argued that public access to the Oak Flat Campground would be conditional, based on the discretion of the mining company, which has insisted that the recreation area “will remain open for as long as it is safe.”
In a statement after the hearing, Resolution Copper told KJZZ it is “appreciative of the court’s time,” adding the company is “encouraged by the significant community support for the project” about 60 miles east of Phoenix, which could add $1 billion annually to Arizona’s economy.
Resolution Copper could get Oak Flat as early as June 16, but the Becket Fund remains hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court will weigh in on Apache Stronghold’s petition in July before its session ends. Until then, the Arizona district judge is supposed to make an injunction decision by no later than Wednesday, May 14.
