This week, a lawsuit from a pair of tribes challenging a powerline project in southern Arizona – previously thrown out by a Tucson federal judge – has been remanded back to a lower court.
Plaintiffs allege the Bureau of Land Management – under the Interior Department – illegally granted permits greenlighting construction of the SunZia Transmission Line, which broke ground in 2023.
The renewable energy project is supposed to be finished by next year.
The 550-mile route through Arizona and New Mexico crosses over the San Pedro River Valley – a region of archeological, cultural and ecological significance to Apaches and O’odhams.
It’s also home to the last undammed desert river in the Southwest.
“This is a very, very strong appellate decision – a big thumb on the scales of justice – in favor of the plaintiffs, and so it’s not just procedural,” said John Welch, vice president of preservation and collaboration at the nonprofit Archeology Southwest. “They're going to have to consult in much better faith than the BLM did on this project.”
The nonprofit is one of four plaintiffs, in addition to the Center for Biological Diversity, Tohono O’odham Nation and San Carlos Apache Tribe.
“Certainly for this project and probably never again – at least in the 9th Circuit – is a federal agency going to be able to pretend that a project doesn’t have those landscape-altering effects,” added Welch. “You’re not going to be able to claim with a straight face anymore that they don’t need to consider the landscape in which a power line or a pipeline or a road is penetrating and altering.”
A three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday plaintiffs presented enough evidence to conclude that the agency violated the National Historic Preservation Act. Still, this latest ruling doesn’t mean construction of SunZia will stop, nor that the tribes will win their legal battle to remove the lines.
“The federal government failed to work with tribes to protect our cultural resources as required by law,” said Tohono O'odham Nation Chairman Verlon Jose, with San Carlos Apache Chairman Terry Rambler adding “the only way to avoid the culturally devastating effects of this project is to reroute the powerline outside of the Valley.”
The San Francisco-headquartered Pattern Energy, which owns the SunZia project, told KJZZ construction is “complete,” adding the California company is “reviewing the opinion, and SunZia remains on track for commercial operation in 2026.”
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The Bureau of Land Management oversees more than 12 million acres within Arizona alone. And much like the rest of the West, it’s filled with public lands making up federally protected national monuments that hold unique value for tribes. -
It’s known by the name Velvet-Wood, and the project’s Canadian owner got the go-ahead back in May as the first to undergo an “accelerated,” two-week environmental review, during which tribes had only seven days to reply. -
The BIA, which is responsible for overseeing trust responsibilities with 575 federally recognized tribes, focused on reducing its own workforce through mass layoffs and hiring freezes within the Interior Department – much like agencies elsewhere.
