The U.S. Supreme Court will not reconsider the nonprofit Apache Stronghold’s effort to preserve sacred lands from a massive copper mining project east of Phoenix after the justices declined to revisit an earlier decision to throw out its case for a second and final time on Monday.
Court records show conservative Neil Gorsuch, who has taken keen interest in federal Indian law, stands alone in supporting the nonprofit’s plea. Justice Clarence Thomas previously joined him in co-authoring a May dissent.
Recusing himself once more was Samuel Alito, who has disclosed stock holdings in BHP, the Australian-based minority partner behind Resolution Copper alongside UK-headquartered Rio Tinto.
In a statement, Resolution Copper told KJZZ the multinational mining company is “pleased” the court upheld a split 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that a parcel of public land – known as Oak Flat within the Tonto National Forest – is not subject to religious freedom protections.
While on social media, Apache Stronghold posted it’s “deeply disappointing” that Mother Earth’s voice goes unheard yet again, adding the “fight to protect Oak Flat is far from over” since three more lawsuits are still pending in the 9th Circuit with oral arguments set to begin at the start of next year.
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Established in 1924 by President Calvin Coolidge, Chiricahua National Monument is known by many as the “Wonderland of Rocks” — home to its iconic rhyolite pinnacles, which are made from volcanic ash and lava eroding over time. -
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren made his third annual state address in Shiprock on Tuesday, outlining his administration’s accomplishments amid ongoing efforts to remove him from office before his term expires this year. -
That pending land swap between the U.S. Forest Service and a multinational mining company would result in a six-decade underground copper project that is estimated to create a two-mile-wide crater, devouring an Apache holy site called Oak Flat. -
Tribes are still figuring out how to start and finish renewable energy projects amid the Trump administration freezing or eliminating federal dollars from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, which directed more than $720 million to Indian Country. -
Scientists, writers, artists and others with an interest in the Colorado River got together recently in Moab, Utah, for an event called Rivers of Change.
