After finally being sworn in following a historic seven-week delay, Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva is using her first legislative act to fulfill a campaign promise she made to tribes in Arizona and across Indian Country.
In 2015, her father, the late Raúl Grijalva, first introduced the Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act to protect an Apache holy site east of Phoenix by stopping a congressionally approved land exchange between the U.S. Forest Service and Resolution Copper.
A decade later, the fight still isn’t over.
That controversial land swap has been put on hold – until as early as next year – due to ongoing legal battles in federal court. Meanwhile, the new congresswoman is taking on that mantle by reintroducing her dad’s old bill.
“The bar is very high,” Grijalva told KJZZ. “Again, this is new to me, not new to the family, but new to me. I mean, I hear it – even from Democrats – mining is super important, right?”
“But none of the ore is staying here, it’s all going to China,” she added. “I find it really fascinating that we’ve had several resolutions passed against China, so that might actually convince a couple of Republicans.”
Yet the Trump administration remains behind Resolution Copper.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum even recently name-dropped the multinational mining company during at the annual meeting of the Western Governors’ Association – held this year in Paradise Valley.
“And hopefully [Resolution Copper] will get going again, because guess what? We need copper in America for all the electronics we’re building,” said Burgum. “And let’s get it here cleaner, safer, smarter than someplace else.”
As for the company itself, Resolution Copper told KJZZ that Grijalva has been invited to meet their workforce. They want to talk about her “highly concerning” bill that threatens to “undermine American national security” by eliminating hundreds of jobs today and billions of dollars for Arizona’s future.
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