A three-judge panel heard arguments on Wednesday inside the Ceremonial Courtroom at the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse in downtown Phoenix over continuing a court-ordered injunction blocking a controversial land exchange.
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.
It’s been 140 days since the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals delayed the land swap first approved by Congress more than a decade ago — with help from the late Republican Sen. John McCain.
According to the law passed in 2015 — better known as the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act — more than 2,400 acres of the Tonto National Forest must be turned over to Resolution Copper within 60 days of a final environmental impact statement being published, which happened in June.
Plaintiffs in three different cases include the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, San Carlos Apache Tribe, and a group of Apache women and girls. Defendants asked for the injunction to be lifted, which could lead to an immediate public land transfer.
The judges did not say when their decision will be made.
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The House Natural Resources Committee met to review President Donald Trump’s funding proposal for the Interior Department, but Arizona Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva took that opportunity to talk about Las Playas Intaglio. -
Lithium is a key metal for electric vehicle batteries and there is a global push to find new sources of it. There is currently only one lithium mine in operation in the United States, but that is about to change — and drastically. -
A mining company is considering digging for copper on grazing land near the chapter house of the Coppermine community on the western Navajo Nation. -
The accident occurred about a half mile east of Highway 160 and state Route 98 near Shonto in Navajo County. This is the first reported incident since hauling along the 300-mile interstate route began nearly two years ago. -
A couple hundred ballots were cast by locals to decide a fitting moniker through a recent online vote. Al Ha’icu Ga:gdam — meaning Little Seeker — and Little Dot, or Al Doṣ, were among their choices.
