Oak Flats are sacred to the West Apache. The Trump administration intends to approve plans to destroy it.

The Trump administration signaled last week that it intends to approve a land transfer that would allow foreign companies to mine sacred Indigenous sites in Arizona.

The western part of Apache is gathered at Oak Flat in Apache or Chilbidagoteel in Apache. This is because of sacred rituals that cannot be held anywhere else, tribal beliefs have been closely tied to the land. The tribe believes that the landscape, located outside of today’s Arizona boss, is a direct corridor to the creator, where Gahn (called the English spirit dancer, resembling an angel) lives. The site allows West Apache to connect to their religion, history, culture and environment, Tribal Member told Inside Climate News.

But under the ground on the Oak Flat site is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper deposit. Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, two of the world’s largest mining companies, and BHP, have accessed the site for decades to utilize what is called “block cave mining.”

This method, used to access low-grade ore, requires weakening the surface of the land. This will collapse at its own weight to reveal the copper. At one point, the proposed mine will create approximately the same size as the local town, 1.8 miles wide, 1.8 miles wide, 1,000 feet deep, 1.8 miles deep and 1,000 feet deep, approximately the same size as the local town, according to the project’s environmental review documents.

Three lawsuits against the project are still passing through court. Apache Strongholdv. UnitedStates, a Federal Court of Appeals Advantageous to the mines I sued I went to the Supreme Court by the plaintiffs more than a year ago. The incident argues that the destruction of Oak Flat is a violation of Apache’s religious freedom and is a threat to other religions.

The other two cases await a Supreme Court decision before moving forward through the federal court system.

Environmentalists, local opponents and members of the San Carlos Apache tribe have condemned the administration’s decision to move forward without a court ruling.

“The US government is in a hurry to hand over our spiritual homes before the courts control it, and hurry to erase Native people for generations,” Wendler Nosy Sr., a religious group that leads the battle against the mines and leads the former chairman of the San Carlos Apache tribe, said in a statement. “This is the same violent pattern we have seen over the centuries. We urge the Supreme Court to protect the blood of our spiritual life and to give our sacred places the same protections given to the most sacred churches, mosques and synagogues of the whole country.”

The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment.

Last week’s resolution decision to advance copper mines is the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to boost domestic US mining as part of the “energy control” agenda.

President Donald Trump has already signed this year. Presidential Order to rationalize mine permits When mineral extraction is carried out nationwide, the maximum use of public land that holds the necessary minerals is achieved. All mining projects of copper, uranium, potassium, gold and new minerals, elements, compounds or materials will be identified by the new chair National Energy Control Council Included under the order. One public comment period on the exploration plan of lithium The mines had already declined significantly, but A fierce pushback The public has encouraged an extension.

Mine brings “devastation and pollution” Opponents say

The news about the mine came in three lawsuits and legal filings from the US Forest Service Project Websitewhich states it intends to publish the final environmental impact statement and the draft land transfer and mine decision within 60 days.

The filing said that if the Supreme Court refuses to hear about religious freedom cases, federal authorities will move forward with approval of the project. It says that if the court hears the lawsuits and rules against federal approval, the government will reevaluate how it goes.

“Even though the Supreme Court is considering whether to listen to the lawsuit, the Fed is moving forward to settle the oak to flatten it to copper,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior adviser to the Beckett Fund for Religious Freedom, who represents Apache’s base in the lawsuit. “This will make the stakes crystal clear. If the court is not acting now, it will be possible to relocate and destroy the Oak Flat before justice is provided.”

Minerals like copper are important for everything from power lines to batteries for electric vehicles. And such mineral mines can bring coveted work to rural areas. But they often destroy local lands water.

The federal government’s first environmental impact statement on solution copper mines concludes that the project will destroy sacred oak groves, sacred springs and burial sites, “it will be difficult for those people to explain.” That’s probably true too Use as much water as possible Every year, it is home to Arizona State University and is Tempe City with 185,000 people. It draws water from the same thing Tap out aquatic layer The Phoenix Metro area is dependent and Arizona prohibits any further extraction except for exempt use like mines.

The proposed mine also leaves a 500-foot-high mine mountain filled with 1.5 billion tons of toxic waste that must be constantly maintained to prevent the spread of pollution.

Great town leaders support the mines, but not all local leaders support it. Henry Munoz said he was a lifelong miner who worked at the town’s previous copper mines until it was closed, and is now chairman of the citizens involved and retired miners, but said the administration’s decision was premature, but it was “a money story in Washington.”

One of the National Mining Associations Top priority We are moving forward with a stalled project.

“Rio Tinto and BHP, they have billions and billions of dollars,” Munoz said. “They couldn’t care much about the environment, people’s health and safety. Money is motivation.”

In a statement, Vicky Peacey, general manager of Resolution Copper, said the Forest Service was “encouraged to hear” that it was underway with the project.

“This world-class mining project could become one of America’s largest copper mines, bringing $1 billion a year to Arizona’s economy and creating thousands of local jobs in rural Arizona, where mining has played a vital role for over a century,” she said. “10 years of feedback from our local communities and Native American tribes have shaped this project at every stage. We are continuing to be committed to maintaining open dialogue to ensure that the Resolving Copper Project is responsible and sustainable as we move to the next stage of the permitting process.”

According to Muñoz, all the impact of the project is public and can be read by the public. Hundreds of pages of authorization documents. He could liken the public messaging of the solution project to the devil and tell someone not to read the Bible. In this case, he said, the public will recognize that the project is not the best interest of Americans.

“They’re talking about my life for 40 years,” Munoz said. “We’ll be like every other former mining town. There’s a big old toxic toilet on the hill, and we have that big waste dump, and we’ll waste 250 billion gallons of water for American taxpayers, for the benefit of two foreign mining.

A decades of battle

Since the 1950s, Oak Flat has been under the jurisdiction of the US Forest Service and has been listed in a national historic location. For years, lawmakers have pushed for making land available for mining through land transfers. There, companies usually provide environmentally important land they own in exchange for land suitable for extraction, but are not available for development.

Each attempt failed until 2014, when Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake attached last-minute riders to that year’s defense bill, which required the transfer of Oak Flat to copper resolution. The move launched one of the most controversial and prominent environmental battles in the country as San Carlos Apache and the environmentalists fight to stop the transfer and save the sacred land.

Copper with land resolution is exchanged for oak flats. It contains ancient mesquite forests in the San Pedro Valley in southern Arizona, near the town of Mammoth. That 3,000-acre site is treasured by birders, but transfer critics say the site is not enough to make up for Oak Flat’s losses.

Two other cases regarding the mine that pass through the court system after the Apache base case reaches a final resolution include cases from the San Carlos Apache tribe, who claims that the land still belongs to the Apache tribe, under a treaty between the tribe and the US government.

Other lawsuits filed by the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, the Center for Biodiversity, Earthworks, the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, and the Arizona Interstate Association, alleged that the Forest Service failed to analyze and mitigate the potential damage to the proposed mine, and involve the environment and multiple laws and regulations.

“If we destroy this once,” Munoz asked the Orc flat, “What did we leave behind?”