Oak Flat

San Carlos Apache Tribe Requests Court to Block Transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper

2025-05-27T23:14:30+00:00

San Carlos Apache Reservation, Ariz.— The San Carlos Apache Tribe on Wednesday requested a federal court block the transfer of federal land that includes sacred Oak Flat to Chinese-backed Resolution Copper Mining until the Tribe’s pending lawsuit challenging the land transfer is settled. Resolution Copper plans to collapse the sacred site known as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel in Apache into a two-mile-wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater. Chi’chil Biłdagoteel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. “The Trump Administration is once again planning to violate federal laws and illegally transfer Oak Flat to the two largest foreign mining [...]

San Carlos Apache Tribe Requests Court to Block Transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper2025-05-27T23:14:30+00:00

San Carlos Apache Tribe Congratulates Apache Stronghold in Federal Court Victory Temporarily Blocking Resolution Copper Mine

2025-05-27T23:24:03+00:00

San Carlos Apache Reservation, Ariz.—The San Carlos Apache Tribe hails a May 9 federal court decision that temporarily blocks the federal government’s plans to give sacred Western Apache land at Oak Flat on the Tonto National Forest to Chinese-backed Resolution Copper Company. “We believe this is the turning point in our 20-year fight to prevent the destruction of Oak Flat at the hands of the two largest mining companies in the world,” said San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler. “Our Tribe congratulates the non-profit citizens group Apache Stronghold in obtaining this historic court victory.” Apache Stronghold filed an emergency request to halt Oak Flat’s transfer while the [...]

San Carlos Apache Tribe Congratulates Apache Stronghold in Federal Court Victory Temporarily Blocking Resolution Copper Mine2025-05-27T23:24:03+00:00

Tribe Responds to 9th Circuit Decision in Apache Stronghold Case

2023-08-03T21:04:23+00:00

The San Carlos Apache Tribe (“Tribe”) will continue to pursue multiple avenues to block construction of the proposed Resolution Copper Mine despite Friday’s federal appeals court decision rejecting an Apache grassroots group’s lawsuit seeking to stop the mine on religious freedom issues. “While disappointing, the appeals court decision does not advance the Resolution Mine project one inch and we intend to stop this environmentally and culturally destructive project,” says the Tribe’s Chairman, Terry Rambler, “We will continue to relentlessly oppose this project in Congress, the courts and with the Biden Administration.” The Tribe, as well a coalition of Arizona tribal and [...]

Tribe Responds to 9th Circuit Decision in Apache Stronghold Case2023-08-03T21:04:23+00:00

Biden official tours Oak Flat

2023-08-03T21:05:48+00:00

Nearly a year after the Biden administration halted a land swap of one of the Apache people's most sacred sites to a foreign mining company, the U.S. Forest Service has begun a new round of tribal consultation over what San Carlos Tribal Chairman Terry Rambler called "the future of Apache culture and religion."  Barnie Gyant, Forest Service associate deputy chief, toured Oak Flat on Thursday and heard from Apache elders, representatives of other tribes, religious leaders and environmentalists about the sacred site. Gyant was sent by Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to lead government-to-government consultation with tribal nations in connection with the land swap, which would hand over 2,400 acres [...]

Biden official tours Oak Flat2023-08-03T21:05:48+00:00

Resolution Mine threatens groundwater supply

2023-08-03T20:44:05+00:00

The proposed construction of the Resolution Copper Mine would consume hundreds of billions of gallons of groundwater at the same time Arizona faces unprecedented surface water supply reductions worsened by climate change, hydrogeologist James Wells, PhD, PG concludes in a report released today. “If the Resolution Copper Mine is approved, it will commandeer a vast amount of the State’s water, leaving less for everyone else,” Wells states in his comprehensive analysis The Proposed Resolution Copper Mine and Arizona’s Water Future. The massive mine, proposed for construction in the Pinal Mountains 60 miles east of Phoenix, would consume at the very least [...]

Resolution Mine threatens groundwater supply2023-08-03T20:44:05+00:00

Letters of Support for H.R. 1884 Save Oak Flat Act

2023-08-03T20:43:54+00:00

Terry Rambler said he strongly supports Congressional testimony provided today by tribal leaders to protect the sacred western Apache site Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, also known as Oak Flat, from destruction by the proposed Resolution Copper Mine. “Today’s testimony clearly demonstrates that it is not only the San Carlos Apache Tribe opposed to this horrific plan that would destroy a location that is the heart of our cultural and spiritual beliefs, but that tribal nations from across Arizona and the U.S. are united in stopping this mine,” Rambler said. Leaders of the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona and the National Congress of American [...]

Letters of Support for H.R. 1884 Save Oak Flat Act2023-08-03T20:43:54+00:00

Op-Ed: Save Oak Flat Act Protects American Indian Cultural and Religious Resources

2023-08-03T20:44:30+00:00

By Terry Rambler, Chairman Congress now has a historic opportunity to protect American Indian cultural and religious resources and prevent destructive economic development by enacting the Save Oak Flat Act currently included in the House version of the pending budget reconciliation legislation. The Save Oak Flat Act (SOFA) would protect a 2,422-acre site known as Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, also called Oak Flat, the foundation of traditional Western Apache culture and religion. The sacred land is in a rare grove of Emory Oaks nestled within a riparian niche surrounded by spiraling rock formations on the Tonto National Forest about 60 miles east of [...]

Op-Ed: Save Oak Flat Act Protects American Indian Cultural and Religious Resources2023-08-03T20:44:30+00:00

AZ poll shows overwhelming opposition to proposed Resolution Copper Mine

2023-08-03T20:44:43+00:00

Nearly 75 percent of Arizona likely voters oppose the construction of the proposed Resolution Copper Mine that would destroy Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, a sacred Western Apache site also known as Oak Flat located on the Tonto National Forest east of Phoenix, according to a statewide public opinion poll released today. “This survey shows there is overwhelming support from Arizona voters across the political spectrum for Congress to protect Chí’chil Biłdagoteel from certain destruction if the current plans for the Resolution Mine are allowed to move forward,” says Terry Rambler, Chairman, San Carlos Apache Tribe. The poll was released as Congress considers the [...]

AZ poll shows overwhelming opposition to proposed Resolution Copper Mine2023-08-03T20:44:43+00:00
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