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Buried deep in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2015, section 3003 calls for the expeditious facilitation of a land exchange agreement between Resolution Copper Mining, LLC and the United States government to create one of the largest and deepest copper mines in the country, spanning nearly 11,000 square miles of national forest terrain and penetrating 7,000 miles into beneath the surface of the earth.
The land swap specifically targets approximately 2,500 acres that are not already owned by the mining concern and which rest inside Apache hallowed ground known as Oak Flat in the Tonto National Forest in central Arizona. Considered sacred by the Apache and other First Nation peoples who still use the land they call
USA TODAY
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and environment news from around the Golden State and the country. In Palm Springs, Calif., I’m Mark Olalde.
President Trump finally conceded after a mob of his supporters overran the U.S. Capitol. Georgia continued its blue shift, electing two Democratic senators and handing control over Congress upper branch to the Democratic Party by a razor-thin margin. The Alaska National Wildlife Refuge was opened for oil drilling in a lease sale that saw a pitiful turnout. COVID-19 continued surging to unfathomable heights.
And we re one week into 2021.
For Immediate Release, January 7, 2021
Contact:
Randy Serraglio, (520) 784-1504, rserraglio@biologicaldiversity.org
Trump Administration Rushes to Trade Sacred Oak Flat to Rio Tinto for Massive Arizona Copper Mine
TUCSON,
Ariz. The U.S. Forest Service has announced it will release a final version of its environmental analysis of the proposed Resolution Copper Project and Land Exchange on Jan. 15, a year ahead of schedule. The proposed mine site is on Apache sacred ground in the Tonto National Forest in central Arizona.
“Oak Flat is far too important to be sacrificed for corporate profit,” said Randy Serraglio, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We can’t let a corrupt president destroy this precious place on his way out the door. We’ll do everything possible to protect Oak Flat.”
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Tonto National Forest officials will release the final environmental impact statement for the land exchange on Jan. 15. It’s a necessary step for Resolution Copper, part of the global mining company Rio Tinto, to be granted title of the nearly 2,500-acre area no more than 60 days later.
According to environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity, it’s part of a Trump administration pattern to accelerate oil, gas and mineral extraction on public lands before the end of the president’s term. The U.S. Forest Service, however, says work on the Oak Flat land swap merely took less time than earlier estimates.
Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
When President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, many tribal leaders took a wait-and-see approach, given his poor record on Indigenous affairs. Four years later, Indian Country has weathered a failed pandemic response, budget cuts and diminished environmental regulations.
Over the span of his administration, many leadership positions in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Interior Department were left empty or filled by appointees never vetted by Congress. The annual White House Tribal Nations Conference, held by President Barack Obama for eight years, ceased. Trump’s three Supreme Court justices include one with a solid understanding of federal Indian law and the U.S government’s responsibility to tribes, as well as one whose judicial perspectives are actively harmful.