Something about Oak Flat just brings out the ornery in a politician. And of course that something is money and influence. Stir in a few long-simmering grudges, and you have a rancid stew that bares little resemblance to principled democracy or good policy.
Which brings us to Arizona Sen. John McCain. There existed a time, long ago, when the good senator was actually considered somewhat of a conservationist. This was a man, after all, who took on the Grand Canyon’s swaggering tourist industry by demanding a reduction in loud flights over the natural wonder. In 1987, McCain’s groundbreaking National Parks Overflight Act declared that “noise associated with aircraft overflights at the Grand Canyon National Park is causing a significant adverse effect on the natural quiet and experience of the park …”
Today, John McCain backs legislation to hobble National Park Service management of those same overflights. The senator “believes that achieving quiet within the Park doesn’t require killing tourism jobs or limiting the ways in which visitors can experience the Grand Canyon, particularly when air tours are the only means by which some people can do that,” his spokesman, Brian Rogers, told The Arizona Daily Sun.
In between these bipolar bookends, of course, Sen. McCain infamously helped sidestep the Endangered Species Act so the UA could build telescopes atop Mt. Graham. (More about that later.)
All of which brings us to Oak Flat, a lush woodland located about 100 miles north of Tucson, near the onetime mining town of Superior. The bucolic spot is coveted by campers, by climbers, and by the San Carlos Apaches, who consider it a sacred site. In 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower declared Oak Flat a protected area, safe from the threat of mining.
Ironically, it’s also long been an object of desire for two of the planet’s largest mining companies, the U.K.s Rio Tinto, and Australia-based BHP-Billiton. Through their joint subsidiary, Resolution Copper Mining LLC, they hanker to turn Oak Flat into the nation’s biggest copper mine. But due to staunch resistance in the U.S. House and Senate—including trenchant opposition from the Congressional Native American Caucus—a bill to trade away the Forest Service land to Resolution floundered for years.
So what do you do with widely loathed legislation that would boost one of your big donors (According to OpenSecrets.org, McCain is perennially the top Congressional recipient of Rio Tinto campaign contributions) and screw an old adversary—in this case the San Carlos Apache Tribe, with whom the senator has reportedly shared a long, bitter relationship? Well, you do what Sen. McCain did (with help from Arizona’s other senator, Jeff Flake), which meant tacking the land exchange onto a mammoth defense-funding bill virtually assured of final passage in December.
But to this day, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers still contends that the land swap enjoys robust support. “This measure was approved on a bipartisan basis,” he tells me, “and cleared by committee leaders from both parties, including by the Democratic Chairmen of the Senate Armed Services Committee (Sen. Carl Levin), Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (Sen. Mary Landrieu).”
In other words, so much bipartisan support that Sen. McCain felt the need for slapping it onto another bill, thereby dodging one more white-knuckle congressional debate.
Critics call McCain’s move a new low for cynical politics. Those detractors include Roger Featherstone of the opposition group Arizona Mining Reform Coalition. He says such tactics are disappointing, if not surprising. “After all, Senators McCain and Flake did what they were paid to do.”
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2015.
I once voted for John McCain and now I consider him one of the most underhanded politicians in D.C. He no longer listens to those people he should represent, unless you think that foreign corporations are “people”. John McCain and Jeff Flake sold our state to the highest bidder. Shame of both of them!
Let’s finally vote him out of office. THat would be at least 1 Republican politician in Arizona gone who is out to destroy our state. What aren’t they attacking that is sacred?
Senators McCain and Flake along with Congresswoman Ann Kilpatrick and Congressman Paul Gosar should be commended for the bold stand they took to ensure the national security of this nation.
Here is a link to a recent article by Daniel McGorarty titled: Got copper? New pentagon report spotlights key role of critical metals:
Link
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/238483-got-copper-new-pentagon-report-spotlights-key-role-of
Where is the Arizona Democratic Party? The only people talking about a challenge to McCain are the members of his party who don’t think he’s sufficiently right wing. I’ve yet to hear the name of a single prominent Democrat itching to take on this guy. He is at his most vulnerable right now, largely because he is seen as a scheming, self-important politician with no moral core. Democrats need to put a fighter up against McCain…and it can’t be one of the weak statewide candidates we ran against Ducey and Douglas last year! Once DuVal and Garcia figured out the kind of campaigns they needed to be running, it was far too late.
Come on you guys. Mc Cain is running for reelection. Demo won’t vote for him so he’s going to act like a conservative. Just like the Clintons they pander to a base.
Why vote at all? These politicians could start another civil war.
It is important to maintain protests from now on through election day to defeat John McCain, just like has been done. Here is a link to a photo essay about a protest in Tucson back in February at Flake’s office: http://ricardosmall.smugmug.com/PROTEST/Oa…
Where are the Democrats? I sure hope we find a good candidate but did you know the main reason we lost was so many Dems didn’t vote? Why we continue to do that in the mid-terms is beyond me. I got that information from someone who should know.
Demo lose support because they never deliver on their promises. Why do you think Clintons theme song was “don’t stop thinking about tomorrow?”
Quite simply? Their ideas suck and you are getting absolutely nothing today. Obama? Hope and change? Really? His change is hopeless.
Unless you want a nuclear IRAN.
Does anyone remember the last time John McCain was referred to as a maverick? He use to march to the beat of his own drum, but now he hears and fears other drums.
The “maverick” comment reminds me (as if I could ever forget), that “maverick” McCain, chose “maverick”
Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate. That single move will eternally compromise his legacy and credibility as a genuine leader. While I respect what he endured during his stint in the armed services I have no respect for a pathetic politician who sits on the laps of bloated, corrupt corporations whoring their money for his misguided political power.
We must do better. Get out and vote, make a statement in every election.
Senator McCain sold out Arizona years ago….to his Muslim buddies in the Middle East. McCain is absolutely guilty of Treason and Tyranny and it’s about time he be tried for such nefarious and un-American actions. BTW: McCain and all but, 2 republicans voted AGAINST giving better benefits to our American military veterans!!! SHAME ON HIM!! ABSOLUTE EMBARRASSMENT TO ALL VETERANS AND THE STATE OF ARIZONA!! CRUSTY OLD TREASONOUS BASTARD FORGOT WHOM HIS ALLEGIANCE IS WITH!!
John McCain is the “Uncle John” of the Veteran community. He turned his back on us and is a traitor. Jeff Flake does more for AZ than McCains entire office. Agree with me or not, Jon Kyle was a strong proponent for Arizona and accomplished the work that wasn’t sexy enough for front page news.
Enough is enough, vote McCain out, do it for the veterans and the troops who are tired of war.
I am a Democrat and I like Jeff Flake. I don’t always agree with his votes but I think he is honest and tries very hard. Now lets get some Dems in that have that much integrity and we have super winners. I wrote Jeff a couple of times and I really liked his answers… didn’t agree with all of what he said but I believe he believes in what he stands for. At one time I thought this about McCain … didn’t always agree but a man who believed what he said. Now I think he is corrupted…. big time.
Guardians, Flake is as corrupted as they come. He is also a politician to vote out of office. Read this: http://ricardosmall.smugmug.com/PROTEST/Oa…
Thanks Tim and Weekly for covering this travesty. I have been working on the facts and figures of water, loss of trees and a great place to hang out with nature for years. My latest report to Congress. (did any of them read it?) http://www.mining-law-reform.info/Southeast-Arizona-Land-Exchange.htm We have to mention Kirkpatrick (D) and Gosar also in the travesty. The Bill had been debated in the Senate 4 or 5 times since 2005 and had gone out of committee even once!
As far as the AZ Democrats, we had Richard Carmona, the best candidate ever, running against the “Flake” but Flake campaign swift-boated Carmona for a win. Voters don’t look into experience, but who has the most hype.
McCain, Gosar, Flake, and Ann Kirkpatrick work for overseas corporations such as Rio Tinto, not for Arizona!
These henchmen for the mining company want the public to give up a federally-protected National Forest site so that a foreign company can reap the wealth of America’s minerals. Please see this short video for a look at the landscape that McCain and company want to destroy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiME3XWEPjU
If Carl Levin is so eager to take land and sell it to the mining companies, he won’t mind selling his precious Great Lakes for a profit. After all, it’s only water! Let’s ask him and see what he has to say.
Thank you for the information on Flake. I was hoping there was one honest Republican. I don’t think I like any now. I also have been watching the the way Kyrsten Sinema votes(she’s a Dem supposedly). I don’t know how I saw her but she voted for the predatory lending bill on mobile homes(14%-15% interest) and one other terrible bill. She is Tempe”s elect but I am putting it out there. She’s not a Democrat. Her staff sent me a note saying that she is committed to having everyone owning their own home at a price they can afford(apparently that’s a mobile home). I said the interest rates were predatory and that was the same rationale used when people were put in homes that had outrageous interest rates which was one of the biggest reasons we had the housing market tank. Her staff didn’t respond to that. I just looked again and she votes with Republicans often. Pass the word. She needs to go.
And McCain is now floating a bill to waive all laws within a hundred miles of the US border for Homeland Insecurity to do whatever it takes to protect us from something…
McCain has never really earned anything. He is from a wealth pampered background and not fit to lead this nation. http://lasteelshow.org/main/?p=888
Many Thanks to the author who is the ONLY one who has EVER pointed out the bad relationship between McCain and the Apaches. It is high time someone addressed how McCain holds grudges and Hates the Apaches. And he gets paid for nourishing his hatred…easy money! Thanks for a great article. Also, I hear that this mine will eventually be sold to China who already owns a share…so much for national security.
This is what happens when people get caught up with materialism and that means greed and gluten on manipulations and hypocritical preaching to coax fake religious republicans to bleed this land. They don’t care of the out come,they don’t care for their children,they don’t care for their children’s children. The government pollutes our skies with chemtrails that have hard metals that cause serious respiratory problems, Ailments of all sorts come from these dusters in the skies. I saw this coming when i was young.I’m still somewhat young.but i recall seeing billowing clouds and bright blue skies.you don’t see that anymore. If we cannot get together and hardcore protest we will fail if you feel your heart beat hard over this major disaster.we need to get stoic!! Let’s get something going.radically like all these other riots.but ours will be real for real reasons, reasons that this is our land!!!
With all the courage of a modern-day Thomas J. Galbraith, Senator McCain has perpetrated the worst act of cowardice since the 1862 Mankato Massacre. I would like to see a full list of those who supported the Amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill. This could be a basis for thinning the Republican Presidential field.
Yeah, and Obama was paid too. He also received money from Rio Tinto for his presidential elections. Maybe not as much as McCain…. but nonetheless Obama did receive those contributions not once but twice. His administration has been surprisingly mum on this issue, and non-committal. Maybe the rider McCain attached to the NDAA may have been some deal with Obama to get this land swap through? Obama never objected to the rider. And he has been working closely with Rio Tinto Sam Walsh ever since Walsh took office.
This bill passed as a rider to a much needed defense bill. At least needed by the republicans and a privatized military, just like carrying weapons in national parks. Riders being attached to critical bills should be stopped. “On December 19, 2014, President Obama signed the National defense Authorization Act into law. The bill contained the Oak Flat land exchange. This particular version of the land exchange was the 13th since the bill was first introduced in Congress by convicted former Congressman, Rick Renzi in 2005. Senator Flake, who previously worked for Rio Tinto at their uranium mine (co-owned by the Iranian government) in Namibia, acknowledged what we all knew, the bill could not pass the US Congress on its own merits.
This is the culmination of 10 years of work by Arizona’s Senators and some Congressmen at the behest of Rio Tinto and represents a huge Christmas present for the international mining giant. However, the bill’s passing is a lump of coal in the stocking of all Arizonians. Senators McCain, and Flake did their best to subvert the will not only of Native American Tribes, conservation organizations, the Superior Town Council, and others, but the will of the United States Congress who has forcefully rejected the land exchange for nearly 10 years.”
As for McCain, he’s a disgrace. Even when he headed the committee on Indian affairs, he was selling them out. The billions that were owed to them for royalties went through court after court and they finally accepted a pittance. Several environmental and trade bills that I have asked the senators to oppose have been fruitless. In one Flake had co-sponsored the bill. It’s a disgrace and every new mine, every lost mountain or piece of environmentally sensitive land in Arizona is up for grabs. The Rosemont mine in Tucson that will dig deep into the Santa Rita Mountains is but one and it’s owned by Canada, formerly Australia. The uranium mine at the Grand Canyon, another foreign company, along with an Italian company that wants to put a huge development at the Grand Canyon that will suck up the fragile water supply, pollute further and generally destroy all that makes the Grand Canyon great. The western Shoshone nation has been fighting with the government for years as the government ignores them and steals their cattle for slaughter along with the signature wild horses and burros so the military can dump toxic material and flake gold companies can take over and contaminate the ground water with Cyanide. They were pushed onto these lands but then when value was found suddenly they are not an independent nation, and even the United Nations told America what they were doing was wrong, but hey they are only Indians and what does anyone know that should stand in the way of corporate greed. Makes me vomit!