Support the preservation of the sacred Apache lands at Oak Flat and head to the Apache Stronghold Caravan to D.C. send-off rally on Tuesday, June 30. Wendsler Nosie, Sr., councilman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, and members of Apache Stronghold will be headed to the nation’s capital to demand the repeal of a congressional measure that recently passed, giving those sacred sites to a foreign mining company, which in turn spells their eminent destruction.
According to the Apache Stonghold website, the land deal, which had failed to win congressional approval several times, was only pushed through Congress by piggybacking it on another congressional measure:
The Southeast Arizona land exchange was one of the bills that was attached to the National Defense Authorization Act and passed by the U.S. House and the Senate. It is a bill pushed by Arizona Representatives Gosar & Kirkpatrick and Arizona Senators McCain and Flake (and prior to Flake, Kyle) which for over the past 10 years has not been able to get enough votes for passage in either the House or the Senate. The Arizona Congressmen could not get the bill to pass using the normal Congressional procedures. This is because the bill gives land at Apache Leap and Oak flat in southeastern Arizona to a foreign Mining Company, Resolution Copper without any environmental impact studies or without consultation with San Carlos Apache and Tribes that consider the area sacred. The last time the bill came up for vote in the House of Representatives it was shut down by New Mexico Representative Lujan who proposed an amendment to the bill that required that Native American concerns regarding Sacred Sites be addressed.
Members of the Apache Stronghold are headed to D.C. July 20-21 to stand in opposition to the land deal but, first, they’re asking community members to head to the Global Justice Center, 225 E. 26th St., on June 30 at 7 p.m. to show their support. The event is free, but donations for the trip are encouraged. Donations can also be made through the Apache Stronghold website, where you’ll also find more information on the cause.
This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2015.
Oh yes, do more damage to Arizona’s already weak economy by taking part in this senseless act!
Arizona desperately needs this and other wealth-generating projects.
Don’t be fooled by this sudden “sacred” baloney. Where are the supporters of Christian shrines on public land????
As for the dumb, red herring of “foreign companies,” why are we so pleased that Volkswagen, Toyota and other foreign companies invest in America — because they generate wealth and jobs. Resolution Copper will do both and in a most responsible manner.
Yes, those copper mines have done a bang-up job here in AZ
NJYD,
Even though I suspect you were being cynical in your comment, you were correct. Arizona’s growth engine for more than a century was copper mining. Today, it continues as a major contributor to the state’s economy and is an important source of employment, with thousands of Arizonans directly and indirectly dependent on copper mining. This vital industry can be and should be even more important if only allowed to grow.
Arizona; indeed America needs the benefits the God-given natural resources can and will bring once the “no development” types are out of office and reason prevails, as it must someday.
Cynical? Never! While I don’t object to copper mining per se; our mining laws are archaic to say the least; the company gets the land for peanuts, we get zero royalties while the extraction party lasts; then, we taxpayers get to clean up the mess when the party is over.
No; we can have copper mining, but done responsibly; with mining companies paying the lion’s share of the real costs, royalties to state coffers and on the hook for the mess they leave
Native Americans now only item 1 % of they land in the United States. This is protected land since 1955 when they started mining copper by globe,az and they made sure to protect it then. Find somewhere else to do your copper mining. Leave the 1% alone. You already took 99% of our land and our lives!!!!! Find another economic booster like bringing our favorites back from other countries and buying local.
Deb,
Copper mining started in and around Globe in 1881, not in 1955. The land was acquired through a formal land exchange whereby land of equal or greater value/public importance was traded for the area overlying this deep seated copper deposit.
Copper, like all natural resources, must be mined where nature has deposited it, mined responsible to be sure, but mined where it is found. Arizona desperately needs the economic boost that this mine will give over its 60+ year life.
I support the Apache effort to reverse this congressional vote. No, Congress does not have the right to piggyback a hidden decision to mine on federal land – especially when it denied this bill on two previous occasions. Do you really want a foreign copy mining in Arizona? Copper mining was once an economic boon in Arizona, but take a look at the copper mines left behind. They aren’t pretty to look at. Copper mining will definitely pollute water supply for all people in the area – at a time when water is an issue throughout the west. There are better and more viable options to grow an economy. This is all about politics.