by Pete Jones
DENVER, the United States, July 11 (Xinhua) -- A Native American tribe living in the east of U.S. state of Arizona for centuries is fighting the odds to stop a massive multi-national mining conglomerate from destroying its ancestral, sacred land, and may get a reprieve from Mother Nature herself - the historic drought gripping the U.S. Southwest.
"Arizona is facing a water crisis, unlike anything in our history," Terry Rambler, chairman of the San Carlos Apache tribe, wrote in an opinion article published on the Los Angeles Times last week, an intractable position that experts say could sway judicial review of the controversial project.
Rambler and a host of environmentalists, native American tribes, and religious groups are banding together to stop the project that "will leave a crater approximately 1.5 miles wide and a thousand feet deep," Henry Muñoz, a local resident and fifth-generation miner, was quoted as saying by local news outlet KTAR News in May.
"It's science fiction stuff," Colorado environmentalist Doug Graham told Xinhua. "It's hard to believe it's even on the table," he said about the mining campaign that will leave a nuclear-bomb-looking area in its wake to extract copper lying 7,000-feet below.
More prescient, with a historic drought gripping the Southwest, the mine's potential impact on some 40 million people in seven states, who rely on water from the Colorado River basin to survive, might tip the scales in favor of the legendary Native American tribe.
"Arizona Must Stop the 400 billion U.S. dollar giveaway of groundwater to the world's largest foreign based mining companies," Rambler posted Saturday on the website of Apache Stronghold, a coalition of Apaches, other Native peoples, and their non-Native allies.
The Apaches are a storied tribe, remembered like no other for their resistance to and armed stand against the U.S. government in the late 19th century.
Tribal leaders highlighted the gigantic 21st century water problem - the fact that the colossal mining endeavor will consume an estimated 250 billion gallons of water at a time the U.S. Southwest is parched and states are fighting each other in courts over the rights to the Southwest's aorta of life, the Colorado River.
Apache members also pointed to a June 2022 study by the Bureau of Land Management that sharply criticized the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) of its failure to adequately analyze the groundwater impact of the project to bolster their case.
"The federal government is already paying $1.2 billion to Nevada, Arizona, and California to cut their consumption of the parched Colorado River," Rambler wrote.
"To pass the seminal Groundwater Management Act of 1980, state politicians exempted the powerful mining industry from restrictions on how much water mines can pump. That decision is now colliding with the stark reality that Arizona is facing an economically devastating deficit in groundwater supplies," he noted.
"The 1980 law allows mines to pump unlimited groundwater without paying the state a dime. Based on current water prices, Arizona is poised to give away $400 billion worth of diminishing groundwater to the two largest foreign-owned mining companies in the world that plan to construct the Resolution Copper Mine 70 miles east of Phoenix," he added.
Rambler pointed out that "Resolution Copper estimates it will extract 40 billion pounds of copper, currently worth $3.80 a pound, for a total gross value of $152 billion, which is far less than the value of the water it will consume."
The suit, Apache Stronghold v. United States, was filed in January 2021 in federal court. After it was rejected by a judge in Arizona, the Native rights group took the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, according to local newspaper, The Arizona Republic.
Apache Stronghold v. United States pits the underdog and impoverished San Carlos Apache tribe against Resolution Copper, a British-Australian mining conglomerate whose combined 2022 revenues exceeded 120 billion U.S. dollars, a single-project marriage between Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and British BHP, whereby the USFS is set to trade 2,422 acres of Tonto National Forest land, including the Apache tribe's sacred Oak Flat area, for private land where Resolution plans to reap potentially trillions of U.S. dollars in profits.
Resolution says the mine will help create 3,700 jobs and provide 40 billion pounds of copper over the course of the project, and will boost state and local tax revenues by 88 million U.S. dollars to 113 million U.S. dollars a year. The company emphasizes that copper is a key mineral toward the Biden administration's clean energy plans.
Although initially supported by the USFS of President Joe Biden, at the end of May, the agency applied brakes to the project until an environmental impact statement is authored and analyzed. USFS officials say they're not sure when the statement, after being completed, will be approved.
Joan Pepin, a Department of Justice attorney representing the USFS, wrote to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the agency is conducting a "thorough review of the consultation record, and environmental and other associated documents, to ensure compliance with the applicable laws, regulations and policies," according to E&E news, which provides essential energy and environment news for professionals.
The Biden administration and the USFS will use this time to further consult with the San Carlos Apache and other tribes that have voiced opposition to the project," the Arizona Daily Star reported last month.
"There is overwhelming opposition in Indian Country to the Resolution mine and that will not change," Rambler told the media earlier this year.
But the multi-national mining giant is increasing the hype to push the project.
"Resolution Copper will be the most water efficient mine in Arizona - using fewer gallons of water per pound of copper produce than any other man operating in the world," the company noted on its website.
"Copper is invaluable to America's #cleanenergy transition. As a 100% recyclable conductor, it has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions," the company posted on Twitter last week.
Meanwhile, in just the past few weeks, public support for the Apache's cause in the form of donations has steadily increased on social media.
"Drinking water is one of the most important things on our planet and we are looking forward to hotter summers worldwide. Secure your sources!" Silvia Zeinoff wrote on the tribe's Facebook page Saturday.
"The water scarcity is becoming extremely hard on people and nature. Resources must be shared fairly. Once the country is destroyed, the damage can never be repaired. Even in Europe, countries like Spain, Italy and France are facing major challenges from the repeated dry spells of the summer of 2023."
