Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jared Huffman Representing the 2nd District of California
May 28, 2025
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) released the following statement:
“The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the Apache Stronghold’s request to pause the Trump administration’s land transfer giving sacred Oak Flat to Resolution Copper is unjust, irresponsible, and a direct threat to the health, safety, and rights of the Tribe and surrounding communities.
“The final environmental impact statement on Resolution Copper will confirm what tribal leaders and experts have warned all along: foreign mining giants, through their subsidiary Resolution Copper, will irrevocably destroy Oak Flat, where Native peoples have gone to pray, seek spiritual cleansing, and conduct ceremonies since time immemorial. Oak Flat—a federally recognized National Historic Site—will be nothing more than a two-mile-wide, thousand-foot-deep crater once Resolution Copper is done hollowing it out. This will spell the end of the Apaches’ religious practices forever, just so foreign mining corporations can make a quick buck. Because in America, your right to worship is sacred—unless what you worship sits on valuable real estate.
“And for all the fearmongering about “national security,” let’s be clear: there’s no guarantee the copper will even stay in the United States. In fact, Resolution Copper seems more than willing to ship it straight to the Chinese Communist Party.
“Rio Tinto’s scheme to mine Oak Flat is the latest chapter in a long, shameful history of extracting wealth from Native lands while destroying the communities who live there. The Supreme Court may have turned its back for now, but the fight to protect this sacred place—and the people who depend on it—is far from over.”
Background
In December 2014, a non-germane midnight rider was inserted into the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that mandated the public land transfer of the Oak Flat area to Resolution Copper. Oak Flat is located in the Tonto National Forest and listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property.
On April 17, 2025, the Trump administration published their notice of intent to issue the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for Resolution Copper in 60 days, i.e. on June 16, 2025. The 2014 NDAA language says the land transfer must happen within 60 days of the publication of the FEIS – but the transfer could happen immediately after the FEIS is published.
Resolution Copper is just the latest example of a reckless foreign-backed mining project that disrespects tribal sovereignty and threatens our public lands with no guaranteed benefit to the American people. The mine is owned by multinational, multi-billion-dollar mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP. Rio Tinto’s largest shareholder is a Chinese state-owned company and the Rio Tinto has a long, disturbing history of human rights violations around the world. Resolution Copper has never guaranteed any of the copper mined from Oak Flat will stay in the United States and have no plans to build smelting or refining capacity for the copper they mine. Instead, they appear to be making plans to ship the unrefined copper to China.
Three different legal challenges to the land transfer and Resolution Copper mine are currently working their way through the courts. The Supreme Court decided on May 27, 2025 not to hear a request from tribal organization Apache Stronghold to pause the land transfer while lower courts decide their case on the merits. Apache Stronghold alleges the land swap is an unconstitutional infringement on their religious freedoms under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. The San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition with the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona have also asked the courts to pause the land transfer while their challenges to the land transfer are considered.
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