Apache Stronghold returns to court to halt destruction of Oak Flat Coalition demands federal court reverse illegal transfer of sacred site to Chinese-owned mining giant

WASHINGTON – A coalition of Western Apaches, other Native peoples, and non-Native allies filed an updated lawsuit in federal district court today seeking to halt the planned destruction of Oak Flat, an invaluable Native American sacred site, by a Chinese-owned mining giant. 

 In Apache Stronghold v. United States, Apache Stronghold is challenging the government’s recent decision to give Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a Chinese-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive two-mile-wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater that would end essential Apache religious practices forever. (Watch this short video to learn more.)

“We will never stop fighting,” said Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. of Apache Stronghold. “This is a struggle for the soul of our people. Oak Flat is where generations of Native peoples have come to connect with the Creator and Mother Earth. We pray the court reverses this illegal land grab so we can continue those time-honored traditions.”  

Since time immemorial, Western Apaches and other Native peoples have gathered at Oak Flat, outside of present-day Superior, Arizona, for sacred religious ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else. Known in Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, Oak Flat is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was protected from mining and other harmful practices for seventy years until a controversial last-minute provision was slipped into a must-pass defense bill in December 2014.  

“The feds rushed the Oak Flat transfer through under cover of darkness because they wanted to dodge meaningful judicial review,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket and lead attorney for Apache Stronghold. “That was as illegal as it was brazen. The court should rescind the illegal transfer and protect the freedom of Western Apaches to continue worshipping at Oak Flat for generations to come.” 

Apache Stronghold has battled the mine through years of litigation, appealing their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Last year, the Court declined to hear the case, with Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Thomas, dissenting, and calling the Court’s refusal to hear the appeal “a grievous mistake.”

After the Supreme Court’s denial, Apache Stronghold’s case returned to the lower courts, while three other emergency appeals were still pending to protect Oak Flat. But before those appeals could be resolved, the government earlier this year illegally transferred the sacred site overnight, moving Resolution Copper one step closer to permanently destroying Oak Flat. Apache Stronghold is now back in district court seeking to reverse that illegal transfer before Oak Flat is destroyed forever. The Apaches have broad support for their cause: the mine is opposed by 21 of 22 federally recognized tribal nations in Arizona and by the National Congress of American Indians. Meanwhile, recent polling shows that 71% of Americans support protecting Oak Flat.

In addition to Becket, Apache Stronghold is represented by Professor Stephanie Barclay of Georgetown Law School and attorneys Michael V. Nixon and Clifford Levenson. 

For more information or to arrange an interview with a Becket attorney, contact Ryan Colby at [email protected] or 202-349-7219.