Religious Leaders Unite with Apache Stronghold Against Oak Flat Copper Mine

In a significant move supporting the Apache Stronghold, eighty-five religious organizations have called upon the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court ruling regarding the Oak Flat copper mine. The ruling has raised concerns about its discriminatory impact on Native religious practices.

The religious organizations submitted an amicus brief, a legal document filed to provide additional perspectives to the court, on Monday, October 14. Their support bolsters Apache Stronghold’s challenge against a federal land transfer that permitted Resolution Copper to acquire land from the Tonto National Forest in exchange for other lands.

The proposed mine threatens to irreversibly damage Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, a sacred site for various tribes, particularly the Apache. “The federal government’s action here will prevent the Western Apaches from engaging in religious practices at Chí’chil Biłdagoteel—practices that cannot take place anywhere else,” the brief asserts.

A group of members from Apache Stronghold, which comprises San Carlos Apaches and other tribal representatives, undertook a march to Washington, D.C., to present their case to the Supreme Court. On September 11, they filed a petition requesting the Court to revisit a narrow 2023 decision made by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that had declined to rehear the case in May 2024.

The Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision on whether to hear the case by late December or early January 2025. Notably, this filing coincided with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It represents the collective voice of various religious denominations and organizations, including Methodists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Catholics, and environmental groups, among others.

The brief critically highlights perceived legal misinterpretations by the lower court, particularly in relation to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Additionally, if the mine proceeds, it would result in a crater measuring two miles across and over 1,000 feet deep, a scale comparable to that of the Eiffel Tower.