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John,
The Biden administration will be deciding soon whether to follow-through with a Trump-era fast-tracked mining project on Native land, known as Oak Flat in Arizona's Tonto National Forest.
In the late 1800s, Indigenous peoples were forcibly removed from Oak Flat at gunpoint by the U.S. Calvary and made prisoners of war for decades, but their connection to Oak Flat has never lapsed.
Native people still hold ceremonies at Oak Flat, pray, and connect with the Earth there.
When U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack publishes a Final Environmental Impact Statement, this sacred land will be handed over to Rio Tinto Resolution Copper Mining, a UK-Australian mining company notorious for polluting Papua New Guinea, causing an environmental disaster in Brazil that left 19 dead, and blowing up Juukan Gorge, a historically significant 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site.
Arizona tribes are overwhelmingly opposed to the disastrous mining project and have not been consulted by the federal government.
San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler said, “This is a serious breach of trust not only with the San Carlos Apache Tribe but with all Native American communities across the country.”
Sign now to demand Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack withhold the Final Environmental Impact Statement and protect Oak Flat for generations to come.
If it proceeds, this mining operation will completely destroy a high desert oasis considered sacred by multiple Indigenous tribes. But this deal is not done, yet!
Take action today to tell Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack to protect Oak Flat.
Thank you for defending this cherished space for generations to come.
In solidarity,
Rashida
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