August 17, 2021 UPDATED: April 22, 2022
To Members of Congress:
The undersigned 112 religious and religious freedom organizations write today requesting your support for the Save Oak Flat Act, which would prevent Resolution Copper (a joint venture of two foreign mining companies) from altering the status quo and permanently destroying a sacred sanctuary.
Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, loosely translated as “Oak Flat” in English, is part of the ancestral homelands of not only the Apache, but also the Yavapai, Hopi, Zuni, and many other Tribes in the Southwest. In 2016, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property because for centuries it has been the site of religious and cultural ceremonies, a burial ground, and a place for tribal members to find medicinal plants, food, and water. Just as the Abrahamic faiths hold various parts of Jerusalem as sacred because of unique encounters with G-d, the Apache believe Oak Flat is sacred because it is one place where prayers can go directly to the Creator who gave life to all things.
Once part of the Apache aboriginal lands, Oak Flat currently sits within the Tonto National Forest and on top of a large, low-grade copper deposit. Resolution Copper has sought access to the mineral ore for more than 15 years. 1 After a decade of failing to get a standalone bill through Congress, a land swap was added as a midnight rider to the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (NDAA). Section 3003 of this NDAA requires that Resolution Copper be given Oak Flat and surrounding land in exchange for other parcels of land within sixty (60) days after the Forest Service files a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The Trump administration released the FEIS on January 15, 2021, in order to start the sixty (60) day clock, but the Biden administration withdrew it on March 1, 2021, resetting the transfer clock.
The now-withdrawn FEIS found that the damage to Oak Flat and the surrounding area would be “immediate, permanent, and large in scale.”2 The crater that is anticipated as a result of the mining would be nearly two miles wide and up to 1,100 feet deep.3 To put a crater of that size into perspective, imagine standing on the Speaker’s Balcony and looking out over the National Mall. A crater extending almost to the Lincoln Memorial has swallowed America’s front yard and many of our most important museums and monuments. It is deep enough that if the Washington Monument stands upright at the bottom, it barely reaches the midway depth of the crater.
The now-withdrawn FEIS summarizes well what is at stake: “Oak Flat is a sacred place to the Western Apache, Yavapai, O’odham, Hopi, and Zuni. It is a place where rituals are performed, and resources are gathered; its loss would be an indescribable hardship to those peoples.”4
The significance of corporate worship for religious Americans became even more apparent during the pandemic. Many houses of worship temporarily adopted new worship practices to help curb the spread of the coronavirus in their communities. Whether the adaptation was a virtual service, outdoor service, or something in person with masks and proper social distancing, everyone eagerly anticipated the day they could go back to normal to resume worship with fellow believers. Unfortunately for tribal members who hold Oak Flat sacred, the separation from their outdoor sanctuary would not be temporary. If the administration and Congress fail to work together to protect Oak Flat, the Western Apache peoples will suffer the permanent closure and total destruction of their sacred site.
As religious and religious freedom organizations, we support the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Western Apache tribes, and all others who hold Oak Flat as sacred. We hope you will join us by supporting the Save Oak Flat Act (H.R. 1884/S. 915).
Sincerely,
[click/tap here for PDF of letter including the 112 organizations, including AFN]
1 The Eisenhower Administration entered a mineral withdrawal for Oak Flat which prohibits new mining for the area in 1955. Public Land Order 1229 signed Sept. 27, 1955, https://www.resolutionmineeis.us/documents/20-fr-7336 (last accessed June 23, 2021).
2 “Final Environmental Impact Statement Resolution Copper Project and Land Exchange,” Vol. III, 3.14.4.9, p. 856, https://www.resolutionmineeis.us/documents/final-eis (last accessed June 23, 2021).
3 Id., Vol. I, ES 1.2, p. ES-3: “While all mining would be conducted underground, removing the ore would cause the ground surface to collapse, creating a subsidence area at the Oak Flat Federal Parcel. The crater would start to appear in year 6 of active mining. The crater ultimately would be between 800 and 1,115 feet deep and roughly 1.8 miles across. The Forest Service assessed alternative mining techniques in an effort to prevent subsidence, but alternative methods were considered unreasonable.”
4 Id., Vol. III, 3.14.4.2, p. 837.