Conservation Groups and Tribes Petition Court to Reconsider Oak Flat Land Transfer
Conservation organizations and Tribal advocates have filed a petition with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting a larger panel of judges to reconsider a decision that allows the transfer of Oak Flat, a sacred site in Arizona, to a private mining company. The petition challenges a previous ruling by a three-judge panel that denied efforts to block the Trump administration's transfer of the site to Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of multinational mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP. The petitioners argue that the transfer threatens the cultural, ecological, and recreational value of Oak Flat, which is significant to the San Carlos Apache Tribe and other Tribal Nations. The petition also criticizes the government's appraisal of the land, which undervalued the copper reserves, resulting in a favorable deal for the mining company at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. 
