Overview
- The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied a bid to halt the transfer, acknowledging the swap would destroy sacred sites but finding no viable legal challenge to Congress’s decision.
- Western Apache members filed an emergency petition Monday to Justice Elena Kagan seeking an immediate stay to prevent the U.S. Forest Service from handing Oak Flat to Resolution Copper.
- In letters to the court, the Justice Department and Resolution Copper urged denial of the request, asserting the transfer has already occurred and arguing the case is now moot.
- Congress authorized the exchange in a 2014 defense bill, trading nearly 2,500 acres at Oak Flat for more than 5,000 acres of other lands of equal appraised value.
- Opponents cite irreversible harm to a sacred landscape and risks to endangered species, while supporters point to projected thousands of jobs and about $1 billion a year in economic impact for Arizona.