Feb 5, 2015 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
Saturday, February 7 will be a day of speakers, music, inspiration, and sharing to protect Oak Flat.
Please attend the gathering and to bring your friends, family, and colleagues.
Saturday will be a beautiful day in a beautiful place. It will be a great way to learn more about Oak Flat, why we are protecting it, and what you can do to help.
Oak Flat Campground is located south of US Highway 60, 4 miles east of Superior, AZ. You will see a Highway sign for the campground coming from either direction on Highway 60. Follow signs into the campground.
Background
In December, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law. It included the Oak Flat land exchange, which allows for multi-national mining company, Rio Tinto, to move forward on a proposal for an enormous copper mine. The mine would decimate a piece of the Tonto National Forest of Arizona, including the popular recreation area, Oak Flat. While the environmental impacts of this project would reach generations into the future, the absolute disregard for indigenous rights to the area has made the call to action on Oak Flat a moral imperative.
The land near the Oak Flat Campground is a sacred site to the indigenous tribes in the area, including the Apache bands. The new law allows Rio Tinto a run-around to avoid complying with indigenous rights to the land. Activists have been working for many years on the issue and actions are being planned this winter throughout the region to raise awareness and stop the destruction of this wild and sacred space.
Jan 1, 2015 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
On December 19, 2014, President Obama signed the National defense Authorization Act into law. The bill contained the Oak Flat land exchange. This particular version of the land exchange was the 13th since the bill was first introduced in Congress by convicted former Congressman, Rick Renzi in 2005. Senator Flake, who previously worked for Rio Tinto at their uranium mine (co-owned by the Iranian government) in Namibia, acknowledged what we all knew, the bill could not pass the US Congress on its own merits.
Dec 24, 2014 | Uncategorized
Please take a moment as 2014 draws to a close to make a charitable contribution to the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition.
2014 has been mixed bag for us, but 2015 looks to be a doozy! We need your financial support. Please make a donation to the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition so we can continue our work to protect Oak Flat, the Santa Rita Mountains, and Arizona’s many lands and waters threatened by inappropriate mining projects.
Dec 14, 2014 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
Yesterday, December 12, the US Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Defense bill contains the Oak Flat land exchange.
Please contact President Obama and ask him to veto the NDAA. This is our only step left to stop the land exchange from becoming law.
You’ve taken action many time to help protect Oak Flat and I’m asking you now to take action one more time to protect Oak Flat.
There are so many reasons that attaching the land exchange to the NDAA is a terrible idea. But let’s face it, RIo Tinto’s supporters knew that this was there last best chance to give Oak Flat to a giant foreign mining company.
Every day we were learning more about how critical Oak Flat is for religious freedom and environmental protection and Rio Tinto knew they needed to act fast. So, they buried the land exchange deep in a anrelated bill.
Let our President know that the NDAA must be vetoed until the Oak Flat land exchange is removed.
Take action now.
After you have sent your letter to President Obama, also sign a petition asking the President to stop this Apache land grab.
Dec 10, 2014 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
Rio Tinto’s supporters changed the language of the Oak Flat land exchange in an attempt to make it more palatable fortheir colleagues and to curry additional support when they attached it as a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act. The Oak Flat land exchange is buried the defense bill (Page 1103 of the 1,600 page bill) as section 3003. The bill has passed the House of Represenatives, but has not yet come up for a vote in the Senate.
One of Rio Tinto’s supporters even went to far to imply that the Director of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition is OK with the changes in the bill. He knows better, and of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The langauge changes are mostly greenwashing and are still a far cry from what is needed to protect Oak Flat.
We have prepared a fact sheet explaining why the changes in the bill fall far short of the mark.
Take a look at the fact sheet.
There is still time to contact your Senators and ask them to strip the Oak Flat land exchange from the National Defense Authorization Act. For more information about how you can take action, go here.
Dec 8, 2014 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining
Contact your Senators today to remove the Oak Flat land exchange from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
In a highly controversial move last week, the US House of Representatives buried the Oak Flat land exchange deep in the House version of the NDAA. For 10 years, the land exchange has failed to be become law for very good reasons:
- It is the only bill before the US Congress that would give a Native American Sacred site on public land to a foreign mining company;
- It would mean the largest loss of recreational rock climbing opportunities on public land
- And it bypasses the normal process of permitting mines on public land.
President Eisenhower placed Oak Flat off limits to mining 60 year ago and it remains an ecological, spiritual and recreational haven.
In spite of the will of Congress not to pass the Oak Flat land exchange, its supporters snuck the bill into the defense bill (Section 3003 on page 1103 of a 1,600 page bill). The language of the bill was changed, but is still completely unacceptable.
Please contact your Senator immediately and ask him/her to remove Section 3003, (the new number for the Oak Flat land exchange) and to pass a clean Defense bill.
Dec 3, 2014 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
We have learned today that the House of Representatives leadership is trying to add the Oak Flat land exchange to the National Defense Authorization Act as part of a package of public lands bills. Your help is needed immediately to contact your Representative and ask him/her to oppose the Oak Flat land exchange (HR 687) under any circumstances and especially as a rider onto a Defense bill.
The Oak Flat land exchange is the only bill in this Congress that would give a Native American sacred site on public lands to a foreign mining company, would be the largest single loss of recreational opportunities on public land, and would circumvent the normal process of permitting mines located on public land. The House leadership brought the land exchange to the House floor for a vote twice a year ago, but pulled it at the last minute because they could not defeat an amendment to the bill that would have prevented the privatization of an public land that is sacred.
Why is it that at the end of every Congress, Rio Tinto’s supporters try to sneak the land exchange through Congress in the dead of night?
Send a letter to your Representative to stop the Oak Flat land exchange now!
Dec 1, 2014 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
Congress has returned for a final session and some Senators may attempt to bundle the Oak Flat Land Exchange, S. 339, with other bills that deal with public lands.
Most of these bill are good bills, but adding the Oak Flat land exchange to the package would poison the entire bill.
S. 339 is a land exchange that foreign-owned Rio Tinto mining company has convinced Arizona members of Congress to introduce on their behalf, a giveaway of land that is sacred to the San Carlos Apache tribe. The bill would be the only bill in Congress that would give away a sacred site to a foreign corporation, would be the largest loss of recreational climbing on public lands, and would overturn a ban on mining at Oak Flat that was put in place by President Eisenhower.
This is nothing new. At the end of every Congress, Rio Tinto’s supporters in Congress try to bypass normal procedure by attaching the land exchange to an unrelated piece of legislation. They know they cannot pass the land exchange in the light of day, so they resort to these behind the scenes maneuvers.
We’ve helped to stop this bill before, now we need your help to do it again!
Tell your Senator that privatizing federally protected lands and turning them over to a foreign mining corporation without federal environmental review or public input isn’t right. Sacred sites, recreation and the sensitive ecological area surrounding Oak Flat are more important than a copper mine.
Tell your Senator to save Oak Flat from foreign mining companies!
Jul 16, 2014 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
The 23rd annual Mount Graham sacred run will take place this weekend on July 18 and 19. The run will start near the top of Mount Graham on Friday July 18 and arrive at Oak Flat campground late afternoon on Friday.
Saturday, July 19th will be a day of Ceremony and prayer to celebrate the sacredness of Oak Flat and Mount Graham.
The run is being coordinated by the Spirit of the Mountain Runners, who are native peoples and their supporters committed to maintaining a traditional Native American way of life.
All are welcome to come to Oak Flat Campground (just east of Superior off of Highway 60 — follow the signs from Highway 60 to the campground).
Schedule of events for Saturday:
8:00 Morning Blessing and Ceremony
11:00 Tribal leaders speak
12:00 Lunch
1:30 Speakers from all walks of life
4:00 Church service by Emmanuel Baptist Church Rev.
Mendez from Winston Salem, NC
7:30 Social dancing
For more information see the press advisory.
You can follow the progress of the run by going to our twitter feed @Save_Oak_Flat
Jun 24, 2014 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
The Arizona Mining Reform Coalition filed comments today to the US Forest Service (Tonto National Forest) on Rio Tinto’s invasive testing plan for their proposed tailings location near Oak Flat. According to Rio Tinto’s current plans, this is the only location they are actively considering for dumping a Picket Post sized mountain of toxic tailings should they be allowed to mine under Oak Flat.
The comments were filed on behalf of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Access Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity, Concerned Citizens and Retired Miners Coalition, Concerned Climbers of Arizona, Earthworks, Environment Arizona, the Maricopa Audubon Society, Native Youth Unite, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, Sierra Club — Grand Canyon Chapter, Spirit of the Mountain Runners, Tucson Audubon Society, John Krieg and Roger Featherstone.
Here is a copy of the comments.
Among the hundreds of comments were those submitted by the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, and the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona.
Jun 19, 2014 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
The US Forest Service has issued a call for scoping comments on a proposal to conduct invasive Hydrological and Geotechnical testing for Rio Tinto’s proposed toxic tailings location for their proposed mine at Oak Flat.
The comment period for this action is now closed. Thanks to everyone that took action.
Rio Tinto’s toxic tailings location is between the towns of Superior and Queen Valley and right in the middle of the Queen Creek watershed. The toxic tailings location would heavily affect Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a world-class botanical preserve.
In June of 2013, Rio Tinto (through its wholly owned and controlled subsidiary, Resolution Copper), submitted a plan of operations to conduct invasive testing of nearly 25 square miles of public land managed by the US Forest Service. In November of 2013, Rio Tinto (again as Resolution Copper) submitted a plan of operations for their entire mine complex at Oak Flat which includes an underground block cave mine, a processing facility, and a toxic tailings pile. This proposed action would allow the testing to determine whether Rio Tinto’s selected toxic tailings location is even possible.
The US Forest Service is calling for public comments to help them identify the issues that should be looked at as they move forward with the NEPA process for invasive testing for this possible toxic tailings location.
Incredibly, the Forest Service is not planning to include any mention of the full mine design in its analysis of the impacts of this project. It is absurd to believe that somehow testing for this tailings location is not connected to Rio Tinto’s full mine design. Rio Tinto plans to excavate a cubic mile of rock and ore from beneath the surface of Oak Flat. Unless they have a location to dump this mountain of toxic waste, they cannot mine under Oak Flat.
Please go to our alert for more information and for a sample comment letter that you can revise. The sample letter will give you a number of ideas that you can use.
Thanks,
Roger Featherstone, Director
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Go to the action page.
- Send/amend the sample letter at action page bottom.
Personalized emails & email subject headers make a much greater impact.
- For more information, go to the action page.
Thanks for taking action
Mar 15, 2014 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining
For nearly ten years, Rio Tinto has avoided divulging any real details of its proposed huge underground block cave mine under Oak Flat. Instead, Rio Tinto has spent their time trying to convince the US Congress to pass special interest legislation that would privatize Oak Flat and avoid most of the federal process for permitting mine on public land.
Last November, in an effort to revive their floundering 12 version of the Oak Flat land exchange bill, Rio Tinto bowed to pressure from both sides, and released a mining plan. Rio Tinto’s PR since the release of the plan has been “we gave you the plan, now give us the land exchange.”
