HECHO Supports the Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act Introduced by Representative Raúl Grijalva
Hispanics Enjoying Camping Hunting and the Outdoors (HECHO) applauds Representative Raúl Grijalva for introducing the Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act to protect a holy land for Indigenous peoples in Arizona that is threatened by Resolution Copper, jointly owned by two foreign mining companies, Rio Tinto and BHP.
“The Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act is critical to protecting sacred lands and would stop the siphoning of approximately 250 billion gallons of water from a region that is already struggling with a mega-drought,” said Camilla Simon, executive director of Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors (HECHO). “We are already exporting over twenty-five percent of copper that is mined in the U.S., and we shouldn’t be increasing that amount at the expense of depleting, destroying, and contaminating the precious water resources for wildlife and Arizona communities.”
Oak Flat, located in the Tonto National Forest just 60 miles east of Phoenix, is an area of environmental, historical, archeological, and religious significance, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP).
Resolution Copper plans to use block cave mining at Oak Flat, creating a 1.8 mile-wide and at least 1,000 feet deep crater and using approximately 250 billion gallons of water over the 40-year life of the mine, which is enough water to support 140,000 people annually for that same period. A 2022 technical report from the Bureau of Land Management confirms the devastation that this mine could cause to the water supply in the region.
Additionally, Rio Tinto’s mining operations have a long record of environmental disasters and human rights violations around the world.
“We strongly support meaningful tribal consultation, tribal sovereignty, and treaty rights. Chi’chil Biłdagoteel is the ancestral homeland of Indigenous people. They must have an equal role and the right to decide on the management and future of Forest Service-managed lands to which they have a deep cultural, spiritual, and historical connection,” said Simon.
The 118th Congress must act swiftly and pass this bill as a necessary pathway to protect this sacred site and respect treaty obligations, laws, and Indigenous communities’ religious rights.
Full bill text of the Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act is available here.
A fact sheet on the bill is available here.