Take Action to Oppose Resolution Copper Water Permit that will deplete our water and devastate majestic Oak Flat

V

First the good news...Governor Hobbs vetoed three more harmful energy and water bills that were passed at the AZ legislature along party lines.  

HB2063 exempt wells; certificate; groundwater use (Griffin) would have required the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to issue a certificate of water rights to those with exempt wells (35 gallons per minute or less) that register with the well with ADWR. This would have served to increase rather than decrease pumping.

HB2124 agricultural operations; water; protection; definition (Smith) would have required the court to award attorneys' fees for nuisance claims related to groundwater pumping. This was another bill to protect big pumpers at the expense of those harmed who may have few tools available to them to challenge the pumping.

HB2591 forced labor; child labor; prohibitions (Biasiucci: Dunn, Kolodin, et al.) would have prohibited public power entities, public service corporations, and public entities from engaging in or renewing contracts to procure land, electric vehicles, utility scale batteries, or solar panels from individuals or businesses employing forced labor or oppressive child labor. The bill also mandates that automobile manufacturers furnish certification ensuring compliance with these standards for contracts involving electric vehicles and associated components. While we support prohibiting all of those activities, this is better addressed federally for all products. This bill singles out a few.

Please call the Governor at 602-542-4331 to say thank you to her for vetoing these bills.

Take Action to Oppose Resolution Copper Water Permit

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has released a Public Notice that it intends to issue an Individual Industrial Recycled Water Permit to Resolution Copper Mining. The permit would allow Resolution Copper to deliver water obtained from the dewatering of their mine facilities at Oak Flat and near Superior to the New Magma Irrigation and Drainage District where it would be mixed with water coming from the Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal and used for irrigation.

Allowing Resolution Copper to pump the water out of the mine shaft and mix it with CAP water to irrigate crops and doing so under weak permitting, is just one more way this mine is harming the region.
 

Please sign on to this petition asking ADEQ to reject this permit renewal.
The Sierra Club will deliver the petition to ADEQ on May 7th.

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0438546

Tell Congress: Repeal the giveaway of Oak Flat, a sacred Native American site, to a foreign mining company

We must speak out now and build public support to stop this modern day Native American land grab.

The petition to Congress reads: "Support legislation by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Raúl Grijalva to repeal the Oak Flat land exchange and stop the transfer of sacred Native American land to a foreign mining company." Add your name:

If Congress doesn't immediately act, sacred Native American lands in Arizona that contain culturally and spiritually significant sites could soon be home to a Jane Sanders speaks with a council member Wendsler Nosie  for the San Carlos Apache Tribe at Oak Flat two-mile wide, 1,000-foot deep copper mine. In a secret, backroom deal in 2014, Republicans in Congress snuck language into a must-pass defense bill to give away land in and around the Apache holy areas of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a foreign-owned, multinational mining company with a shameful environmental record and history of human rights abuses.1 Now, two progressive champions in Congress are fighting to reverse this incredible injustice. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Raúl Grijalva have recently introduced the "Save Oak Flat Act," which would cancel the transfer of these lands to Resolution Copper.2  We must speak out now and build public support to stop this modern day Native American land grab. Tell Congress: Pass the "Save Oak Flat Act" and protect Apache sacred lands from copper mining. Click here to sign the petition. Foreign-owned mining conglomerate Rio Tinto, which owns Resolution Copper, has repeatedly sought control of the copper-rich Oak Flat lands for the past decade, lobbying Congress more than a dozen times since 2005.3 They got their wish granted when Arizona’s then-Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, both of whom had ties to Rio Tinto, ensured that the massive land giveaway moved forward and tucked it into the year-end defense spending bill. In addition to threatening historically and culturally important sacred Native sites, copper mining in the Oak Flat region would be environmentally disastrous. Apache residents and environmentalists are concerned that “since the mining industry is often exempt from portions of environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act, the invasive copper mining project could damage the area’s water - a resource many Native Americans claim a spiritual obligation to protect.”4 Activism to protect sacred Native lands and other sensitive areas from mining works. After hundreds of thousands of CREDO members recently spoke out against mining in the West, we helped to successfully stop destructive mining projects at Yellowstone and tribal lands near Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. As Rep. Grijalva put it so clearly, "Giving away sacred Apache land to international mining companies isn’t right, and everyone involved in this decision knows it." Let's make sure every member of Congress knows it, too. Will you join us to help protect sacred Native lands again? Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/oak_flat_2019?t=7&akid=31483%2E3130208%2EcehU98 - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Rupert Neate, "Rio Tinto accused of environmental and human rights breaches," The Guardian, April 18, 2013. House Committee on Natural Resources, "Chairman Grijalva, Sen. Sanders Introduce Bills to Prevent Mining Activities on Sacred Apache Tribal Land Given Away in 2015 Defense Bill," Jan. 19, 2019. Serene Fang and Adam May, "In Arizona, a controversial federal land swap leaves Apaches in the lurch," Al Jazeera America, April 14, 2015. Jack Jenkins, "Citing Religious Freedom, Native Americans Fight To Take Back Sacred Land From Mining Companies," ThinkProgress, July 24,  More information: What’s at Stake in Oak Flat? - Edible Baja Arizona  Resolution Copper’s plan for a copper mine at Oak Flat faces resistance from groups concerned about the mine’s potential impact on the area’s landscape and water.