Urge members of Congress to co-sponsor Save Oak Flat Act

Tomorrow, April 8, 2022,  is an international call to action to protest Rio Tinto's inapproporiate mines and proposals around the world.  Please take action today via email and social media and spread the word widely!

On April 8, 2022, Rio Tinto will be holding its Annual General Meeting. Across the globe, this giant mining company continues to destroy Indigenous heritage, put communities under water stress, harm the environment, and loot resources.

This year, campaigners from Australia, Madagascar, Mongolia, Finland, Serbia, the UK, and the USA have come together to say enough is enough! It’s time for Rio Tinto to stop causing grief and misery to communities and the environment around the world. Add your voice to our call of international solidarity and send a message to Rio Tinto!

Please go to our action page for actions you can take.  

You can act locally by asking your member of Congress to cosponsor the Save Oak Flat Act.

And, you can act internationally by emailing or Tweeting Rio Tinto directly.

• To send an email to Rio Tinto’s Board of Directors and chief executives, go our Action Page.

• To send Rio Tinto a tweet, go to the Rio Tinto: Stop Plundering the Planet page.

Our action pages give you plenty of information about our fight to protect Oak Flat, but for more information about other struggles around the world against Rio Tinto, go here

Please ask your members of Congress to co-sponsor the Save Oak Flat Act to right a wrong, protect the religious freedom of Indigenous people, save an important recreational area, and protect the plants and animals that inhabit this biologically rich part of the Tonto National Forest.

The Save Oak Flat Act corrects Section 3003 of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, which currently allows the US government to give Oak Flat, a sacred recreational and ecological haven, which is US public land, to foreign mining companies.

The House version of the Save Oak Flat Act, HR 1884, was introduced by Congressman Grijalva (D-AZ) on March 12, 2021, and  the Seante version, S 915, was introduced by Senator Sanders (I-VT) on March 23, 2021.

Section 3003 of the land exchange was added to the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act at the last minute in the dead of night because the supporters of the exchange were repeatedly unable to pass the bill as a stand-alone measure.  

The Tonto National Forest released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement in 2019. It details some of the harm the mine will cause. The proposed Resolution Copper Mine would:

• * Create a crater roughly two miles wide and 1,000 feet deep right there at Oak Flat due to subsidence of the land.
• * Dump nearly 1.4 billion tons of toxic mining waste into an unlined tailings dump -- the preferred alternative tailings site will ultimately cover six square miles with a dam 490 feet high.
• * Use more water annually than the City of Tempe, AZ, a minimum of 50,000 acre-feet per year.
• * Permanently destroy about 16,000 acres of public land, state trust land, and private land.

Please ask your members of Congress to co-sponsor the Save Oak Flat Act:

https://org.salsalabs.com/o/676/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=23970

REP. ANN LEILA KIRKPATRICK

District: US Representative

PHONE:(202) 225-25422

SEN. MARK EDWARD KELLY

District: US Senator

Phone:(202) 224-2235

Fax:(202) 228-2862

SEN. KYRSTEN LEA SINEMA

District: US Senator

Phone:(202) 224-4521

Fax:(202) 228-0515

For More Information: 

Arizona Mining Reform Coalition Resoluton Copper DEIS comments

Arizona Mining Reform Coalition website page

Ask Members of Congress to Co-sponsor the Save Oak Flat Act

Please, ask your Members of Congress to Co-sponsor the Save Oak Flat Act. It's so easy. Click this link and in put your zip code and it automatically pulls up your Members of Congress and a pre-filled letter. Just put in your into and hit send. It doesn't matter what state you live in. It takes less than a minute. Please, help #SAVEOAKFLAT #PROTECTOAKFLAT from destruction. Please, we are running out of time to save Chi' Chil Bildagoteel.. Learn more at Apache-Stronghold.com

On January 17, 2019, the Save Oak Flat Act was introduced in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. The Bills would repeal Section 3003 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 and keep Oak Flat in public ownership.

Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) introduced the US House version, HR 665, with 29 cosponsors from both parties.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced S 173, the Senate version of the Save Oak Flat Act with four cosponsors, Senators Warren (D-MA), Merkley (D-OR), Wyden (D-OR), Heinrich (D-NM), and Booker (D-NJ).

The success of the Save Oak Flat Act is very important for the protection of Oak Flat.

Please contact your Representative asking him/her to cosponsor HR 665 and your Senators to cosponsor S 173. (If your Congressional delegation members are already cosponsors, please thank him/her for helping to protect Oak Flat).

Oak Flat is critical for the religious freedom of Native Americans and is an ecological and recreational haven. Oak Flat is located 60 miles east of Phoenix, Arizona and is public land managed by the Tonto National Forest.

Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest mining companies, wants to privatize Oak Flat to build a copper mine, destroying Oak Flat in the process. Rio Tinto's Congressional supporters had been unsuccessful 12 times over ten years to give Oak Flat to Rio Tinto, but managed to attach the Oak Flat land exchange to the National Defense Authorization Act in the dead of night in December of 2014. The land exchange, which would give Oak Flat to Rio Tinto upon completion of an "environmental" study, is Section 3003 of the massive defense bill.

Rio Tinto’s mining plan for Oak Flat is currently being analyzed by the US Forest Service with public input. The more the public learns about Rio Tinto’s planned block cave mine at Oak Flat and the associated 5,000 plus acres of public land that would be permanently destroyed by a toxic waste dump and other mine facilities, the more convinced we become that this project is not feasible and must be stopped.

- Arizona Mining Reform Coalition

For More Information:

Arizona Mining Reform Coalition website page
H.R. 665 (House Version) Cosponsors
Grijalva Save Oak Flat Act Press Releasehttp://org.salsalabs.com/o/676/p/dia/action4/common/public/…

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.