KEY POINTS
- The Apache Tribe is challenging a mining pollution ruling.
- The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in favour of Resolution Copper.
- The tribe claims the ruling ignores stricter environmental protections.
The San Carlos Apache Tribe is taking its long-running fight against the Resolution Copper project to the U.S. Supreme Court after an Arizona state court ruled in favour of the Rio Tinto-BHP joint venture.
This week, the tribe petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision by the Arizona Supreme Court that allowed Resolution Copper to discharge copper and other contaminants into Queen Creek. The project is located on federally owned Oak Flat Campground, a site the Apache consider sacred and home to their deities.
Resolution of copper’s pollution source classification dispute
The case centres on whether Resolution Copper’s plan to build one of the world’s largest copper mines qualifies as a “new source of pollution” under the Clean Water Act or an “existing source.”
If a “new source” finding is made, the planned copper mine would have to abide by the strictest Clean Water Act restrictions. After that, Resolution Copper would have to demonstrate to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) that even with more discharges, Queen Creek could still achieve clean water criteria.
An “existing source” designation, however, would allow Resolution Copper to discharge copper-contaminated water into Queen Creek without meeting the Clean Water Act’s strictest protections.
According to a report by mining.com, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality had previously classified Resolution Copper as an “existing source,” a decision upheld by the Maricopa County Superior Court. The Apache Tribe challenged and won in the Arizona Court of Appeals in 2022.
Resolution Copper earned a big win when the Arizona Supreme Court maintained the classification made by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in June 2024. With this decision, Resolution Copper plans to remove about 40 billion pounds of copper from the region. The decision referenced Resolution Copper’s plan to repurpose several mineshafts and tunnels that were initially built by the Magma Copper Company. Magma Copper built these buildings for an earlier mine, which closed its doors in 1996.
Arizona Supreme Court ruling sparks tribal outrage
In a statement, the Apache Tribe said the Arizona Supreme Court made “an egregious error” by ruling that Resolution Copper could bypass the most stringent Clean Water Act regulations.
“It’s absurd to consider Resolution an existing source when most of Resolution’s mining operations have yet to be built, and the copper lode is a mile underground and has never been mined,” said Terry Rambler, the tribe’s chairman.
“The Arizona Supreme Court twisted itself in knots to pretend Resolution’s mostly unbuilt mining operations somehow already exist,” he added.
In a separate petition, the non-profit group Apache Stronghold is also asking the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper. The group argues that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects their right to worship at the sacred site.
