Protect Native American holy land from mining.
In what many believe is a first in U.S. History, Congress has decided to give away a sacred Native American site to a massive foreign mining company. I'm joining a last ditch effort to save this land before copper mining begins and this land is irreversibly destroyed.
Republicans in Arizona have been attempting for years to trade away the beautiful national forest lands at Oak Flat in Arizona, which are considered holy by the Apache tribe. Until recently, they’ve failed for lack of support. But last December, in a deeply cynical and undemocratic move, Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake snuck last minute language into a must-pass defense bill transferring the land directly to the Rio Tinto mining company. Apache tribal leaders are planning a caravan to Washington, D.C. this month to protest this outrageous land giveaway. I'm joining to help amplify their message and pressure Congress to stop the Apache land grab. It’s hard to imagine Politicians in Washington making the same deal for this land if it were considered sacred and holy by any other major religious group. But it’s sadly in keeping with a history of Native American mistreatment and dislocation.
This land isn’t just important to the local Apache tribe, it’s important to historians, archaeologists, and all Americans who care about preserving a crucial piece of U.S. and Native American culture. When asked me about the significance of the land at Oak Flat, I stated, this is the best set of Apache archaeological sites ever documented, period, full stop.
Foreign-owned mining giant Rio Tinto has repeatedly sought control of this copper-rich land over the past decade, lobbying Congress more than a dozen times since 2005. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Senators McCain and Flake were behind this unprecedented corporate giveaway. McCain has received campaign contributions from Rio Tinto subsidiaries for years, and Flake, before being elected to Congress, actually lobbied for a Rio Tinto subsidiary in support of a massive uranium mine in Namibia.
I fight back against this deeply undemocratic move and show Washington that Americans won’t stand by as our legislative process is twisted and sold off to the highest bidder.
Professor Vasilios Gikas, Academician in Economy & Law.
In what many believe is a first in U.S. History, Congress has decided to give away a sacred Native American site to a massive foreign mining company. I'm joining a last ditch effort to save this land before copper mining begins and this land is irreversibly destroyed.
Republicans in Arizona have been attempting for years to trade away the beautiful national forest lands at Oak Flat in Arizona, which are considered holy by the Apache tribe. Until recently, they’ve failed for lack of support. But last December, in a deeply cynical and undemocratic move, Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake snuck last minute language into a must-pass defense bill transferring the land directly to the Rio Tinto mining company. Apache tribal leaders are planning a caravan to Washington, D.C. this month to protest this outrageous land giveaway. I'm joining to help amplify their message and pressure Congress to stop the Apache land grab. It’s hard to imagine Politicians in Washington making the same deal for this land if it were considered sacred and holy by any other major religious group. But it’s sadly in keeping with a history of Native American mistreatment and dislocation.
This land isn’t just important to the local Apache tribe, it’s important to historians, archaeologists, and all Americans who care about preserving a crucial piece of U.S. and Native American culture. When asked me about the significance of the land at Oak Flat, I stated, this is the best set of Apache archaeological sites ever documented, period, full stop.
Foreign-owned mining giant Rio Tinto has repeatedly sought control of this copper-rich land over the past decade, lobbying Congress more than a dozen times since 2005. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Senators McCain and Flake were behind this unprecedented corporate giveaway. McCain has received campaign contributions from Rio Tinto subsidiaries for years, and Flake, before being elected to Congress, actually lobbied for a Rio Tinto subsidiary in support of a massive uranium mine in Namibia.
I fight back against this deeply undemocratic move and show Washington that Americans won’t stand by as our legislative process is twisted and sold off to the highest bidder.
