#ApacheStronghold 'We Are Still Fighting'

Statement from Dr. #WendslerNosie Sr.
March 20, 2026

"Many of you have heard that on Friday, the Ninth Circuit again refused to stop the Government from giving #OakFlat to #ResolutionCopper for destruction. This is sad news. But we will never stop fighting to protect Oak Flat and each place that is sacred to our people. And we are still fighting—in the courts, in Congress, and, most importantly, spiritually.

In the courts, there are still four lawsuits seeking to protect Oak Flat. All four cases are still going. And any one of these cases could still put a stop to the Government’s and Resolution’s plans to destroy Oak Flat:

- In Lopez v. United States, on the day after Friday’s ruling, seven brave Apache women filed an emergency appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to stop the mine and protect Oak Flat. The Supreme Court could rule on that appeal any day. The women in that case can also ask the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its ruling in their case. The deadline to ask for reconsideration is April 27, 2026. That case focuses on religious freedom.
- In #SanCarlosApache Tribe v. United States, also part of Friday’s ruling, the Tribe can also ask the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its ruling and/or appeal to the Supreme Court. That case focuses on the Tribe’s rights, tribal consultation, and the inadequacy of the government’s decision-making process.
- In Arizona #Mining Reform Coalition v. United States, also part of Friday’s ruling, several environmental groups and the Inter-Tribal Association of Arizona can also ask the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its ruling and/or appeal to the Supreme Court. That case focuses on the government’s unfair appraisal of Oak Flat and inadequate #EnvironmentalReview.
- Apache Stronghold v. United States, which is our case, has been 'stayed' (or temporarily put on hold) waiting for the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, which came on Friday. Now that the Ninth Circuit has ruled, our case will start again in the district court. We will continue making every possible legal claim to protect Oak Flat.

In Congress, on Tuesday, Representative #AdelitaGrijalva introduced legislation to preserve public lands in the Chí’chil Biłdagoteel Historic District and fight back against the proposed mine. This bill is an important part of the fight to protect Oak Flat.

But even more than legally and politically, we are continuing to fight spiritually. This fight has never been primarily about law or politics. It is about who we are as human beings, religiously and spiritually. If we allow sacred places to be destroyed for profit, we are saying that nothing is truly sacred. We are losing something essential about our humanity—our ability to respect #MotherEarth, to honor what is holy, and to live in balance with the world around us.

That is why we are calling on all people to continue raising their voices, in prayer and protest, to protect Oak Flat—to protect the sacred. We, the Apache Stronghold, invite you to an upcoming spiritual gathering on March 28-29, 2026 at Oak Flat.

The legal system may try to reduce our struggle to questions of ownership and profit. But our connection to Mother Earth predates those systems. It is something each one of us is born into, something we carry in our prayers, our songs, and our way of life. No matter what the courts rule, no matter what the government tries to do, we will never stop fighting to preserve our sacred places. We will not lose our connection to the Creator."

Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/03/apache-stronghold-we-are-still-fighting.html

#ChíchilBiłdagoteel #ProtectOakFlat #SanCarlosApache #ResolutionCopper #Arizona #RioTinto #SaveOakFlat #CopperMining #Fight4OurExistance #SacredLand #TontoNationalForest #WesternApaches #ProtectTheSacred #IndigenousNews #IndigenousActivism #CorporateColonialism #DefendTheSacred #CensoredNews #ReaderSupportedNews

Golly, whatever could go wrong? 😖

New report from Dalhousie University shows flaws in the environmental review process for mining operations (projects since 1974) in Canada:

⚠️ data for 20% of projects reviewed was incomplete or missing entirely from public records

⚠️ incomplete environmental assessment data means 1️⃣ it's not possible to properly judge how a mine is impacting the surrounding community -- cumulative effects -- and 2️⃣regulators can't establish a baseline for measuring environmental damage

⚠️ more than 10,000 abandoned mines across Canada, continuing to pollute the environment with no oversight

Co-author of report:

"Governments should ensure they aren't watering down regulations when provincial and federal analyses are fast-tracked or streamlined"

#EnvironmentalReview #ToxicPollution

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/science/researchers-find-gaps-in-environmental-impact-assessments-of-mining-projects/article_e6a32014-6b2d-5db7-8ae4-c5fe4804ae14.html

Environmental Review of Sea Breeze Uzbekistan Resort at Charvak Still in Progress

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://timesca.com/environmental-review-of-sea-breeze-uzbekistan-resort-at-charvak-still-in-progress/

HT @UsagiTsukino

#Indigenous and Green Groups Protest #ICE’s “#AlligatorAlcatraz” in the #Everglades

Florida’s attorney general announced that construction of the jail in the #BigCypressNationalPreserve had begun.

By Stephen Prager, June 30, 2025

"Florida’s government has said the site will have no environmental impact. Last week, Uthmeier described the area as a barren swampland. He said the site 'presents an efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out, there’s not much waiting for ’em other than alligators and pythons,' he said in the video. 'Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.'

"But local #indigenous leaders have said that’s not true. Saturday’s protest was led by #NativeAmerican groups, who say that the site will destroy their sacred homelands. According to The Associated Press, #BigCypress is home to 15 traditional #Miccosukee and #Seminole villages, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites.

" 'Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,' Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress wrote in a statement on social media last week.

"#EnvironmentalGroups, meanwhile, have disputed the state’s claims that the site will have no environmental impact. On Friday, the #CenterForBiologicalDiversity, #FriendsOfTheEverglades, and #Earthjustice sued the Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. They argued that the site was being constructed without any of the environmental reviews required by the #NationalEnvironmentalPolicyAct.

" 'The site is more than 96% wetlands, surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, and is habitat for the endangered #FloridaPanther and other iconic species. This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the #Everglades #ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect,' said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades.

"Governor #RonDeSantis used emergency powers to fast track the proposal, which the Center for Biological Diversity says has left no room for #PublicInput or #EnvironmentalReview required by federal law.

" 'This reckless attack on the Everglades — the lifeblood of Florida — risks polluting sensitive waters and turning more endangered Florida panthers into roadkill. It makes no sense to build what’s essentially a new development in the Everglades for any reason, but this reason is particularly despicable,' said Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director and attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity."

Read more:
https://truthout.org/articles/indigenous-and-green-groups-protest-ices-alligator-alcatraz-in-the-everglades/

#ACAB #ICESucks #ICEKidnapping #GatorGitmo #Fascism #Authoritarianism #DeSantisSucks

High Court Limits NEPA, Adds Momentum to Reform Efforts

"Bipartisan action on Capitol Hill and a unanimous Supreme Court ruling may suggest a growing ideological consensus on the need for changes in environmental reviews and concerns about the impact of lengthy reviews and litigation on issues from energy to housing."

#Politics #USPolitics #EnvironmentalReview #NationalEnvironmentalPolicyAct #NEPA #SCOTUS #EnvironmentalReviewsNarrowed #Streamlining #NEPALimited

https://www.planning.org/blog/9313419/high-court-limits-nepa-adds-momentum-to-reform-efforts/

They’re “streamlining” NEPA into irrelevance. 🤬

“Scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Thursday, the new rules will greatly increase the discretion that each agency has to operate under the law. The changes could also make it harder to successfully challenge agencies’ actions under NEPA in court. And they have narrowed and reduced the requirements that agencies must complete in order to comply with the law.”

#EnvironmentalPolicy #EnvironmentalReview

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02072025/trump-administration-weakens-national-environmental-policy-act/

Dakota-Access-Pipeline in den USA: Der Kampf indigener Aktivisten und ihrer Unterstützer geht in die entscheidende Phase. Einwände zum nun vorgelegten Umweltgutachten können eingereicht werden. #DAPL #EnvironmentalReview #StandingRock

http://jungewelt.de/artikel/459052.html

In case you needed more evidence that our system of #environmentalreview is broken, the #SpaceX project that hurled chunks of concrete shrapnel into a protected habitat full of endangered shorebirds because #Elon didn’t think the #launchpad for the most powerful rocket in history needed standard noise- and fire-suppression systems DID NOT have to complete an #EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) under #NEPA.

https://open.substack.com/pub/esghound/p/spacexs-texas-rocket-is-going-to