Washington, May 29 (RHC)-- The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up an appeal by Indigenous advocates who are fighting to block the transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, which wants to turn the site in eastern Arizona, sacred to the San Carlos Apache Nation, into a massive copper mine. 

By refusing to hear the case, the justices left in place a lower court’s decision that will allow the Trump administration to take the land and transfer it to Resolution Copper. 

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in dissent that it was a “grievous mistake” not to take up the appeal.  He wrote: “Recognizing Oak Flat’s significance, the government has long protected both the land and the Apaches’ access to it.  No more.  Now, the government and a mining conglomerate want to turn Oak Flat into a massive hole in the ground.”

[ SOURCE: DEMOCRACY NOW ]