To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Stop Congress from selling off protected holy lands for strip mining!
In December 2014 Congress sold the mining rights to sacred Apache holy land called Oak Flats in Arizona to an Australian-British mining company.
Why is this important?
The San Carlos Apache holy land has long been protected under a mandate of the Forest Service. The land has had special protections since 1955, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower decreed the area closed to mining because of its cultural and natural value. A large group of people from the San Carlos Apache have been camped out Oak Flat for more than three months, protesting the latest assault on their culture.
In December 2014, Congress promised to hand the title for Oak Flat over to a private, Australian-British mining concern. A fine-print rider trading away the Indian holy land was added at the last minute to the must-pass military spending bill, the National Defense Authorization Act. By doing this, Congress has handed over a sacred Native American site to a foreign-owned company for what may be the first time in our nation’s history.
This article was published in the New York Times Opinion Page on May 29, 2015: "Selling Off Apache Holy Land" by Lydia Millet
In December 2014, Congress promised to hand the title for Oak Flat over to a private, Australian-British mining concern. A fine-print rider trading away the Indian holy land was added at the last minute to the must-pass military spending bill, the National Defense Authorization Act. By doing this, Congress has handed over a sacred Native American site to a foreign-owned company for what may be the first time in our nation’s history.
This article was published in the New York Times Opinion Page on May 29, 2015: "Selling Off Apache Holy Land" by Lydia Millet