For Immediate Release, June 9, 2025
Judge Blocks Oak Flat Land Exchange While Lawsuit Proceeds
PHOENIX— A federal judge in Arizona temporarily halted the Oak Flat land exchange today while two lawsuits challenging the exchange proceed. Without today’s injunction, the public lands about 40 miles east of Phoenix would have been handed over to a private mining company as early as June 16.
“It's a tremendous relief that the court will prevent this terrible land exchange from taking place until we have the opportunity to review the Forest Service’s analysis and seek a more extended injunction,” said Marc Fink, the director of the Public Lands Law Center at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Trump administration has been rushing to sell out our public lands and destroy sacred sites and the environment. We look forward to having our day in court to defend Oak Flat based on a full record.”
The Forest Service intends to reissue a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the proposed Oak Flat land exchange and mine project as early as June 16, and execute the land exchange immediately thereafter.
Today’s decision enjoins the Forest Service from conveying the federal lands until 60 days after publication of the FEIS. The decision also sets an expedited briefing schedule for a more extended injunction while the case proceeds.
One lawsuit was filed by the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the other by a coalition of conservation and recreation groups (Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, Earthworks, Center for Biological Diversity, Access Fund, Sierra Club – Grand Canyon Chapter) and the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona, Inc.
“Privatization of these important public lands would cause serious harm by limiting access for recreation, including hiking and wildlife viewing, and to Tribes for whom these lands are sacred,” said Sandy Bahr, director of Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon (Arizona) Chapter. “We are glad the judge is giving us time to make our case against this land exchange and the destructive mining it will facilitate. Oak Flat is a place that is important to me and other Sierra Club members and supporters. We do not want to see it become a giant crater.”
The Trump administration is pushing the transfer of more than 2,400 acres of federal public lands to Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of multinational mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP. The purpose is to facilitate construction of a massive copper mine that would permanently destroy Oak Flat—a sacred site of tremendous spiritual importance to the San Carlos Apache Tribe and other Tribes in the region.
These federal lands are also home to endangered and threatened species like ocelots and Arizona hedgehog cacti, and offer invaluable recreational and ecological benefits.
“How is this mine good for the United States? The profits will all go to the two foreign corporations that own it, all of the copper will be shipped to China, and the mine will use a huge amount of water that Arizona simply doesn’t have to spare,” said Curt Shannon, interim director of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition.
Resolution Copper plans to cave in Oak Flat’s rolling hills, leaving a crater up to two miles wide and 1,000 feet deep by excavating ore 7,000 feet underground. This process would require massive groundwater pumping, deplete surface waters, obliterate sacred land, and threaten water availability across the region. The mine would also produce toxic waste spread across thousands of acres of public land.
“Access Fund is thankful that the judge provided time to allow the American public to review the Environmental Impact Statement before Oak Flat is handed over to a foreign mining company,” said Erik Murdock, deputy director of Access Fund. “However, we’re seeking permanent protection for the sacred land, natural resources, and world-class climbing opportunities.”
The conservation groups and the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona, Inc. are represented by attorneys with the Western Mining Action Project, Center for Biological Diversity, and Montgomery & Interpreter, PLC.
About the Organizations:
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
The Sierra Club is the most enduring and influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. Inspired by nature, we work together to protect our communities and the planet, and we amplify the power of our millions of members and supporters to defend everyone’s right to a healthy world.
Access Fund is the national advocacy organization that leads and inspires the climbing community toward sustainable access and conservation of the climbing environment. Access Fund represents more than 8 million climbers nationwide in its work to protect and conserve the land, fight for sustainable access, and build a community of inspired advocates. Access Fund staff has more than 100 years of public policy and advocacy experience and has permanently protected nearly 4 million acres of public land across the country and established climbers as a powerful voice in the fight to protect public lands. For more information, visit accessfund.org.
For more information on this history of Access Fund’s work at Oak Flat, read more here.