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| Apache Leap. Image credit unknown. |
Today is a day that some folks celebrate as a holiday. They call it "Columbus Day." Me? I call it "European Invaders' Day," and I don't celebrate it.
I do, however, use this day to remember - and to remind myself that it can happen again. And it is.
The latest episode is one state over, in Arizona. And it literally involves European (and Australian) corporate invaders, attempting once again to strip tribes of sacred lands and resources, while plundering, pillaging, and despoiling the environment.
We explored a little of this in last week's EcoJustice with the sordid histories of the two transnationals behind this latest effort, BHP Billiton and the Rio Tinto Group. Tonight, we're going to delve into their joint faux "American" operation: The Resolution Project.
And it's going to get ugly.
First, an editorial note: This diary will not be full of the linky equivalent of virtual footnotes. Real life has intervened and overtaken me the last couple of days, and I haven't had the time to devote to this diary that I normally would have. It's also not written as a "reported" piece, which is to say that it is full of my own opinions and editorial slant on these issues. That's not an apology; merely a statement of fact.
Second, a brief recap: Last Monday's edition of EcoJustice brought you the story of Apache Leap: its time-honored history; its role as a sacred space for a number of tribes; and the current effort to destroy it to satisfy insatiable human greed.
That diary explored the records of the two transnational firms behind this effort, BHP Billiton and the Rio Tinto Group. Tonight's diary will cover their joint venture, Resolution Copper, and what it is euphemistically calling "The Resolution Project" - as though it were some humanitarian effort to better peoples' lives. In reality "The Resolution Project" is just yet one more entry in the squalid, sordid history of the rape, plunder, and theft of sacred tribal lands and a fragile, delicately-balanced ecosystem - to line the pockets of non-Native corporate executives.
Finally, there is, however, one bit of good news since last week: Kossack RLMiller has been in contact with the office of Rep. Raúl Grijalva over this issue, and reports that a member of Rep. Grijalva's staff has indicated that the Congressman will block HR 2509/S 409, in all likelihood effectively killing the bill for this session. The bill will be back, zombie-like, in the next session, of course, but for now, it appears that its immediate usefulness in the midterm elections is gone.
Now, on to The Resolution Project.
RESOLUTION COPPER MINING
After wading through Resolution Copper's Web site, I felt sick. It's rather like a trip through an Orwellian version of a carnival funhouse, with the distorting mirrors and disorienting strobe lights playing tricks on your mind, telling you that it sees what can't possibly be. By the time you emerge into the sunlight, you're so dizzy and hallucinatory from the artificial effects that ordinary light gives you a migraine and leaves you an inch away from throwing up.
It's propaganda, from start to finish. It's slickly done; I'll give them that. But the entire thing turns reality on its head.
Let's take a little tour, shall we?
The site's main page is centered around a photo of an Arizona mine site, with a legend at the bottom that reads:
Resolution Copper Mining:At left is a clickable image entitled "Sustainable Development," inviting you to "See Our Sustainable Development Report"; at right is a menu labeled "What's New." Beneath that header are three links:
People Planet Prosperity.
- "Resolution Copper Sponsors FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Team in Superior";
- "Resolution Copper Announces Third Quarter 2010 Charitable Donation Recipients"; and
- "Resolution Copper Recycles for Charity."
Great corporate citizens and environmental stewards, right?
Not even close. Nonetheless . . . .
On the upper navigation bar, the first tab is labeled "Who We Are." Click on it, and you're taken straight to the first subject under that section, "Project Profile." The left-hand navigation bar for that section, unlike the rest of the page content, is in two shades of green — get it? Green! We're green[washing]!
So what does "The Project" tell us? It tells us that the land swap is, in Resolution Copper's corporate mind, anyway, a done deal:
The Resolution Project is located in the historic Pioneer Mining District, three miles east of Superior, Arizona. Exploration from 2001 to 2003 indicates what may be one of the largest copper ore bodies ever found in North America and possibly worldwide. The ore body rests more than a mile below the surface. In May 2008, Rio Tinto, Resolution Copper's parent company, announced that Resolution Copper had completed sufficient drilling on the deposit to report an Inferred Resource* (see footnote) of 1.34 billion tonnes, containing 1.51 percent copper and 0.040 percent molybdenum.Note, please, the choice of verb throughout: Will, will, will. As in: This is going to happen, folks, so stand back and let us do our thing. After all, we only have your best interests at heart. And, indeed, they've long since placed ads on various headhunting sites around the Web, looking for employees for their fâit-accompli "Project."
. . .
The copper ore will be mined using a method known as panel caving, a subset of block caving. Unlike an open pit mine, which involves extensive removal of the surface waste rock to access the ore body, this method accesses the ore from underneath through a series of deep shafts and tunnels. These shafts and tunnels generate minimal waste rock. Waste rock that is generated will be used for reclaiming and restoring the adjacent site of the former Magma mine.
And by the way: The exploratory drilling activities are bad enough, but the dewatering of the old Magma mine will damage the habitat, and the panel caving method of mining will be even worse. Among the other risks of panel, or block, caving is that of extreme subsidence - and risks to the miners themselves evoke the spectre of the retreat mining responsible for the deaths of the Crandall Canyon miners some three [as of this posting, now seven] years ago.
HISTORY OF THE LAND
The land after which Resolution Copper lusts so greedily includes three major areas: Apache Leap, Devil's Canyon, and Oak Flat. All three include areas that are sacred to area tribes, but perhaps the most affecting bit of history surrounds Apache Leap. As I noted last week:
The elders tell of a time when invading U.S. soldiers sought to abduct the Apache people, herd them onto reservations, and steal their land. The people fought valiantly, but were woefully outnumbered. When the end came, the Apache warriors chose to retain their honor rather than surrender to thieves and thugs: They leapt off the peak to their deaths below, joining the spirits of their ancestors and depriving the Army of prize captives.
At the base of the formation, a nearly-translucent brown-black obsidian is found. The stones are called Apache tears, and as the story goes, when the surviving women found the bodies of their men at the base of the leap, they mourned so deeply and bitterly that Spirit turned their tears to beautifully, lethally sharp stone, so that no one would forget the crime against the people that had happened in that place.Devil's Canyon includes similarly sacred lands, home to specific spirits, and also home to an array of ecologically important plant and animal species. Among
Oak Flat is a federally protected area that includes a public campground. First placed under federal protection by then-President Dwight Eisenhower, the land again received special protection - specifically from mining interests - from Richard M. Nixon during his presidency. For half a century, Oak Flat has occupied a special niche in Arizona's outdoor culture.
The lands that Resolution Copper assumes it will get - lands that are under
The Hill reported the measure as follows:
The measure would see the federal government give Resolution Copper 2,400 acres of the Tonto National Forest in exchange for 5,500 acres of ecologically valuable property across Arizona.Which is flatly wrong - but you'll never see a correction.
You can get a look at images of the lands in question here. The land that Resolution Copper proposes to give in exchange is not "ecologically valuable" - it's the barren, overgrazed desert scrub of abandoned cattle ranches that were given artificial labels like "[Insert Name Here] Creek," which make it sound as though they may include riparian habitats. They don't.
It's not a land swap; it's a swindle.
THE LAND SWAP BILL
The current incarnation of the land swap bill is HR 2509/S 409. HR 2509 was introduced on May 20, 2009, by alleged Democratic Representative Ann Kirkpatrick (S 409 was introduced simultaneously by John McCain). More about Kirkpatrick later.
Anyone remember Rick Renzi? The "Quiverfull Congressman" from Arizona who left Congress in disgrace in 2008?
The Resolution Project was the catalyst (along with numerous other ethical and legal problems) of his downfall.
You see, Resolution Copper has no objection to shaking down lobbying members of Congress and state pols for valuable resources, but it gets a little testy when a Congressman tries to shake it down. In exchange for introducing the land swap bill and shepherding it through to Bush's desk, Renzi tried to force Resolution Copper to include — and thereby purchase — his friend's land, which would have given his friend a hefty addition to his bank account. Unfortunately for poor Rick Renzi, Resolution Copper not only got mad, but got even — and Renzi not only lost his cushy congressional sinecure, but is currently under indictment on numerous corruption charges, including fraud, embezzlement, and extortion. Oh, and the name of one of the firms from which he allegedly embezzled? "Spirit Mountain." That's a really sick sacrilegious touch, Rick.
But all was not lost for Resolution Copper — not by a long shot. Enter John McCain. Of course.
McCain is infamous for engineering land swaps, to the detriment of the environment, the tribes, the public — to anyone but himself and his wealthy corporate pals. Of course, Indians who've followed McCain's career have always known that his "friend of the Indian" persona is a load of crap, but the rest of the population seems to take it at face value . . . completely missing his other face. Two-headed snake, forked tongue — all those old spaghetti Western metaphors fit McCain to the proverbial T.
So McCain very happily picked up where Renzi left off, reintroducing the land swap bill in the Senate. And while Kirkpatrick faces open opposition from Congressman Grijalva, who is reportedly crafting a different bill, McCain is by all accounts "frustrated" with Grijalva:
In an interview with The Hill earlier this year, McCain expressed frustration with Grijalva and indicated the bill is a priority for him.I think, based on what we learned of John McCain throughout and after the 2008 election, that it's safe to say that "frustrated" is a euphemism for "enraged."
But the person who truly infuriates me here is Ann Kirkpatrick. I expect disrespect and dismissal from McCain and his ilk, but Kirkpatrick has cast herself as a friend in the past - and has certainly been eager enough to take both votes and fundraising dollars from Indians.
Since 2009, though, corporate support has trumped Native rights. Wendell Nosie, then tribal chairman of the San Carlos Apache tribe, formerly arranged a fundraiser and GOTV efforts for Kirkpatrick. That all changedin February:
"Back in Arizona I’m hearing you’re supporting Resolution Copper," Nosie recalled saying.
He asked her directly whether she supported the bill. Kirkpatrick responded that she did. They talked about the tribe’s environmental concerns, and the conversation quickly became tense, according to several accounts.
"Ann, the reason why I’m here is because you had told me that you would definitely hear both sides of the story," Nosie said.
Kirkpatrick leaned forward in her chair.
"Chairman, tell me, how is your religion going to put food on the table?" she said. "Tell me how your religion is going to help the children getting abused by their parents. How is your religion going to turn the bed sheets of your elders?"
The chairman stopped her. "Ann, don’t even go there," he said.
The meeting broke up minutes later. The chairman and Kirkpatrick haven’t spoken directly since.So much for ethnic and cultural sensitivity. Kirkpatrick should be ashamed that such words ever came out of her mouth. She owes the members of every tribe in Arizona an apology. Sadly, I think Resolution Copper's dollar signs are worth more than our people's traditions. Certainly, she's made abundantly clear that mining is worth more:
Kirkpatrick does not directly answer a question on whether she’s made the calculation that jobs are more important than the religious practices of the Apache. She talks about finding a balance between the two, but also points to the traditions of Superior and the surrounding mining towns.
"This region has been a mining region for a hundred years. I talk with miners who are third-, fourth-generation miners in this area. It’s not only their livelihood, it’s also their life," she said.Sorry, Ann. I'll see your "hundred years" and raise you a thousand or so. Wanna talk about tradition? How about the much older tradition that respects the Earth, that lives in harmony with her, rather than ripping open her womb to extract what is not yours to take in order to make the rich even richer?
There comes a point when I want to ask these pols — not the company, because I already know what they're hoping — but politicians like Ann Kirkpatrick: How stupid do you think we are? Overgrazed cattle ranch land and bone-dry areas labeled "[Something] Creek" in exchange for sacred tribal lands with fragile escarpments and unique riparian habitats? Insulting tribal leaders and insinuating you know better than they how to care for their children and elders? Elevating three- and four-generation "traditions" of non-Native corporate mining as a way of life over thousands of years' worth of Native traditions than were firmly established long before the first European ever thought these shores might exist? I mean, really, Ann: How stupid do you think we are?
I was disappointed, last week, to see on my Twitter feed a tweet from INDN's List, referencing a RezNewsNet article on support for "endangered Dem" Ann Kirkpatrick. Her actions are openly opposed by Arizona's Inter-Tribal Council and the leadership of every single Arizona tribe. INDN's List should know that. And while she will undoubtedly be better — at least marginally — on issues important to our peoples than whatever teabagging Republican opposes her, INDN's List and all Native voters need to send a message to Ann, loud and clear: Our votes, our money, our support are not to be taken for granted, and they do not come free. If you get them, we will expect you to do right by us on this issue. And since you need our votes — 20% of your district's population - to have any hope of winning, rest assured that if you do not do right by us, we will ensure that you do not return to Congress.
EPILOGUE
Since this piece first appeared in 2010, not much has changed in any meaningful way. True, Rick Renzi was sentenced last year to three years in prison for his crimes. But John McCain is still in the Senate, still meddling in tribal affairs in the same way he is still meddling in international affairs.
Kirkpatrick was challenged in 2012 by a truly stellar candidate, Wenona Benally Baldenegro: a Diné woman, a Harvard-trained lawyer, and an activist with a true commitment to the environment and social justice. Kirkpatrick won, of course.
Meanwhile, INDN's List is now defunct for lack of support. And Arizona's sacred lands [like those all over North America] are still at risk from the rapacious, colonialist mindset of multinational mining companies and their lackeys in Congress.
Copyright Ajijaakwe, 2010, 2014, 2015; all rights reserved.
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