The Stream

Deal giving ‘sacred’ Native American land to mining company faces intense opposition

WhiteHouse.gov petition says mine would damage natural resources and ‘culturally sensitive’ areas.

petition on WhiteHouse.gov is calling on the Obama administration to stop a deal that would hand sacred Native American lands to an multinational mining corporation.

On December 4, the US House of Representatives approved a bill that would give 2,400 acres of national forest land in Arizona to Rio Tinto, a British-Australian mining company, in exchange for a combined 5,000 acres across the state.

The land, which sits atop some of the country’s largest copper deposits, is also the ancestral homeland of the Apache tribe. Leaders of the Native American group are now calling on the government to stop the proposed transfer. 

From the “We The People” petition on the White House Website, which currently counts more than 50,000 signatures: