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Tohono O'odham and Apache Have Another Chance to Protect Ancient Sites in Court
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| The Sobaipuri O'odham, ancestors of San Xavier O'odham, and their ancestors, the Hohokum, made their home in the San Pedro Valley. Bulldozers are now destroying the ancient sites, burial places and medicine grounds of the Tohono O'odham and San Carlos Apache for the SunZia wind project transmission lines, which was promoted by former Interior Sec. Deb Haaland. (Collage by Censored News) |
Tohono O'odham and Apache Have Another Chance to Protect Ancient Sites in Court
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, May 29, 2025
SAN PEDRO VALLEY, Arizona -- It is the land of ancient village sites of Tohono O'odham's ancestors of San Xavier O'odham, Sobaipuri O'odham. San Carlos Apache medicine grounds and burial places are here. And when Interior Sec. Deb Haaland personally promoted a massive wind project, and the transmission lines that ripped through these ancient Native sites, it was heartbreaking.
Now, the Ninth Circuit says a federal judge in Tucson was in error when she ruled against the tribes, and allowed Sun Zia Transmission line to rip through the San Pedro Valley east of Tucson.
The tribes' attorney Elizabeth Lewis accused the Bureau of Land Management of “wielding the statute of limitations like a sword” to fend off legitimate legal challenges, in a Phoenix courtroom in March.
The Ninth Circuit panel unanimously agreed.
SunZia is owned by Pattern Energy, which is owned by Canada's Pension Plan. When the wind energy project launched in New Mexico -- which cuts a path from New Mexico to California -- Sec. Haaland was there to promote it. Haaland was named in the lawsuit filed by the tribes.
Tohono O'odham and San Carlos Apache Nations accuse the Bureau of Land Management of violating the Administrative Procedure Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act, by incorrectly finding no adverse effects from the impending construction and violating a previous agreement to consult the plaintiffs on a historic property treatment plan, Courthouse News reports.
"A three-judge panel found Tuesday that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s 'final agency decision' in approving the 550-mile wind energy transmission line was its 2023 notice to proceed with construction, not the 2015 approval of the route as the defendants argue. So, the plaintiffs’ 2024 lawsuit didn't fall outside the six-year window for a National Historic Preservation Act claim."
The tribes are joined by the Center for Biological Diversity and Archaeology Southwest. They sued the Bureau of Land Management in 2024 to halt construction of the SunZia transmission line, carrying wind energy from New Mexico to California.
Read more at Courthouse News:
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