Lawsuit Challenges Arizona Copper Mine Exploration Threatening Mexican Spotted Owls

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Copper Creek Canyon. Photo credit: Russ McSpadden, Center for Biological Diversity

Lawsuit Challenges Arizona Copper Mine Exploration Threatening Mexican Spotted Owls

By Center for Biological Diversity, Censored News, August 25, 2026

MAMMOTH, Ariz.— The Center for Biological Diversity, the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance sued the Trump administration today for approving exploratory drilling for a copper mine that threatens Mexican spotted owls and other imperiled wildlife near Arizona’s iconic San Pedro River.

“Federal officials knew that Mexican spotted owls were in the project area and still approved more than 1,300 acres of industrial drilling on our public lands,” said Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. 

OAK FLAT: Copper Mine will Guzzle Water and Dump Massive Toxic Waste

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Photo by Sandra Rambler, San Carlos Apache. Rest in Power.

OAK FLAT: Copper Mine will Guzzle Water and Dump Massive Toxic Waste

By Center for Biological Diversity, Censored News, August 25, 2026

After years of opposition from a diverse coalition — including Indigenous Tribes and the Center for Biological Diversity — the Trump administration finalized the transfer of 2,422 acres of public lands in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest to a foreign mining giant. These lands include Oak Flat, an Apache sacred site threatened by the company’s plan to build one of the biggest underground copper mines in North America.

To do that it needs to acquire 8,200 acres of Arizona state trust land, an area known as Skunk Camp, to build a facility where it can dump more than a billion tons of toxic mining waste.

Navajo Nation Council approves Sacred Site Legislation at Confluence

Navajo Nation Council approves Sacred Site Legislation at Confluence

by Halne'e | Aug 24, 2026 | News

The Navajo Nation Council agreed, in a 18 yes and none opposed vote, an area inside the Grand Canyon be designated a sacred site Monday during a special session.

The area near “The Confluence,” the point where the Colorado River and Little Colorado River meet, abuts Grand Canyon National Park, on the Western Navajo Nation near Bodaway/Gap Chapter. Locals call the area Tóahidíídlih, “Where the rivers meet,” in the Navajo language.