This story was updated at 9:52 p.m. EDT.
A grassroots group that includes members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe formally asked the Supreme Court this week to hear its plea to halt a massive copper mine from destroying an Apache holy site in Arizona known as Oak Flat.
Apache Stronghold filed a petition with the high court Wednesday, marking another chapter in an ongoing legal saga that’s pitting the push for raw materials tied to the energy transition against the tribe’s religious freedoms.
Apache Stronghold has warned the mine — known as Resolution Copper — would transform holy land into a 2-mile-wide and 1,100-foot-deep crater. The site, known as Oak Flat or Chi’chil Biłdagoteel in Apache, consists of a vast grove of Emory oaks sacred to the tribe, where some go to pray, hold ceremonies and collect acorns to cook with. It’s now part of the Tonto National Forest about 60 miles east of Phoenix, where the Forest Service currently has a campground.
