The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an Arizona tribe’s request to halt a underground copper mine from polluting an already-contaminated stream near land that some members considered to be sacred.
In doing so, the court handed a victory to developers of the Resolution Copper mine near Superior, Arizona, and put the focus squarely on a separate, ongoing push for the court to intervene based on religious grounds.
The justices declined to take up the San Carlos Apache Tribe’s request for a review of a lower court’s decision that allowed Resolution Copper Mining — a joint venture between Anglo-Australian mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP — to discharge water contaminated with copper from its proposed mine under development into Queen Creek.
The creek is a tributary of the Gila River that flows east to west from the Superstition Mountains through the central Phoenix Basin, and is considered sacred to members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and their ancestors, who believe spiritual beings reside in the creek’s waters, according to court documents.
