(Reuters) – A US judge on Thursday rejected a request by American Americans seeking President Donald Trump’s government to stop publishing an environmental study to build a copper mine for Rio Tinto Required land can be exchanged. Arizona.
The decision is a serious setback for the Apache community of San Carlos and others who have long opposed the Rio Resolution’s Copper Project, which is considered sacred.
US District Judge Steven Logan refused to issue a restrictive order that would prevent the government from publishing the planned environmental study on Friday, a move that would begin a 60-day countdown to land transfers. Rio Tinto.
Community lawyers are required, by law, to discuss the request for a restrictive order with the government, but public prosecutors have not returned documents in the tribe’s call, the case shows. As the two sides did not speak, Logan said he would not approve the restraining order.
The judge said that, even if the study was published, it does not mean that land would be exchanged, although the United States Congress only ordered in 2014. The judge scheduled a series of hearings on the case over the next two weeks. .
Advocates for tribal members say they look forward to a hearing and expect the judge to invalidate the environmental study if it is published, or declare the 2014 congressional ruling unconstitutional.
(By Ernest Scheider and Melanie Burton)
