SEATTLE (AP) — Cedric Mullins robbed Ty France of a homer in the ninth inning and hit a two-run homer in the 10th, and the AL-best Baltimore Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners in extra innings for the second straight day, 5-3 on Sunday.

Mullins, who entered in the sixth as a defensive replacement, leaped and reached over the wall in center field to snag France’s deep drive off Mike Baumann.

Two pitches later, Dominic Canzone hit a 96 mph fastball from Baumann 402 feet to right to tie the game at 3-all.

In the 10th, Mullins hit a long drive just outside the right-field foul pole on a 2-1 pitch from Trent Thornton (0-1) and then, two pitches later, sent a drive over the wall in right to score automatic runner Gunnar Henderson.

Nick Vespi (1-1) got the final out in the ninth and Shintaro Fujinami worked a scoreless 10th for his first save.

MARLINS 8, YANKEES 7

MIAMI (AP) — Jake Burger’s game-ending single capped a five-run, ninth-inning comeback against Clay Holmes and Tommy Kahnle, giving Miami the win over struggling New York.

The Yankees, who led 7-1 in the sixth inning behind ace Gerrit Cole, dropped five games back of the AL’s last wild card berth and are on track to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016. New York is 3-8-1 in its last 12 series and has lost six straight rubber games of three-game series.

Burger, who had three hits, cut the deficit to 7-2 with an RBI single in the sixth off Cole.

Holmes (4-3), who had given up three runs in 35 games since May 6, allowed Yuli Gurriel’s double leading off the ninth. Nick Fortes singled, Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked and Josh Bell hit a one-hopper that bounced off Holmes’ glove and went to the third-base side. The reliever gloved the ball and rushed a throw past first for an error as Gurriel and Fortes scored.

Luis Arraez’s triple made it 7-7. Kahnle relieved and walked Bryan De La Cruz. Burger then lined a single to left.

Jorge López (6-2) pitched a scoreless ninth to get the win before 35,043, the Marlins’ season high at home.

Story continues

TWINS 3, PHILLIES 0

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sonny Gray tossed two-hit ball over six shutout innings, reliever Caleb Thielbar pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh and Jordan Luplow homered to lead Minnesota past Philadelphia.

The AL Central leaders bounced back from a 13-2 loss in the series opener to win the last two games. Gray (6-5) struck out seven and pitched into the sixth inning in his eighth straight start.

Emilio Pagán retired the last two batters in the eighth and Jhoan Durán worked the ninth for his 21st save.

The Phillies finished 6-4 on a 10-game homestand that kept them in first place in the NL wild-card standings. Ranger Suarez (2-6) allowed Ludlow’s two-out homer in the first and Jorge Polanco’s RBI single in the third.

ANGELS 2, ASTROS 1

HOUSTON (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit his AL-leading 41st homer and Los Angeles beat Houston to avoid a three-game sweep.

Ohtani’s first home run since Aug. 3 put the Angels up 2-0 in the sixth inning.

Chase Silseth (4-1) allowed four hits and struck out five in five scoreless innings. Carlos Estévez struck out two in the ninth for his 25th save.

Houston’s José Urquidy (2-3) yielded three hits and one run in five-plus innings in his second start since returning from the injured list.

GIANTS 3, RANGERS 2, 10 INNINGS

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Patrick Bailey hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning and San Francisco overcame a blown save by All-Star Camilo Doval, beating Texas to stop a four-game skid.

The Giants, who struck out a season-high 17 times, had lost six of seven. Texas had won 10 of 11.

Logan Webb was within one out of his second shutout this season when J.P. Martinez doubled on his 107th and final pitch. Martinez was running on Doval’s second pitch and scored from second when Ezequiel Duran grounded to shortstop and beat Brandon Crawford’s throw for an infield hit.

Duran started the 10th as the automatic runner, advanced on a bloop single by Josh Smith and scored on a balk by Doval (4-3), who blew a save for the fourth time in 37 chances.

With Wilmer Flores on second as the automatic runner in the bottom half, Bailey homered with two outs off Will Smith (1-4), who blew a save for the third time in 25 chances.

NATIONALS 8, ATHLETICS 7

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeter Downs capped a six-run ninth with an RBI single, and Washington rallied past Oakland to complete a three-game sweep.

Washington has won eight of 11 overall and 12 of its last 14 at home.

Rookie Zack Gelof homered twice for majors-worst Oakland, which fell 52 games under .500 (33-85) for the first time since going 54-108 in 1979. The A’s were swept for the 16th time this year.

Oakland closer Trevor May loaded the bases with one out in the ninth before allowing Stone Garrett’s RBI single and Ildemaro Vargas’ sacrifice fly. May exited after walking Riley Adams to reload the bases, and Kirby Snead (1-1) entered and walked pinch-hitter Dominic Smith to force in a run that made it 7-5.

Alex Call then hit a sharp grounder that shortstop Nick Allen booted for an error, allowing two runs to score. Downs floated a base hit to center to cap the unlikely comeback.

Joe La Sorsa (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings for Washington for his first major league victory.

BLUE JAYS 11, CUBS 4

TORONTO (AP) — Daulton Varsho homered and had five RBIs, Hyun Jin Ryu pitched five innings to win for the first time since returning from elbow surgery, and Toronto beat Chicago to avoid a three-game sweep.

Whit Merrifield had four hits, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits and two RBIs and Brandon Belt reached base four times as the Blue Jays snapped a three-game skid.

The Cubs lost for the seventh time in 25 games.

Varsho hit a three-run home run off Jameson Taillon (7-7) in Toronto’s five-run second inning, then added a two-run single off righty Hayden Wesneski in the fourth.

Ryu (1-1) allowed two unearned runs and two hits.

DODGERS 8, ROCKIES 3

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Julio Urías matched his career high with 12 strikeouts over seven innings of four-hit ball, and Miguel Rojas homered and drove in four runs as Los Angeles won its season-high eighth straight and completed a four-game sweep of Colorado.

Mookie Betts broke it open with a two-run double in the sixth for the Dodgers, who have won 12 of 13 to surge 8 1/2 games ahead of San Francisco in the race for their 10th NL West title in 11 seasons. Rojas matched his season high in RBIs by driving in one run in each of his four plate appearances.

Urías (10-6) struck out seven consecutive Rockies and eight of nine during his final three innings of work.

Alan Trejo hit a two-run homer for the Rockies, who have lost five straight. Kyle Freeland (4-13) yielded six hits and four runs over five innings.

RED SOX 6, TIGERS 3

BOSTON (AP) — Adam Duvall had four RBIs that included a three-run homer, Justin Turner added a solo shot Boston beat Detroit.

Trevor Story went 4 for 4 with three doubles and two stolen bases for Boston. Connor Wong had an RBI triple and Duvall added a run-scoring single.

Boston scored six runs over five innings against former Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (8-6).

Coming off the injured list, Garrett Whitlock (5-3) allowed an unearned run in two hitless innings and Kenley Jansen worked around a leadoff single in the ninth for his 27th save in 30 chances.

BREWERS 7, WHITE SOX 3

CHICAGO (AP) — Carlos Santana hit a three-run homer, Freddy Peralta pitched six scoreless innings, and Milwaukee completed a three-game sweep of Chicago.

The Brewers pushed their NL Central lead to 3 1/2 games over the Chicago Cubs.

Peralta (9-8) scattered four hits and struck out six while walking three for his third straight victory.

Dylan Cease (5-6) gave up two runs in seven innings.

DIAMONDBACKS 5, PADRES 4

PHOENIX (AP) — Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a tying, two-run homer in the seventh inning, Alek Thomas hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth against Robert Suarez (1-2), and Arizona rallied past sinking San Diego.

The D-backs (59-59) took two of three from the Padres (56-62) with both teams hanging around the fringe of the NL wild-card race. San Diego has lost six of seven.

Gurriel came in for Jose Herrera and hit a full-count changeup from Nick Martinez over the wall in left for the first pinch-hit homer of his career.

Kyle Nelson (6-3) got the last out of the eighth for Arizona. Paul Sewald worked the ninth for his second save in two days.

GUARDIANS 9, RAYS 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Tanner Bibee won his seventh consecutive decision and Cleveland beat Tampa Bay to avoid a three-game sweep.

Bibee (9-2) gave up two runs, seven hits and struck out five in seven innings.

Andrés Giménez and Gabriel Arias homered for the Guardians, who had 15 hits.

Rays starter Zach Eflin (12-7), seeking to become the AL’s first 13-game winner, allowed a season-high six runs and nine hits over three innings in an 82-pitch outing.

PIRATES 4, REDS 2, GAME 1

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jared Triolo hit his first major league home run, a three-run drive as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, and Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati in the first game of a doubleheader.

The Pirates overcame a 2-0 deficit against the Reds, who lost for the ninth time in 11 games.

Liover Peguero walked against Lucas Sims starting the seventh and pinch-hitter Endy Rodriguez walked with one out against Alex Young (4-1). Triolo, in his 116th at-bat and 128th plate appearance, drove a full-count changeup to left.

Angel Perdomo (3-2) pitched a hitless seventh inning. David Bednar worked the ninth for his 24th save in 27 chances.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

The Associated Press

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By Adam Baskin: The highly popular Devin Haney will battle Regis Prograis for his WBC light welterweight belt on December 9th on DAZN pay-per-view at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.

ESPN reports that Prograis-Haney is a done deal, allowing the 24-year-old San Francisco-born native Devin to fight in front of his hometown boxing fans in the Bay Area for the first time in his eight-year professional career.

Will Fans be willing to pay?

There’s no word yet about the PPV asking price for fans to watch the Prograis vs. Haney event, but it could be a mistake for DAZN to make it too expensive. Pricing it in the $20 range wouldn’t upset fans too much, but it’s likely to be higher than that.

Fans already pay for the subscription rate for DAZN, and many will balk if they’re asking to pay in the $70 range to see Haney the belt-holder Prograis. Teofimo Lopez & Ryan Garcia are guys that fans wouldn’t mind paying to see Haney fight on PPV, but probably not Prograis.

It’s a questionable move for the organizers of the Prograis-Haney event to place it on DAZN PPV rather than regular non-PPV, as the 35-year-old Prograis (29-1, 14 KOs) isn’t a big name in the U.S. due to his lack of marquee names on his resume, coupled with the low visibility of his fights in the last four years.

Prograis looks shot at this career stage, made to order or Haney. It’s just lucky for Haney that Prograis hasn’t been forced to defend his WBC 140-lb title against #2 contender Gary Antuanne Russell (17-0, 17 KOs).

Haney would have all kinds of problems trying to beat Russell for the WBC belt, but he probably wouldn’t mess with him. He’s too dangerous. Devin and his dad, Bill Haney, are very calculated when picking out their opponents.

The success of this event will depend on whether Haney’s fanbase will be willing to pay to see him fight the aging Prograis, who, based on his last performance against Danielito Zorrilla, looks like he’s lost a few steps.

Haney holds the undisputed lightweight championship and is now moving up to 140 to begin the hard work of accomplishing that feat in that weight class, which could prove to be more challenging.

Becoming undisputed at 140 won’t be easy

There isn’t a George Kambosos Jr.-level champion at 140 for Haney to capture three belts at once, and he likely won’t be elevated to championship status outside of the ring like we saw when the WBC made him lightweight champion with their organization in 2021.

Haney is starting off low, choosing what some feel is the weakest link among the champions at 140 in Prograis. It’s believed that if Haney wins this fight to capture the WBC belt, he’ll face WBO champ Teofimo Lopez next.

Haney isn’t expected to face IBF champion Subriel Matias next because it’s too risky, and he could mess up his plans for a big-money bout against Teofimo.

Promoter Eddie Hearn said earlier this week that Haney’s fight with Prograis would be in a location that is unusual, and he was right. There aren’t too many high-level fights that take place in San Francisco, even though isn’t one of the biggest cities in California.

The Regis Prograis-Devin Haney WBC 140-pound title fight – originally planned for Oct. 28 in Las Vegas – is set for Dec. 9 at San Francisco’s Chase Center on DAZN PPV, sources told ESPN. Haney, the undisputed lightweight champion, lands a Bay Area homecoming for his attempt at…

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) September 9, 2023

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Monica Morales, director of the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency, speaks on the issue of citizen participation while Jasmine Najera, CEO of Pajaro Valley Prevention & Student Assistance, left, listens at a news conference presenting the latest County Health Rankings data for Santa Cruz County to be discussed. (Nick Sestanovich – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

WATSONVILLE >> Overall, Santa Cruz County performs well in terms of overall health outcomes, ranking ninth out of 58 California counties on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s 2023 County Health Rankings list, which ranks counties across the country in various areas related to health.

Santa Cruz even saw a slight increase from last year when it finished 11th, but despite this positive result, officials are working hard to address health categories where it doesn’t perform as well. The results of that list were presented by Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency and Pajaro Valley Unified School District at the district’s Family Engagement and Wellness Center on Wednesday, the day the list was released.

Susan Brutchy, president of Applied Survey Research, said 13% of county adults reported being in poor or reasonable health, compared to 12% domestically and 14% stateside. Santa Cruz also outperformed the state and nation on adult obesity rates, access to exercise facilities, teenage birth rates, annual flu shots, and air pollution rates.

On the negative side, 26% of households reported housing problems, be it overcrowded apartments, high costs and a lack of kitchen or plumbing facilities. This matched the percentage reported by the state and was nine percentage points higher than that of the nation.

The district also reported a higher number of poor mental health days and a lower number of mental health providers. This was emphasized in Wednesday’s presentation.

“That’s important because it gives us an opportunity to compare counties across the country in terms of well-being and the look of well-being,” Brutchy said.

Brutschy said the County Health Rankings have placed an emphasis on civic participation in 2023 to measure well-being. Civic participation is measured through voter turnout, advocacy, volunteering, mentoring, and other community activities.

“I think it’s really important because it talks about the role of citizen health and how we all play a role and how it works both ways,” she said. “It makes us feel better, and when we take care of ourselves, our civic participation increases and we have the opportunity to increase the well-being of citizens across the country.”

Santa Cruz County Health Director Monica Morales said she grew up in the county and a lot has changed.

“When I was here, high school ratings were really bad, especially in this part of the county,” she said. “We also had high teenage pregnancy rates. We’ve also struggled with low health insurance premiums, so it’s quite remarkable to be able to look at the data now and see how well we’re doing.”

However, Morales emphasized that there are many areas that need improvement.

“You can see from the rankings that there’s still a big imbalance in power, a big imbalance in access,” she said. “The data still shows, for example, that our Latino children experience the highest rates of poverty, that we still have food insecurity in the country and especially here where we actually produce some of the most delicious fruits and vegetables in the country, and some of our families don’t have once access to them.”

Morales also highlighted a lack of behavioral health services for Indigenous and Spanish-speaking communities.

“I hope that today we continue to highlight for ourselves the resilient community we live in, the powerful collective impact we are a part of, but most importantly, that we continue to challenge institutions to ensure they are responsive to the needs fulfilling our community,” she said.

Morales said the Health Services Agency is working to “shift the conversation, moving from an institution that projects onto our community, to an institution that listens to you, that sits around the table with community-based organizations.”

“We don’t have to solve it,” she said. “We don’t even have to fund it, but we have to sit at the table and listen and actually be part of the solution.”

Pajaro Valley Prevention & Student Assistance (PVPSA) chief officer Jasmine Najera said one problem is not having enough mental health clinicians to provide services to students.

“We face a massive shortage of mental health providers, not just locally but across the state,” she said. “We just don’t have that many people to fill those positions, and more and more clinicians are leaving those positions because they’re burned out themselves.”

Najera said PVPSA is working to provide clinical services such as crisis response, family strengthening and workforce development.

“My mission in this role at PVPSA is to continue to ensure we have a strong workforce to ensure we are putting the right resources in the right places and making sure we reflect the needs of our community,” she said.

PVUSD Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez highlighted what the district has done to address the issues, including opening the Wellness Center on EA Hall Middle School’s campus in December 2021. Since then, it has served more than 14,800 families and has provided a psychiatrist provided on-site and worked with agencies to distribute frozen meals from Martha’s Kitchen and groceries through Second Harvest Food Bank, host a farmers market from FoodWhat and parenting classes from Triple P and Disciplina Positiva.

“I think what I’m most proud of is the fact that we developed this and then we didn’t stop listening,” she said. “We said, ‘Let’s hear what people are actually saying, what their needs are, and change over time.'”

Morales said it will take action to improve data in areas where the county is lacking.

“Let’s just start and really focus on the political elements,” she said. “We know this is required to transform the systems.”

Complete data for Santa Cruz County can be found at Countyhealthrankings.org.

The eight counties that ranked higher than Santa Cruz were Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Placer, Napa, Orange, San Francisco, and Ventura.

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The fate of a proposed copper mine that Native people say would obliterate a sacred site near Superior and violate their religious rights will be determined before a federal appeals court Tuesday in an unusual rehearing of what could be a groundbreaking First Amendment case.

It’s the latest turn in a nearly 20-year-long disagreement between a coalition of tribes, environmentalists and recreationists, and the U.S. government and a mining company over a 2,200-acre tract of land in Pinal County that holds one of the world’s biggest copper deposits.

The suit, Apache Stronghold v. United States, was filed in February 2021 in federal court. After it was rejected by a judge in Arizona, the Native rights group took the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where a three-judge panel heard arguments in October 2021 and again ruled against Apache Stronghold. In November 2022, the appeals court announced it would rehear the case “en banc,” or by the court’s full panel of 11 judges.

It has caught the attention of not only Indigenous activists and environmental groups, but religious organizations that see the case as important to First Amendment rights. An assortment of religious leaders ranging from Sikhs, Jews and Muslims to Mennonites, Catholics and Mormons are urging the court to uphold Apache religious beliefs, fearing that a ruling against the tribe could lead to setbacks for their rights.

Meanwhile, pro-development interests and even other Native people have filed “friend of the court” briefs in support of the project, which the mine’s owners say would bring about 3,700 jobs and $1 billion annually to Arizona’s economy and open up a store of copper at a time when demand is growing.

While the suit wends its way through the federal court system, two others are waiting in the wings. Those suits, filed by the San Carlos Apache Tribe and a coalition of environmentalists and a mining reform organization, are on hold until the U.S. Forest Service completes a new environmental impact statement, as ordered by the Biden administration.

At the same time, Resolution Copper, which would build and operate the mine, is developing more robust community outreach, including cultural and environmental mitigation as it continues preparations to start work.

And the small town tucked between Apache Leap and Picketpost Mountain say many of its revitalization plans are in limbo as the pro- and anti-mine forces battle in court and Congress.

No matter how it plays out, the battle for Oak Flat won’t be settled any time soon. And all of the parties in the dispute have something to say.

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Apaches: ‘Save our sacred space’

Opponents of the giant copper mine have been fighting for years to stop the project from obliterating Oak Flat Campground, one of the Apache peoples’ most sacred sites and a culturally significant place to other Southwestern tribes.

Resolution Copper, owned by British-Australian mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP, is developing the mine at the old Magma Mine location overlooking the campground and riparian area. 

The mining company had attempted to obtain title to the 2,200-acre site, currently part of Tonto National Forest, for 10 years and overturn a mining ban on the land enacted during the Eisenhower administration.

Resolution offered other environmentally sensitive land in exchange. The land swap was ultimately authorized in a defense appropriations bill in December 2014.

To obtain the copper ore, Resolution will use a method known as block cave mining. The ground beneath the ore body will be excavated, the tunnels will be collapsed and the ore transported through another tunnel to a crushing facility. Eventually, the ground under Oak Flat will subside, leaving behind a crater about 1,000 feet deep and nearly 2 miles across. 

The U.S. Forest Service published the final environmental impact statement and draft decision for the copper mine and land swap on Jan. 15, 2021, five days before the end of the Trump administration. That move set off a 60-day clock during which the land swap could be finalized.  

On March 1, 2021, the Forest Service withdrew the statement and said it would reinitiate consultations with tribes.

In 2022, the Forest Service asked the Bureau of Land Management to review the environmental impact statement. The BLM assessment released in June 2022, recommended that the document should incorporate more robust information about the effects the mine would have on groundwater, the stabilization of the tailings dam at Skunk Camp southeast of the mine and easier-to-understand language so that lay people could better grasp what the statement says.

In the meantime, the San Carlos Apache Tribe moved to stop the mine by fighting its water permit. In November 2022, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the tribe, finding that, among other issues brought up by the tribe, the mine site is a “new source under the Clean Water Act because Resolution recently sank shaft 10.”

That shaft is the nearly 7,000-foot shaft that is the starting point of Resolution’s block cave mining process. The case is currently under appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court.

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Resolution: ‘We want to be good neighbors’

Resolution Copper told The Arizona Republic that the company is committed to being a good neighbor. The environmental impact statement called for the company to undertake environmental and cultural mitigation and work to protect Emory oak groves. Apache and other Native peoples have long relied on the oaks at Oak Flat for their sweet acorns, and Resolution said it took that into account.

In 2022, The Republic visited the JI Ranch, a small homestead a few miles east of Oak Flat, where Emory oak trees and other culturally important plants, including endangered cactuses, are being restored and sustained. Even with U.S. Highway 60 nearby, the area is a quiet, green haven. Native cultural monitors keep watch over that and other projects, though none of them agreed to speak on the record about their work, which includes archaeological assessments and ecological restoration.

Andrew Lye, the former project director for Resolution, said the company recognized some key opportunities to further preserve the cultural history of the area. Funding was also provided for education for tribal members and for cultural preservation. And the company offers internships and apprenticeships to local people, including tribal members, to learn mining-related trades.

He said he was particularly proud of the tribal monitor program.

“Before we built the program, we had the anthropologists walking around there telling the Native Americans what’s actually happening around there,” Lye said. “This was about placing the tribal people beside the archeologists.”

He said that while the archeologists look at the ground to ponder what’s happening, others are looking at the sky. “Getting that kind of voice in that tribal perspective into these reports has been really, really amazing.”

Lye also said that the ore body under Oak Flat is a completely different situation that calls for a different strategy than techniques like shaft mining, which might work at other sites. The old Magma copper operation moved 25 million tons of rock with a 5% copper content, he said. The current ore is “a declared resource here of 1.8 billion tons (of rock) with 1.5% copper.” Lye said block cave mining is the safest means to extract the copper from the current footprint.

Lye said the firm is still open to discussions with the San Carlos Apache Tribe, which has consistently refused any interactions.

In response to statements that most of the copper will be exported to China, Resolution said it would be sent to a mill in Utah.

In a recent statement, Resolution said it would respect the legal process as the 9th Circuit rehears the case.

“At the same time, we believe that settled precedent supports the district court’s rejection of Apache Stronghold’s claims,” the company said.  

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Pro-development groups: ‘Open the mine’

When the court hears the cast Tuesday, justices will have several documents from pro- and anti-mine groups.

The parties who backed Resolution and the U.S., including mining associations, the Arizona Rock Products Association, Pinal Partnership and Valley Partnership, mostly make the same argument in their briefs. They say existing case law affirming federal control over Native sacred places on public lands — including two pivotal decisions, the Lyng case and Navajo Nation v. the United States — created a precedent for the 9th Circuit Court to uphold.

The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry took a different tack: In addition to the usual two cases, it said the Treaty of Santa Fe, enacted in 1852, contained only a vague provision when it called for a reservation to be established for the “Apache Nation of Indians.” And, the chamber wrote, since Oak Flat had never formally been land held in trust for any Apache tribe, it belongs solely to the U.S., which can do whatever it wants with its land.

The chamber also argued that other religious practitioners could use a decision in favor of Apache Stronghold to stop virtually any project on public lands.

Two prominent Native people, former Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer and John Tahsuda, a Kiowa tribal member who served as former principal deputy assistant secretary for Indian Affairs in the Trump administration, joined the pro-development groups in their brief to the court supporting the mine.

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Religious leaders and scholars: ‘Uphold the First Amendment’s protections’

Many mine opponents support the Apache people’s assertion that Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, or “the place the Emory Oak grows,” is a sacred place to the tribe’s land-based religious practices. Obliterating it would also forever destroy a key home to the ga’an, or Mountain Spirits, they said. These opponents are from a variety of religions, including Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Mennonites, Catholics, Mormons and various Protestant faiths.

Thomas C. Berg, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas, a Catholic university in Minneapolis, said the Apache Stronghold case has captured the attention of these various faiths and religious law scholars because of how religion has become a polarizing issue over the past decade.

On the one hand, religious conservatives have been arguing for their religious rights against LGBTQ rights. On the other hand, he said, Muslims grew alarmed when policies like the Trump-era travel ban were enacted and when congregations encountered opposition to mosque construction projects.

Then there’s what Berg, a co-author of one brief backing Apache Stronghold, called the “plain, ordinary meaning of words” as noted by the U.S. Supreme Court: substantial burden. Unlike the other two often-cited major religious rights cases, where Native people can still access the sacred grove in Northern California and the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona, Oak Flat will eventually be destroyed, rendering it permanently unavailable for worship.

“If this is not a substantial burden under the ordinary meaning of the words, no Native American claim of sacred lands would be a substantial burden,” he said.

Berg also noted that the 9th Circuit may be weighing two different religious protection acts, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. They each seek to protect certain forms of worship, including the religious rights of prisoners and of faiths that avoid autopsies due to religious beliefs, from different angles.

For example, Berg said, the great spiritual distress that orthodox Jews and the Hmong community feel when their loved ones are cut open over their protests wouldn’t be covered as a substantial burden to their religious beliefs under the narrow standard of the 9th Circuit’s religious freedom rulings.

These events and others have set off alarm bells in the religious liberty community. Berg said activists there see a danger that religious liberty has become in recent years favorable only to faiths that strike a sympathetic chord or that people do not perceive as dangerous, versus the “other ones” whom the general public view as dangerous.

“I think that a lot of religious believers from even traditional faiths and traditional outlooks have come to realize that it can’t be just for them,” he said. “If we don’t protect religious liberty or everyone under some consistent standard, it’s going to end up not being a protection for anyone.”

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Congress gets another go at land swap repeal

While the courts wrestle with litigation, six congressional representatives refiled a bill to reverse the land swap. The principal sponsor, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., has tried to push the bill before, only to be blocked. The Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act is his latest attempt to resolve the issue through legislation.

During his last two attempts, the legislation made it to the House floor only to be pulled because he lacked the votes.

During a meeting with The Republic’s editorial board and reporters Wednesday, Grijalva said he does not support the mine.

“Everybody knows that,” he said. But, Grijalva said there’s a central question to be considered: “Is there any piece of public land that should be sacrosanct to drilling or extraction? I think there is.” The prevailing point of view, he said, is that there aren’t.

Grijalva said the Oak Flat struggle introduces the important issue of the role that sacred sites and tribal consultation play in decision making on federal land that affects a particular tribe. It’s an issue tribes believe is clear.

“Our Tribe has opposed the Resolution Mine for nearly 20 years because it will destroy one of our most sacred sites, Chi’chil Bildagoteel, also known as Oak Flat,” San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler said in a statement. “The Save Oak Flat Act would repeal a law that mandates the transfer of federal land on the Tonto National Forest to foreign mining entities that intend to extract copper that will be exported overseas.”

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Superior: “We knew we were on our own”

While attorneys argue their points in court and Congress wrestles with the land swap issue, the small town of Superior has grown frustrated, as many of its plans to revitalize its community and economy remain in limbo.

The 19th-century mining town, perched in the lee of Apache Leap and Picketpost Mountain about 70 miles east of Phoenix, has endured its share of booms and busts. Many of Superior’s 2,400 residents are descendants of people who moved to the desert community five, six or seven generations back. Two-thirds are Hispanic.

During Mayor Mila Besich’s tenure, Superior has worked to reinvent itself as a destination. Besich said that with the world-class Boyce Thompson Arboretum, the Tonto National Forest on their doorstep, a historic downtown in transition from boarded-up buildings to new boutiques, eateries and even the remodeled Hotel Magma reopening, the small town seeks to build a sustainable economy.

But then Resolution came knocking. “Copper will be mined here no matter what,” she said. “Our ore body is far too rich and far too valuable to the global economy.”

But Superior’s leaders also realized that when it came to ensuring that their community wouldn’t have to deal with yet another round of boom and bust, they would have to deal with the mine on its own.

“At the end of the day, the federal government really doesn’t care what happens to Superior,” Besich said. “They care what happens to the federal lands.”

She said that there is a gray line where the Forest Service noted that the town would be affected and that they were a community in need of environmental justice. But, Besich said, the government wouldn’t be able to advocate for the small town.

The state reaps the greatest reward from the estimated $88 to $133 million the mine would provide in annual taxes, Besich said. Pinal County would get about $30 million, but because of how state revenue sharing with municipalities is structured, Superior would only receive about $13,000 a year.

“The communities of impact, the communities that truly have environmental justice issues do not receive the moneys back in any type of way that compensates us to accommodate the billion-dollar industries that are sitting in our backyards,” she said.

“So we had to take that advocacy and those negotiations into our own hands, hold the company accountable when it came down to it, especially water and the socioeconomic impacts.”

The town embarked on what it called an “arranged marriage” with the multinational mining company. Superior Town Manager Todd Pryor said it was important to avoid emotional responses while developing policies.

“We need to be both be good community partners and neighbors,” Besich said. “We really work very hard at maintaining that.”

That meant traveling to London to visit Rio Tinto’s CEO to ensure the company understood that Superior is their home and that the town and Resolution must communicate on a regular basis. They also reached various agreements that will last even if Resolution’s parent company sells to another firm. And, Besich said, they’re working to avoid letting emotions get in the way.

“It’s been a pretty incredible road that we’ve had to pave,” Besich said. “This is America’s largest and most complex federal environmental impact statement ever processed, and there weren’t a lot of resources for us to navigate that process.”

She said most small towns would have probably have been overwhelmed.

Resolution is already providing funding for water mitigation, economic development, schools and emergency services, said Pryor. The company has provided more than $6 million over the past five years.

The town also leveraged some mitigation funds to open an economic and community development nonprofit, which addresses issues like blight, business attraction and retention and marking. It also supports the local food bank and has a role in the Superior Enterprise Center.

The town is also raising matching funds provided by Resolution to repurpose the original high school into a new town hall, community center and vocational training center.

We’re already building out programs to do welding and plumbing and electrical job training that this region, our public education system, really couldn’t offer fully,” Besich said. “It’ll attract the high school students, but also those who are adjusting their careers.”

The town is also hoping to become a sustainability center, with a desert foods laboratory and other such projects. And, Besich said, the town wants to keep more young people home and build on Superior’s history of multigenerational family life.

But a good number of those projects are stalled as the legal process winds its way through courtrooms and reams of briefs. They’re doing what they can on their own, but, Besich said, “It’s fair to say that many of our plans are held up until the Record of Decision (the document that finalizes the land swap) is signed.”

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Apache Stronghold continues its tactics: prayer, public relations

Wendsler Nosie, the former chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the head of Apache Stronghold, continues to engage how he always has: through prayer and public relations. He’s visited with Indigenous peoples, elected officials, religious leaders and Native leaders such as Fawn Sharp, the president of the National Congress of American Indians, to garner support to make the mine go away.

And he and Apache Stronghold are continuing that mission. They are making their way to Pasadena, where the hearing is. They will be stopping along the way to pray with other Indigenous people and their allies for not only the continued existence of Oak Flat but other Indigenous sacred places.

“Oak Flat is like Mount Sinai to us — our most sacred site where we connect with our Creator, our faith, our families, and our land,” Nosie said. “It has been sacred to us since long before Europeans came to this continent, and it is imperative that it be protected for generations — so our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren can continue our religious ceremonies that make us Apaches.”

Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at debra.krol@azcentral.com. Follow her on Twitter at @debkrol. 

Coverage of Indigenous issues at the intersection of climate, culture and commerce is supported by the Catena Foundation.

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