Join the Apache Stronghold and people from around the world in an all-day Day of Prayer and Action for Oak Flat!
You’re invited to an open Repair Network “Prayer and Action” call on Friday, October 22nd from 12-1 p.m. PT/ 3-4 p.m. ET, the day of a major court hearing for our Indigenous partners protecting Oak Flat.
We’ll take time to pray together for their hearing on the call and also participate in mini-actions together, like calling our congressional representatives to support the Save Oak Flat Act.
Please RSVP to Katerina at mennosdismantlingthedofd@gmail.com for the Zoom link.
Background
Court Action
Prayer events are being held, as a caravan is traveling to San Francisco to be heard in a 9th Circuit Federal court Oct. 22 for an injunction to stop the massive copper mining caravan.
Legislation
Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-AZ, introduced the H.R. 1884 Save Oak Flat Act (SOFA) earlier this year. It is now included in the House’s $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill. H.R. 1884 will repeal Section 3003 land exchange of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, introduced an identical bill (S 915) in the Senate. The Save Oak Flat Act (SOFA) would protect a 2,422-acre site known as Chí’chil Biłdagoteel (Oak Flat), the foundation of traditional Western Apache culture and religion. Congress now has a historic opportunity to protect American Indian cultural and religious resources by enacting the Save Oak Flat Act, which is currently included in the House version of the pending budget reconciliation legislation in Subtitle B—Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands 3 SEC. 70201. OAK FLAT WITHDRAWAL on page 10.
Please, ask your members of Congress to protect Oak Flat and support the Save Oak Flat Act. Below are multiple ways to contact your congressional leaders. Even if you have contacted them in the past, please contact them again. Ask them to keep the H.R. 1884 Oak Flat Withdrawl language in the budget reconciliation bill. The bill includes a provision that reverses a land swap from the federal government to private copper mining interests in Oak Flat, an area within Arizona’s Tonto National Forest.