- Members of the San Carlos Apache tribe in Arizona are suing the Trump administration to block a pending land swap that would give Rio Tinto (RIO -1.9%) the land it needs to build its Resolution Copper project.
- The group filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Phoenix in a bid to stop the publication of a final environmental impact statement that will trigger the transfer of Oak Flat land considered central to the Apache tribe's traditional religion and identity to Resolution Copper.
- In a separate letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the tribe chairman says the department had failed to consider "substantial new information about cumulative impacts to groundwater resources," particularly at the proposed tailings dam site.
- The outgoing Trump administration reportedly is set to approve the controversial land swap, clearing a long-time hurdle for the copper project.