GOP congressman furious after Obama thwarts plan to sell sacred Apache land to foreign mining firm
Two Arizona congressional representatives are angry that President Barack Obama has intervened to prevent sacred Apache land from being sold off to foreign business interests, according to Tucson Weekly.
Republican Congressman Paul Gosar had joined forces with Democratic U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in an effort to sell off the ancestral Native American land, known as Oak Flat or Chi’chil Bildagoteel to the Apache community, to mining firm Resolution Copper, owned by an Australian-British corporation. According to the New York Times, it would have been the first time in history Native American lands would have been handed over to a foreign company by Congress.
The land was set to be handed over due to last-minute language added to a must-pass military spending bill. But according to the Weekly, the Obama administration prevented that from happening. The site has long been used for Apache coming-of-age ceremonies, particularly for girls.
“This fraudulent action is the latest in a long list of egregious bureaucratic abuses of power by the Obama Administration. I will continue to fight this overreach,” Gosar wrote in a statement.
“Shame on the Park Service and Forest Service for ramming a bogus historic place listing down the throats of Arizonans,” Gosar continued. “Clearly, the Obama Administration cares more about pandering to extremist environmental groups and a D.C. lobbyist from the Clinton Administration than following the law and listening to the American public.”
In response to the proposed sale of the publicly-held ancestral grounds, the Apache people had been occupying the land, according to the Times. About 300 people marched 44 miles from tribal headquarters to occupy the site, beginning on February 9.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/gop-congressman-furious-after-obama-thwarts-plan-to-sell-sacred-apache-land-to-foreign-mining-firm/
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