'Closing a portal to the Creator': fresh setback for attempt to prevent destruction of US holy land by miner

A federal judge rejects Apache tribal members' request to halt the transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper mining company

Efforts to prevent a sacred Native American site from being destroyed by a copper mine received a setback yesterday, when a federal judge rejected Apache tribal members' request to halt the site's transfer to a a multi-national mining company.

While US district judge Steven Logan acknowledged that the mine would close off a portal to the Creator forever and will completely devastate the Western Apaches' lifeblood", he said the activist group Apache Stronghold lacked legal standing in the case since it represented tribal individuals rather than a tribal government.