UPDATE: Tohono O’odham Nation responds after judge rejects injunction for SunZia transmission project
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - A federal judge has denied an injunction and temporary restraining order filed by Native American tribes and conservationists about the SunZia project.
On Tuesday, April 16, U.S. District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps ruled the tribes were given “various consultation opportunities” by federal agencies.
The Bureau of Land Management and Pattern Energy, which is the parent of SunZia, had claimed the Tohono O’odham Nation and the San Carlos Apache Tribe were years beyond the time they had to raise cultural concerns.
The nation and the tribe claimed they were ignored in the past.
“Every single one of us has a history to this place. We’ve driven through there, we have connections, we’ve prayed, you know, all that matters. Our human lives matter,” Vernelda Grant with the San Carlos Apache Tribe told 13 News.
San Carlos Apache Tribe and Tohono O’odham Nation members along with Archeology Southwest and the Center for Biological Diversity had filed the injunction to halt work on the SunZia power line where it crosses the San Pedro River Valley.
“Our goal is not only to protect our ancestorial cultural history and the San Pedro River Valley’s pristine environment, but to also ensure the federal government is held accountable for its actions in violation of laws designed specifically to protect sacred lands,” Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon Jose said.
The line, once completed, will carry electricity from wind farms to cities in the west. The tribes expressed concerns about the project’s impact on cultural sites.
“I think the intent is not to stop it but maybe reroute it maybe some other location where it won’t go through our ancestral lands. I’m sure there’s space out there but it’s not to try to stop the whole project,” said Tony Burrell, a member of the San Xavier Ethnographic Team.
BLM and Pattern Energy said that there were opportunities back in 2015 to raise concern.
Pattern Energy and BLM have said that a survey of archeological sites was made with the help of tribal members back in 2018, but the tribe and Nation said that culturally important sites were not considered.
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