A federal judge ruled Monday that the U.S. Forest Service cannot transfer land containing Oak Flat, a site sacred to the Western Apache, to a copper mining company until two cases against the project are settled after the Forest Service publishes its final environmental review for the project. … The legal battle over Oak Flat, known in Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, has been one of the most high-profile mining cases in the country over the past decade. … It would … use as much water each year as the city of Tempe, home to Arizona State University and 190,000 people. It would pull water from the same tapped-out aquifer the Phoenix metro area relies on, where Arizona has prohibited more extraction except for exempted uses like mines. 

Related articles:

• ICT News: The transfer of a sacred site to a copper mine is delayed once again
• AP News: Attorneys get more time to argue over contested copper mine on land sacred to Apaches
• AZPM News: Judge denies halt to Oak Flat transfer, grants 60-day delay
• E&E News by Politico: Judge declines to block Arizona copper mine
• Native News Online: San Carlos Tribe celebrates temporary victory in federal court to save Oak Flat