Native American tribes and environmentalists want a U.S. appeals court to consider their request to halt construction along part of a $10 billion transmission line that will carry wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to customers as far away as California .
The disputed stretch of the SunZia transmission line is in the San Pedro Valley of southern Arizona. The tribes and others claim the U.S. Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management failed to recognize the area’s cultural significance before approving the route of the massive project in 2015.
SunZia is among projects that supporters say will boost President Joe Biden’s agenda to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The planned 885 kilometer pipeline could transport more than 3,500 megawatts of wind energy to 3 million people.
A U.S. district judge rejected previous attempts to halt work while the merits of the case were in court, but the tribes and other plaintiffs opted Wednesday to ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene.
The Tohono O’odham Nation has pledged to pursue all legal options to protect lands it considers sacred. Tribal Chairman Verlon Jose said in a recent statement that he wants to hold the federal government accountable for violating historic preservation laws specifically designed to protect such areas.
Calling it too important an issue, he said: “The United States’ sustainable energy policy, which includes the destruction of sacred and undeveloped landscapes, is fundamentally wrong and must stop.”
The Tohono O’odham – along with the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Center for Biological Diversity and Southwest Archeology – filed a lawsuit in January seeking a preliminary injunction to halt the clearing of roads and trails so that more work can be done to identify culturally significant sites within 50 miles of the valley.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs have argued in court documents and in arguments at a hearing in March that the federal government was stringing the tribes along and promising to comply with National Historic Preservation Act requirements after already making a final decision on the route had taken.
The motion filed Wednesday argues that the federal government has statutory and separate obligations under the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act and that the Bureau of Land Management’s interpretation of how its obligations apply to the SunZia project to be reviewed by the Court of Appeal. .
California-based developer Pattern Energy has argued that halting work would be catastrophic, with any delay jeopardizing the company’s ability to deliver electricity to customers as promised in 2026.
In denying the earlier request for an injunction, U.S. Judge Jennifer Zipps had ruled that the plaintiffs were years late in filing their claims and that the Bureau of Land Management had met its obligations to preserve historic sites identify and create an inventory of cultural resources. Yet she also recognized the significance of the San Pedro Valley to the tribes after hearing testimony from experts.
