Protests against the Resolution Copper mine near Oak Flat have been going for years, as shown in this 2015 file photo from a rally at the Capitol.
Jamie Cochran/Cronkite News
The tribe says the Arizona Supreme Court made an "egregious error" when it ruled in June that resolution copper can discharge treated wastewater into Queen Creek.
In asking the nation’s highest court to take the case, the tribe said because the mine has yet to produce any copper it should be held to the new standards found in the federal Clean Water Act.
The tribe has spent years fighting the proposed mine because they say it will ruin Oak Flat, an area they consider sacred.
The group Apache Stronghold has filed a separate petition asking the court to prohibit the federal government from transferring Oak Flat to Resolution Copper.
That case is based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Read the San Carlos Apache request for a U.S. Supreme Court hearing
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