“In Rocafonda, more Lamine Yamals and fewer evictions”, reads the graffiti at the Club de Futbol Rocafonda, the municipal football pitch.
At the heart of the case is a stretch of federal land in the Tonto National Forest, part of the western state of Arizona.The San Carlos Apache tribe know the land as Oak Flat — or Chi’chil Bildagoteel in the Apache language. Members of the tribe point out that the land, with its ancient groves of oak, has long been used as a site for prayer, ceremony and burial.
But Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of theconglomerates Rio Tinto and BHP, believes the site sits atop the second largest copper deposit in the world.In 2014, under former President Barack Obama, the US Congress approved a
that gave Resolution Copper 9.71sq km (3.75sq miles) of the Oak Flat forest in exchange for other parcels of land in Arizona.That, in turn, triggered a
years-long legal showdown
, with members of Arizona’s San Carlos Apache tribe arguing that construction on the Oak Flat site would violate their religious rights. In their petition to the Supreme Court, they described Oak Flat as a “direct corridor to the Creator”.Funding for the Golden Dome has not yet been secured. At Tuesday’s news conference, Trump confirmed that he was seeking $25bn for the system in a
currently moving through Congress, although that sum could be cut amid ongoing negotiations.Additionally, some variation is expected in the total cost of the project. The Associated Press quoted an unnamed government official as saying Trump had been given three versions of the plan, described as “medium,” “high”, and “extra high”. These versions correspond to the number of satellites, sensors and interceptors that will be placed in space. AP reported that Trump picked the “high” version, which has an initial cost ranging between $30bn and $100bn.
“The new data point is the $175 billion, but the question remains, over what period of time. It’s probably 10 years,” Tom Karako, a senior fellow with the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told the Reuters news agency.On May 1, 42 Democratic members of the US Congress signed a letter questioning the possible involvement of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is among the top technology companies seeking to build key components of the Golden Dome.