Today Plaintiffs Tohono O’odham Nation; San Carlos Apache Tribe; Archaeology Southwest; and Center for Biological Diversity have issued a COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY JUDGMENT AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF to Defendants U.S. Department of the Interior; Deb Haaland, U.S. Secretary of Interior; and U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

This action challenges the Bureau of Land Management’s failure to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act (“NHPA”) and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) as well as Executive Orders 13007 and 13175, Secretarial Order 3403, and President Biden’s November 30, 2022 Memorandum on Uniform Standards for Tribal Consultation—in issuing its September 27, 2023 and November 27, 2023 Limited Notices to Proceed to SunZia Transmission, LLC, authorizing the partial construction of the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project, a massive high-voltage transmission line that will cut through the heart of the middle and lower San Pedro Valley and will cause serious, irreversible adverse effects on Tribal cultural sites and sacred areas, including areas with human remains.

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