"US court rejects a request by tribes to block $10B energy transmission project in Arizona," 17 April 2024

A federal judge... rejected a request by Native American tribes and environmentalists to stop work on a $10 billion transmission line being built through a remote southeastern Arizona valley that will carry wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to customers as far away as California...

Two tribes joined with archaeologists and environmentalists in filing a lawsuit... accusing the U.S. Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management of refusing... to recognize “overwhelming evidence of the cultural significance” of the remote San Pedro Valley to Native American tribes including the Tohono O’odham, Hopi, Zuni and San Carlos Apache Tribe...

...Judge Jennifer Zipps said the plaintiffs were years too late in bringing their claims and that the Bureau of Land Management had fulfilled its obligations to identify historic sites and prepare an inventory of cultural resources...

Pattern Energy lawyers argued that more than 90% of the project had been completed and that there were no inadvertent discoveries of cultural sites in the valley. They told the judge that “through good planning” the sites that were identified have been avoided as crews cleared the ground for roads and pads where the transmission towers will be located.

Hilary Tompkins, an attorney for Pattern Energy, described the consultation process over the last decade as comprehensive and said the plaintiffs had ample opportunities to raise their concerns.