Opponents to the federal government's efforts to sell 2,000 acres of public land in and around the Anaconda Copper Mine site to Atlantic Richfield Co. are optimistic their plea for a preliminary injunction will be granted by a federal judge.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Miranda Du heard arguments from attorneys on behalf of Great Basin Resource Watch, Prayer Horse Inc. and Taboosi Dikudu NO'Obatu Numma Cooperative on why a preliminary injunction should be granted to temporarily delay the sale until the full case challenging it can be heard.

The groups filed a suit in May seeking to stop the sale, which is slated to go through by the end of this month.

"What the sale will do is facilitate future mineral development," attorney Roger Flynn told the court. "The harm to us is immediate and permanent. They're just going to strip away federal regulation."

Attorneys from the federal Department of Justice and Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) challenged those arguments.

"This is just a 'cooks in the kitchen' issue," said Kathleen Schroder, partner at Davis Graham, on behalf of ARCO. "By streamlining the number of landowners, it just allows for a more efficient process."

Future liabilities would be eased by the sale, as would administrative challenges, according to Jack Heise, attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division. The sale would also represent a cost savings to the federal government, he said.

After the hearing, Great Basin Resource Watch Director John Hadder told The Nevada Independent that the opposing attorneys were just talking themselves in circles, while Judge Du "asked all the right questions."

"We're hopeful," Hadder said. 

BLM ignoring 'its duties'

Anaconda's property has multiple owners, including the federal government and now-defunct companies that have abandoned their portion of the land. 

ARCO has sought ownership of the federally held land for years.

In 2017, the company requested a land transfer. The following year, Rep. Mark Amodei's (R-NV) legislative effort to secure the transfer failed. 

In 2021, the federal Bureau of Land Management initiated a sale of its portion of the land, but amid negative community response, the sale never went through.

While seeking the preliminary injunction for the most recent sale, Great Basin Resource Watch and other intervenors argued that public land sales can only occur if they are in the public interest. In this case, the BLM is treating the sale as a transfer of ownership that "ignores its duties under federal law." 

By transferring the land from public to private, it reduces federal oversight of the scope and level of cleanup, which is not in the best interest of the public, they argue.

And by ignoring the fair market value of the property, the agency is disregarding its own guidelines established under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and potential plans for future mining operations at the site.

The land has a fair market value of $760,000, according to the BLM, but the land would be sold to ARCO at no cost.

If the sale goes through, it would transfer not just the property, but the mineral values, to ARCO.

Lion Copper and Gold, and its Singatse Peak Services LLC, outlined in a preliminary economic assessment for the site that, "Advanced discussions are ongoing between ARCO and BLM for ARCO to acquire the BLM unpatented mining claims at the Yerington Property. Upon acquisition, ARCO will convey title to all minerals to SPS … allowing SPS the right to explore and mine the property."

"Despite clear plans for mining and remaining activities in and around the Anaconda site, the BLM refuses to analyze these plans as part of the land sale," according to Great Basin Resource Watch.

Future mining plans at the site are unclear, Heise countered.

"It's just not clear what's going to happen on this site," he said. "Any future mining plan is hypothetical — it's impossible to know."

The intervenors also cited various environmental and tribal concerns, including that the BLM failed to consult with certain Indigenous people who rely on the land and water around the property.

A decision on the preliminary injunction should be out within a few days, Du told the attorneys. 

Cleanup nearly finished

Anaconda has a storied history as a long-running copper mine that, after a string of ownership transfers, including by now-defunct companies, narrowly dodged being placed on a sublist under the federal Superfund designation of the nation's most polluted properties.

State officials butted heads on who should lead the cleanup, with some advocating for state oversight and others advocating for the federal Environmental Protection Agency to direct the cleanup.

Read more: Cleanup's almost done at notorious Nevada mine. Potential plans to dig again raise fears.

In 2018, the state and federal government reached an agreement giving the state's department of environmental protection and ARCO control of the cleanup, with the BLM serving as a cooperating agency.

Cleanup is largely finished, and remaining phases are expected to wrap up by 2030.