Interior Sec. #DebHaaland's Pueblo is in the #BallisticMissile Parts Business

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Nov. 4, 2024

LAGUNA PUEBLO, New Mexico -- "Interior Sec. Deb Haaland's tribe's enterprise, #LagunaIndustries, manufactures parts for both the ballistic missile, and parts for combat jets, including the #F15. #Biden recently approved the sale of fifty F-15 jets to #Israel in a $20 billion deal.

"The discovery comes after Biden was protested at #GilaRiver Indian Community, and Interior Sec. Haaland was sued by three #Arizona tribes.

[...]

"Interior Sec. Deb Haaland's permit for lithium mining at #Hualapai ceremonial spring south of the #GrandCanyon, and her promotion of #LithiumMining now digging in to the #Paiute Massacre site, #PeeheeMuhuh, #ThackerPass in northern #Nevada, were difficult to understand. Until now.

"The lithium mining into the Paiute Massacre Site is for the benefit of big industry electric vehicles, and violates all federal laws that protect religious and historic sites, the water and environment, and endangered species. The mining operation is by #LithiumAmericas of Canada.

"The #Hualapai Tribe said Hualapai were never consulted before Haaland granted the drilling permit to the Australian company #HawkstoneMining. The Hualapai Tribe filed a federal lawsuit against Haaland.

"In a separate federal lawsuit, the #TohonoOodham and #SanCarlosApache Nations have filed a lawsuit against Haaland for the bulldozers now destroying ancient villages sites, burial places and medicine grounds in #SanPedroValley in Arizona, for #SunZia's transmission lines for a wind energy project.
The United States government is also allowing #EnergyFuels to operate a #UraniumMine in the Grand Canyon, now threatening the aquifer and poisoning Havasupai's air and ancestral homeland. The radioactive haul route to Energy Fuels uranium mill in the #WhiteMesaUte community in Utah endangers #Supai, #Paiute, #Dine' (#Navajo), #Hopi, and #Ute.

"The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, BLM, has a history of rubber stamping environmental impact statements, resulting in devastation."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/interior-sec-haalands-pueblo-is-in.html

#ReaderSupportedNews #NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #NoLithiumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleLithium #RecycleCopper #WaterIsLife #DefendTheSacred #MotherEarth #ReaderSupportedNews
#FreePalestine #NoUraniumMining #Greenwashing #CulturalGenocide #CorporateColonialism #NoNukes #HaulNo #UraniumMining #WhiteMesaMill

#Nevada #LithiumMine approved despite possible harm to #endangered #wildflower

Advocates vow to sue, saying plan, crucial to #Biden’s clean energy agenda, will drive #TiehmsBuckwheat to extinction

Thu 24 Oct 2024 16.36 EDT

"Environmentalists said Thursday that the mine’s final approval was a politically motivated violation of multiple US laws. The Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement: 'Litigation is now the only way [to] stop the Rhyolite Ridge Mine.'

[...]

"Opponents of the project say it’s the latest example of Biden’s administration running roughshod over US protections for native #wildlife, rare species and #SacredTribalLands in the name of slowing the #ClimateCrisis by reducing reliance on fossil fuels and bolstering national security by easing reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals.

"'We’ve been fighting to save Tiehm’s buckwheat for six years and we’re not giving up now,' Donnelly said.

"Nevada is home to the only existing lithium mine in the US. Another is currently under construction near the Oregon line 220 miles (354km) north of Reno. That #LithiumAmericas mine at #ThackerPass, which was approved in the final days of Donald #Trump’s administration, survived numerous legal challenges from #environmentalists and #NativeAmerican tribes who said it would destroy lands they considered sacred where their ancestors were massacred by US troops in 1865."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/24/nevada-lithium-mine-endangered-wildflower-tiehms-buckwheat

#SaveRhyoliteRidge
#SaveThackerPass #IoneerLtd #NoLithiumMining #RecycleLithium #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #CenterForBiologicalDiversity #ProtectTheSacred #TiehmsBuckwheat #EndangeredSpecies

Federal Judge #DianeHumetewa, #Hopi, is First to Halt Interior Sec. #DebHaaland's #Lithium Drilling Permits in #Native #Ceremonial Places

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Sept. 18, 2024

"Federal Judge Diane Humetewa, Hopi, is the first federal judge to halt the lithium permits being given out by Interior Sec. Deb Haaland. Humetewa granted a temporary restraining order halting an Australian company's lithium drilling at #Hualapai's Sacred Spring.

"Now, U.S. District Judge Humetewa will rule on whether to make it permanent. Humetewa is the first to ask attorneys to submit arguments concerning the federal laws that protect historic and archaeological sites and the environment.

"Judge Humetewa gave lawyers on both sides until next Tuesday to summarize their arguments and more specifically respond to questions she asked about the government’s compliance with the #NationalHistoricPreservationAct and the #NationalEnvironmentalPolicyAct.

"#Biden's Justice Dept attorneys joined the drillers in court to argue for the drilling to proceed. And the #NavajoTransitionalEnergyCompany, a tribal enterprise in Farmington, NM, plans to do the drilling. CEO #VernLund has joined the board of the Australian-owned company #Hawkstone / #ArizonaLithium of Perth, Australia.

"In a separate case, the #TohonoOodham and #SanCarlosApache have filed a lawsuit against Interior Sec. Haaland for the bulldozers now destroying ancient village sites, #burial places and #MedicineGrounds in southern #Arizona. A Tucson federal judge refused to halt the destruction by the #SunZia Transmission Lines, for a wind energy project that plans to take electricity from New Mexico to California. The wind energy company, #PattenEnergy, is owned by the #CanadianPensionFund.

"The lithium drilling continues at the #Paiute Massacre Site in northern Nevada by the Canadian-owned #LithiumAmericas / #LithiumNevada. #Paiute and #Shoshone elderly and mothers have been charged in a court case for defending the grounds where their ancestors remain. #Haaland said she supports the #LithiumMining.

"#ApacheStronghold filed a case before the U.S. #SupremeCourt [#SCOTUS] this week, to halt the planned destruction of their ceremonial place, #OakFlat in Arizona, targeted for a massive copper mine by Australia's #RioTinto and #BHP, and pushed by the Biden administration. Rio Tinto already blew up 46,000 years of sacred #Aboriginal teachings in caves in #Australia. Rio Tinto was forced to admit widespread sexual attacks in its mines, with the highest number in Australia and #SouthAfrica."

Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/federal-judge-humetewa-hopi-is-first-to.html

#DefendTheSacred #ReaderSupportedNews #NoMiningWithoutConsent #NoLithiumMining #EnvironmentalRacism #environment #Greenwashing #EVs #WaterIsLife #NoLithiumMiningWithoutConsent #HumanRights #WaterIsLife #HumanRightsDefenders #IndigenousActivists #CorporateColonialism #SaveOakFlat
#CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism #ExtractiveMining

#FortMcDermitt Tribal Leader Choked Youth During #LithiumAmericas Community Meeting

Crutcher attempted to pressure Jimmy into deleting portions of the meeting. Dorece Sam said that was not going to happen because it was a live broadcast

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News
Video by Young Warrior

"A Fort McDermitt tribal leader attacked a minor and choked him. The youth was videotaping a public community meeting being held about financial benefits from lithium mining by Lithium Americas, now digging into the Paiute Massacre Site in northern Nevada.

"The incident was broadcast on #KPFK Los Angeles. It occurred during the quarterly meeting with Lithium Americas and #FortMcDermittTribalCouncil, on Monday, Jan. 8.
During the meeting, Arlo Crutcher, former chairman of Fort McDermitt #Paiute #Shoshone, walked across the conference room where tribal youth Jimmy, a minor, was videotaping."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/01/fort-mcdermitt-tribal-leader-choked.html#more

Link to video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jWAKwPbb0U

#LithiumMining #PauiteShoshone #EnvironmentalRacism #CorporateColonialism
#WaterIsLife #CulturalGenocide
#OpenPitMining #StopThackerPass #ThackerPass

Battle of #LithiumMining at #Paiute Massacre Site Links Struggles Against #Greenwashing Around the World

By Brenda Norrell, #CensoredNews
December 6, 2023

"The struggle to protect #PeeheeMuhuh, #ThackerPass, from lithium mine links the #global struggles of uncontacted #Indonesians battling #nickel mining, child slaves in #Congo's #cobalt mines, and the peoples' battles against lithium mining in #Serbia and #Argentina. They are all battling the greenwashing of the false solution of #electricvehicles for #ClimateChange.

"The desecration of the sacred Paiute Massacre site by #LithiumAmericas of Canada is proceeding because federal laws do not protect massacre sites. Further, a man camp of lithium miners threatens the rural communities of #FortMcDermitt Paiute #Shoshone Nation, and the town of #Winnemucca with crime, specifically sex trafficking.

"Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, #RenoSparks Indian Colony Chairman Arlan Melendez called for a new mobilization of #PeacefulProtests that will bring awareness to the public about the ongoing desecration to the sacred place and the damage to the #environment. He called for support from #SouthDakota and elsewhere to bring this desecration to the forefront.

"'We lost the lawsuit because the law favors #mining, especially in this state,' Chaimrnan Melendez said.
'Without water, there is no life,' said Dean Barlese, #PyramidLakePaiute, who offered the opening traditional prayer honoring all created things, all sacred creation. 'We're teaching our young people these prayer songs.'

"'Our songs are still out there on the land.'

"Chairman Melendez said they are concerned about the crime that the mine will bring to Fort McDermitt region, in a rural area, including man camps, especially with the concern for missing and murdered women.
The lithium boom is like the gold rush, the whole state has lithium deposits, and #Nevada's 28 bands and tribes are sure to be affected. Already, sacred sites are being desecrated by lithium mining.
Chairman Melendez said the strategy is to mobilize tribes to speak with a louder voice so that the people will understand the devastation."

Read more: https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2023/12/battle-of-lithium-mining-at-paiute.html

‘We were not consulted’: #NativeAmericans fight #lithium mine on site of 1865 massacre

by Michael Sainato
Fri 13 Oct 2023

"[T]he process for mining lithium is rife with #environmental impacts. Production of a ton of lithium carbonate produces three times the emissions of producing a ton of steel on average, and uses a huge amount of #water. The #ThackerPass lithium project is expected to use 1.7bn gallons of water annually to produce 60,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate a year.

"A lawsuit filed by the #RenoSparks Indian Colony and the #SummerLake #Paiute Tribe is still pending in court against the project to recognize Thacker Pass as a cultural district. Another lawsuit filed by a rancher, four environmental groups, and two other Native American tribes was ruled in favor of the project and an appeal was lost in July 2023.

"Michon Eben, the tribal historic preservation officer for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, said she submitted the petition report to the #BureauOfLandManagement in February but has not heard any movement on it from the agency.

"She said the regional office still has not turned it into the National Park Service to review, respond, and put it on the national register. She also criticized the federal agency for not addressing these issues in the environmental impact statement for the mining project.

"'That’s upsetting, because while they’re holding the report, the traditional cultural district has been destroyed. Because #LithiumAmericas is out there, they’re doing ground-disturbing activities in the area, which we state is a traditional cultural district,' said Eben. 'So, if any tribes or anybody wanted to mitigate that destruction, what are we going to mitigate?'

"Between 1864 to 1868, there were concerted efforts by the federal government to massacre Native Americans in the Great Basin area, a part of history not taught in schools and often ignored, Eben said.

“'The world needs to know that an important historical event occurred there, and that the Bureau of Land Management is not following the National Historic Preservation Act, one of the federal laws that has to be followed during a project like this. They failed to conduct an ethnography with Paiute and #Shoshone people,' added Eben."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/13/native-americans-1865-massacre-lithium-mine-thacker-pass

Now! #Pauite Blocking #LithiumMine Construction at #ThackerPass, Nevada

Protect Peehee Mu'huh!

April 25, 2023

"#FortMcDermitt and #PyramidLake Pauite are offering prayers, and blocking construction by #LithiumAmericas of Canada at the Pauite Massacre Site in northern Nevada."

#NativeAmericans #IndigenousNews #StopThackerPass

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2023/04/now-paiute-blocking-lithium-mine.html

BREAKING! Judge affirms stricter interpretation of federal mining law

By SCOTT SONNER, Associated Press, April 13, 2023

RENO, Nev. (AP) — "Another judge has adopted a U.S. appellate court's stricter interpretation of a century-and-a-half-old mining law in a new ruling that blocks a metals mine in Nevada. The ruling could have ramifications for a huge #lithium mine near the Nevada-Oregon line and other future mines on public lands across the West.

"Environmentalists say Hicks' ruling bodes well for their #ThackerPass appeal.

"'It's very significant,' said Roger Flynn, a longtime attorney for the Colorado-based Western Action Mining Project representing the Great Basin Resource Watch and others in lawsuits challenging both the molybdenum and lithium mines."

#LithiumMining #LithiumAmericas #SaveThackerPass #IndigenousNews

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-affirms-stricter-interpretation-of-federal-mining-law/ar-AA19N3iu

#Construction is under way at the #ThackerPass #lithium #mine in northern #Nevada after a federal court denied opponents’ requests for an injunction.
#LithiumAmericas - a #mining company headquartered in #Vancouver , #Canada , said in a news release this month that workers were #drilling at the site and building infrastructure, including water #pipelines .

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2023/3/15/nevada-lithium-mine-breaks-ground-despite-indigenous-opposition

What Is #OpenPit #Mining

Definition, Examples, and Environmental Impact

By Rebecca Coffey, Updated July 26, 2022

"Environmentally, open-pit mining is devastating. It consumes enormous amounts of water, heavily pollutes water and air, disfigures landscapes, and permanently destroys habitat. Even after pits are exhausted and sites are rehabilitated, the pit area retains elevated risks of #erosion and #flooding.

"Heavy clouds of dust form during mining operations. Blasting alone is an enormous piece of the problem. In 2018 an international team of scientists publishing in E3S Web of Conferences reported that about 10 billion cubic meters of rock are exploded annually. The resulting clouds transport about 2.0-2.5 million tons of dust.

"The dust from drilling and blasting at some mines is highly radioactive. This is the case, for example, at uranium mines. The problem is not limited to well-known radioactive ores, however, as all ores are #radioactive to some degree.

"Even when it’s not radioactive, dust containing heavy metals can be very dangerous. When it is breathed it can create a variety of respiratory problems including black lung disease.

"The explosives used in blasting release fumes rich in #smog- and #AcidRain-producing gases like highly toxic nitrogen dioxide. As far back as 1973 Soviet scientists reported that the smog can form in the pits themselves.In 2019 Chinese scientists reported that a mine-produced hydrochloric acid mist was caustic enough to corrode concrete.

" One of the most significant problems in open pit mining is also endemic to underground mining. The mineral pyrite is often found in coal mines. It contains sulfur. When pyrite is exposed and sulfur reacts with air and water, it forms an acid. Acidic water as well as any rock-bound heavy metals that the acid has dissolved leach out of the mines and into nearby rivers, lakes, and streams, killing aquatic life and making the water unusable.

"A 2021 study in the peer-reviewed journal Ecological Applications showed the elimination of 40% of the marine animal species in 93 bodies of water downstream from an area of Appalachia that has multiple open-pit mines. Especially problematic in relation to coal mining, acid mine drainage can continue for hundreds of years, even long after the mine has closed."

#OpenPit #Environment #Pollution #WaterIsLife #LithiumNevada #LithiumAmericas #Lithium #ThackerPass #WaterIsLife #PeeheeMuhuh #ProtectThackerPass

Read more:
https://www.treehugger.com/what-is-open-pit-mining-definition-and-environmental-impact-5219892

Construction begins on controversial #lithium mine in #Nevada

Opponents say the Thacker Pass lithium project was rushed in the name of the green transition.

by Gabriela Aoun Angueira, March 3, 2023

"'It’s an important place not only because a terrible massacre occurred, but also because it’s a place where people gather, it’s a place for ceremony, for hunting,' said Michon Eben, tribal historic preservation officer for the Reno Sparks Indian Colony, a government that includes members from the the #Paiute, #Shoshone and #Washoe tribes. The colony is advocating for Peehee Mu’huh to be on the National Register of Historic Places. 'It’s really hard to be a tribal member and see our homelands destroyed,' said Eben.

"#ThackerPass also comprises thousands of acres of #sagebrush and is a nesting ground for the sage grouse and a migration corridor for pronghorn #antelope. Environmental groups including the Great Basin Resource Watch and Western Watersheds Project say the mine would cause irreversible #ecological damage, and that the project’s impact was not adequately studied.

"'It got by the environmental impact statement process in just under a year and I would expect a project of this scale and complexity to take 3 to 5 years,' said John Hadder, director of Great Basin Resource Watch. 'That’s sloppy permitting on the side of the federal government.'

"Tribes, #environmental groups and a cattle rancher are all plaintiffs in a combined case against the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, and #LithiumNevada, a subsidiary of #LithiumAmericas. On February 6, a federal judge in Reno ruled that the BLM had complied with federal law in approving the mine, with the exception of one matter regarding waste disposal, which the judge ordered the BLM to revisit. The plaintiffs filed an appeal in the 9th Circuit and an emergency motion to block construction before the appeal hearing. The appeals court rejected the injunction and set the hearing date for June. "

https://grist.org/climate-energy/construction-begins-lithium-mine-nevada-controversial/

Three tribes file new lawsuit challenging #ThackerPass lithium mine

by Jeniffer Solis, February 21, 2023

"A week after a federal judge closed a lawsuit against federal land managers and a mining developer, three Native American tribes have filed a new lawsuit centered on the largest known source of #lithium in the United States.

"The new lawsuit comes after U.S. District Judge Miranda Du ruled largely in favor of #Canada-based #LithiumAmericas and the Bureau of Land Management in a consolidated case involving claims brought by environmental groups, a local rancher, and two #NativeAmerican tribes.

"Both tribes involved in the previous lawsuit—the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Burns Paiute Tribe— joined the new lawsuit along with the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe.

"'When the decision was made public on the previous lawsuit last week, we said we would continue to advocate for our sacred site PeeHee Mu’Huh. A place where prior to colonization, all our Paiute and Shoshone ancestors lived for countless generations,' said Arlan Melendez, Chairman of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony in a statement. 'It’s a place where all #Paiute and #Shoshone people continue to #pray, gather medicines and food, honor our non-human relatives, honor our water, honor our way of life, honor our ancestors.'"
#EnvironmentalRacism #CulturalGenocide

https://missoulacurrent.com/tribes-lithium-mine/

Lithium Americas meets with Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone

They are beginning to destroy the land. The legality of this is questionable, but they are doing it anyway. And BLM (Bureau of Land Management) is allowing them to do it.

by Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Feb 9 2023

"While some Fort McDermitt #Paiute and #Shoshone are meeting with #LithiumAmericas, promising benefits today -- #Winnemucca elderly and disabled are living at Motel 6. Grandmothers evicted with their grandchildren said they have been evicted from their homes to make way for #lithium mine housing."

#NativeAmericans #Indigenous #IndigenousRights #LandBack #EnvironmentalRacism

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2023/02/now-lithium-americas-meeting-with-fort.html#more