The Silent Killers in #IndianCountry: #Copper, #Lithium, #Uranium and #Plutonium

Judge finds plutonium plants in #NewMexico and #SouthCarolina violated environmental laws

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Oct. 10, 2024

"The U.S. government's plan for increased plutonium production at #LosAlamos National Laboratory, in the heart of Pueblo lands in northern New Mexico, has been delayed by a federal judge.

"Continuing the U.S. legacy of poisoning Indian country with #radiation, this comes as the U.S. government is granting leases to foreign #mining companies targeting Native #sacred lands and communities.

"#CopperMining is targeting San CarlosApache's sacred #OakFlat; #Hualapai are suing the US Department of Interior to halt lithium mining at their sacred spring Ha'Kamwe'; and the U.S. government is promoting the ongoing digging into the #Paiute Massacre Site in northern Nevada for #lithium, in violation of all federal laws that protect Native religious and historic sites, the environment and endangered species.

"Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon threatens #Havasupai's aquifer, the haul route endangers everyone in the Four Corners region, and the uranium mill at White Mesa Ute in #Utah is poisoning #Utes.

"Interior Sec. #DebHaaland said in Farmington, N.M., that Los Alamos Labs would be the leader in the so-called '#GreenEnergy transition' in the #FourCorners region.

"More than 500 radioactive #UraniumMill sites remain on the #NavajoNation that have not been cleaned up by the U.S. #EPA, which deceives the public by announcing plans and promises to clean up the #ColdWar sites.

"In the current federal lawsuit, a federal judge in South Carolina ruled that U.S. energy officials illegally neglected to study impacts to the #environment in efforts to increase plutonium production for nuclear weapons in New Mexico and South Carolina.

"'South Carolina District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sided with environmental, #AntiNuclear proliferation and community groups last week who sued the National Nuclear Security Administration (#NNSA), which oversees the nuclear weapons stockpile as part of the U.S. Department of Energy [#DOE],' reports Source New Mexico.

"The U.S. is investing billions into restarting the manufacture of #PlutoniumPits, the grapefruit-sized spheres developed for #nuclear weapons. The plutonium is produced from uranium.

"'The federal government halted its manufacturing program at the #RockyFlatsPlant in #Colorado in 1989 after an FBI raid due to safety concerns and #EnvironmentalCrimes,' Source New Mexico reports.

"The U.S. government's #AtomicBombTesting in #Nevada left a trail of cancer and death for #WesternShoshone. The documentary 'Downwind' reveals the truth.

"'This is a very serious issue and that's why I can't let it go. I can't move on. People say, 'oh, why don't you just let it go?' Because it's killing my family. It's killing my land. It's killing my people. And that will not stand. It's being done in secret. And killing Indians in secret will not stand,' said Ian Zabarte, Principal Man of the Western Bands of the #ShoshoneNation of Indians. Zabarte is featured in '#Downwind' about radiation poisoning from U.S. #NuclearTests.

"Currently, foreign companies -- which receive the profits and find it easy to avoid clean up and responsibility for #environmental crimes and deaths from #cancer -- are receiving the mining leases from the U.S. government. The leases are granted by the U.S. Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and in the case of #UraniumMining in the #GrandCanyon, it is the USDA's Forestry Service. #Biden's attorneys have joined the lawsuit with #RioTinto to devastate #OakFlat.

"Australian and Canadian mining corporations are devastating Native lands and communities, poisoning the water and causing widespread cancer.
Rio Tinto, targeting Apaches #OakFlat, is an Australian company which destroyed 46,000 years of #Aboriginal sacred history in caves in #Australia.

"Another Australian mining company is targeting #Hualapai's sacred site. It is #Hawstone / #ArizonaLithium, in Perth, Australia.

"#EnergyFuels, now uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, and operating the uranium mill at #WhiteMesaUte, is a Canadian company. Another Canadian company is digging into the #Paiute Massacre Site. It is #LithiumAmericas.
#Hopi judge #DianeHumetewa granted a temporary restraining order to halt the lithium mining at #Hualapai's sacred spring."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-silent-killers-in-indian-country.html

U.S., Canada Agree to IJC Intervention on Transboundary Mining Pollution

Calling it 'an important first step' to solve mining pollution on the Elk-Kootenai River watershed, tribal and First Nation governments in Montana, Idaho and British Columbia cheered the long-awaited reference to the International Joint Commission

By Tristan Scott
March 11, 2024

"Federal governments in #Canada and the U.S. have agreed to ask the #InternationalJointCommission (#IJC) to study and take steps to mitigate the inflow of mining pollution to the #ElkRiver-#KootenaiRiver watershed through a joint reference, signaling a breakthrough in bilateral talks that have stalled for years, even as the company that owns the mines expands its footprint along the border with #Montana.

"The agreement was announced Monday by tribal and #FirstNation governments in Montana, #Idaho and #BritishColumbia (B.C.) who cheered the development after years of intensifying pressure on the #US and Canada. The reference means that an independent governance body representing both nations will convene to craft solutions to address the contaminants spilling into a watershed that crosses the international boundary at #LakeKoocanusa and spans #traditional #Aboriginal territory.

"The federal governments of both U.S. and Canada also confirmed the reference on Monday and issued a joint statement from the Ambassador of Canada to the United States, Kirsten Hillman, and the Ambassador of the United States to Canada, David L. Cohen. According to Pierre Cuguen, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada (#GAC), both countries 'have reached an Agreement-in-Principle (AIP) on next steps to further bilateral cooperation to reduce and mitigate the impacts of #WaterPollution” in the #transboundary #watershed.

"'The AIP provides a plan for Canada and the United States, with the assistance of the International Joint Commission, to take a holistic look at the watershed and build a shared understanding of the best available water quality data and science,' Cuguen said in an email, adding that both countries will work in concert 'with #IndigenousPeoples and #TribalNations and alongside provincial and state partners in the region.'

"'The Government of Canada is committed to safeguarding the transboundary #ElkKootenay watershed to protect the people and species that depend on this vital river system' according to Cuguen (the Canadian and First Nation spelling of Kootenai is “#Kootenay”).

"Meanwhile, tribal leaders on both sides of the border were triumphant after urging a reference for more than a decade, often with vague support from their federal counterparts.

"In Montana, Michael Dolson, chairman of the Confederated #Salish and #Kootenai Tribes (#CSKT), said the IJC reference is an essential first step in protecting fish and water quality in#LakeKoocanusa and the Kootenai River.

"'For too long, the U.S. and Canada have stood by while our waters suffered,' Dolson said in a prepared statement released Monday. “We are encouraged by the'federal governments’ change in direction and the progress that was achieved when we all worked together these past months. We will continue to work tirelessly to restore our rivers and the fish and wildlife that depend upon them. We’re at the beginning of what will likely be a long process, one that will require sustained effort from all governments involved.'"

Read more:
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2024/03/11/u-s-canada-agree-to-ijc-intervention-on-transboundary-mining-pollution/

#WaterIsLife #CoalMining
#Canada #FirstNations #WaterPollution #OpenPitMining #Environment

Proposed #LithiumMine in western #Maine clears key hurdle

New rules recommended by the Board of Environmental Protection [#MaineDEP] would allow the testing needed to build an open-pit mine over a large lithium-rich deposit at #PlumbagoMountain in #Newry.

by Penelope Overton
February 29, 2024

"The provisional amendment – the result of a state law adopted last July intended to overhaul the mining law to allow for the extraction of non-reactive minerals like spodumene, the hard rock source of lithium – now heads back to the Legislature for final consideration.

"If adopted, these rules would allow Mary and Gary Freeman, retired rock hounds who split the time between Maine and Florida, to begin the rigorous testing needed to build an open-pit mi over a large lithium-rich mineral deposit they discovered while hunting for gemstones in New 2018.

"'This has been a big lift,' board Chair Susan Lessard, the town manager of Bucksport, said of regulation change. 'I think the department has done a very good job of trying to enact some rules to go along with what the Legislature adopted in the most protective way that they were able.”

"The Newry deposit is a potential piece in the global ramp-up of lithium production to make batteries for storing clean wind and solar energy and powering electric cars. Alternative lithiu batteries are being tested, but for now, lithium is still used in most electric vehicles and grid batteries.

"Despite government and industry interest in building up a domestic lithium market, #Nevada currently has the country’s only operational lithium mine. The #SilverPeaMine, which began operating in the 1960s, pumps lithium-rich brine from underground into large evaporation pools.

"But the United States has at least a hundred domestic #LithiuMines that are hoping to get the permits needed to compete with the likes of Australia, #Chile, #China and #Argentina, which cur dominate the world market, according to conservation biologist Patrick Donnelly of the #CenterForBiologicalDiversity.

"Unlike most U.S. deposits, however, the Freeman find is a hard rock deposit of lithium, similar those in #Australia. They form when hot magma intrudes into the crust and then cools into met rich crystals. Hard-rock lithium is costlier to mine, quicker to market and yields a more valuable form of lithium than brining.

"In a 2020 paper detailing the discovery, the Freemans claimed the 10 million metric-ton #PlumagoMountain deposit had the highest average lithium content of any known spodumene deposit, including gigantic 36-foot-long crystals embedded deep inside the coarse brown and white rock face.

"Initially, the Freemans said they wanted to sell to the battery market, something that would lik require chemical processing on-site or nearby. Later, they said they wanted to sell raw spodum ore with the highest levels of lithium to scientific glass manufacturers, which could eliminate t need for processing.

"Neither the Freemans nor their attorney responded to emails and telephone requests for an interview.

"The provisional rule requires applicants seeking an open-pit mining exemption to prove the operation does not have the potential to violate state water quality standards or expose radioactive materials that would endanger human health or the environment.

"The applicant would have to conduct extensive testing and sampling to show the deposit would react when exposed to the air or water of an open-pit mine. Spodumene is non-reactive, but other metals like copper and silver will create a harmful acid discharge when exposed.

"For example, the Newry spodumene deposit is believed to contain some galena, the blue-black mineral that contains lead sulfide, which has the potential to leach lead and often occurs in combination with iron sulfide, the major culprit in causing acidic mine drainage.

"'We are uncertain if galena is present at levels that are dangerous, but the only way to know w be through detailed characterization of the deposit in the manner that these rule amendments propose,' said Nick Bennett, a staff scientist at Natural Resources Council of Maine.

“#NRCM supported the provisional rule in part because the Board of Environmental Protection decided to add back in requirements that an applicant would have to conduct real-world testing, kinetic testing, to ensure there is nothing reactive in the deposit before a mining exemption is granted.

"'We are supportive of the proposed rules that DEP drafted and BEP approved because we beli they would only allow open-pit mining of metallic minerals when that extraction presents a very low risk to water quality and the environment,' Bennett said.”

https://www.pressherald.com/2024/02/29/state-environmental-board-adopts-new-mineral-mining-rule

#WaterIsLife #Environment
#NoMining in #Maine #OpenPitMining #WesternMaine #NewryMaine

Group outraged as controversial mining project breaks ground on site of massacre: ‘[We] were not consulted’

Rick Kazmer
Sun, November 19, 2023

"A lithium mine is being constructed on #Nevada land that’s culturally important to #NativeAmericans. The project by #LithiumAmericas is at #ThackerPass, where on Sept. 12, 1865, United States soldiers massacred Native Americans, killing up to 50 people, according to the Guardian.

"Now, 158 years later, the Thacker Pass area has been identified as having the country’s largest #lithium lode. But members of tribal communities who consider the land sacred told the Guardian that they have been left out of the discussion as the operation moves forward, a point contested by the company on its website.

“'All the people here on the reservation were not consulted when this mine was approved,' Dorece Sam, a descendant of one of three survivors of the massacre, told the newspaper.
Why is lithium important?

"Lithium is a key part of #batteries that power electric vehicles #EVs and other tech. Much of it is refined on the other side of the world, with Australia and China among the leaders. The U.S., however, is among the global leaders in underground lithium reserves, with more than 13 million tons, according to Visual Capitalist, an online data collector.

"Proponents of mining the untapped U.S. reserve cite the need to gain independence from China for lithium and other metals, a goal marked at the highest level of our government.

"LithiumMining, however, can be invasive. Native Americans interviewed by the Guardian said that since it’s happening on sacred land, it’s an invasion of the highest order.

"'You can’t blow up a mountain and call it green,' Max Wilbert of Protect Thacker Pass said in a press release quoted on the Sacred Land Film Project website.

What’s the impact?

"Mining at Thacker Pass is projected to use about 1.7 billion gallons of #water, producing more than 66,000 tons of lithium a year, per the Guardian.

"Company officials claim on their website that the project has been planned for a decade with input from tribal leaders. They plan to permanently employ 500 people for at least 40 years, generating $8 billion in tax payments during the mine’s lifetime.

"At least two tribes have lawsuits filed against the project. However, tribal historic preservation officer Michon Eben told the Guardian that activity on the land is already disturbing.

"'So, if any tribes or anybody wanted to mitigate that destruction, what are we going to mitigate?' Eben said to the newspaper, noting frustration with the court system.
What’s being done to help?

"#Noninvasive lithium mining, or alternatives to the metal for use in batteries, is in the works in labs worldwide. The right solution could eliminate the need for #mining, or lithium, altogether.

"To help Native Americans protect Thacker Pass, you can research their story. The #SacredLandFilmProject has several ways to help, including #fundraising, calling #media and #officials, and sharing the story on #SocialMedia to highlight the cause."

Article source: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/group-outraged-controversial-mining-project-110000784.html

Link to Sacred Land film project:
https://sacredland.org/thacker_pass/

Take action:
https://www.protectthackerpass.org/take-action/

Boo hiss! Judge Du did give the tribes another month to amend their complaint.

Judge again rules against #tribes’ effort to stop #lithium mine

By: Jeniffer Solis - November 21, 2023

"A Nevada federal judge ruled against three #NativeAmerican tribes seeking to halt construction of the country’s largest #openpit lithium mine, but will allow them to amend their complaint against the U.S. government.

"In the meantime, construction at #LithiumNevada’s mine near the #Nevada - #Oregon border will continue. Major construction on the lithium mine is scheduled to start in 2024, while production is expected to begin in late 2026, say Lithium Nevada officials.

"In the order, filed earlier this month, U.S. District Judge #MirandaDu dismissed the tribe’s claim that the mine’s approval violates federal preservation law and land policy.

"#Du ruled the three Native American tribes’ failed to prove that the #BureauOfLandManagement did not adequately consult with them, as required by the National Historic Preservation Act, which gives tribes the right to consultation when a project affects areas of #religious or #cultural significance.

"However, the judge gave the tribes a month to amend their complaint, which claims construction of the lithium mine in #ThackerPass near the sacred site of a 1865 massacre violates #FederalLaw.

"The three litigating tribes — #SummitLake #Paiute Tribe, #RenoSparks Indian Colony, and #BurnsPaiute Tribe — refer to Thacker Pass as “Peehee mu’huh” which translates to 'rotten moon' in honor of their ancestors who were massacred by the U.S. Cavalry in 1865 in an area of the pass shaped like a moon.

"In a ruling in 2021, Judge Du said evidence presented by the tribes that a massacre took place in Thacker Pass 'further highlights the shameful history of the treatment of #NativeAmericans by federal and state governments' but 'does not definitely establish that a massacre occurred' within the proposed project site.

"All three tribes claimed the BLM withheld crucial information from relevant agencies and #misrepresented the extent of the agency’s tribal consultation before approving the lithium mine project.

"The government dismissed those claims by arguing they have satisfied federal law by consulting with relevant tribes prior to approving the mine, and by continuing that consultation with tribes after the mine’s approval.

"Du agreed with the government’s argument and dismissed the tribe’s legal challenge, but left room for the tribes to amend their complaint related to the #NationalHistoricPreservationAct and further explain their claim that the BLM was legally required to complete the consultation process before approving the project. Du also gave the tribes space to amend their claim on how the government might have violated the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

"Part of the tribe’s lawsuit seeking to block construction of the mine is still pending at the 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals, where oral arguments will be heard in February [2024].

"Will Falk, representing the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Summit Lake Paiute Tribe, said consultation should have been completed before construction began to avoid or mitigate harm to the sacred site.

"Tribal attorney’s on the case are still considering whether to amend the complaint by the Dec. 9 deadline or focus on their pending appeal, said Falk.

"'We are very disappointed that the court is allowing Lithium Nevada to destroy the site of an 1865 massacre of Paiute peoples and a whole Traditional Cultural District before the Bureau of Land Management finished consulting with tribes,' Falk said. 'While #ClimateChange is a very real, existential threat, if government agencies are allowed to rush through permitting processes to fast-track destructing mining projects like the one at Thacker Pass, more of the #NaturalWorld and more Native American culture will be destroyed.'

"The new ruling is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for opponents of the lithium mine. Over the summer, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to vacate federal land managers’ approval of a lithium mine, ruling that the U.S. government took a sufficiently 'hard look' at the project’s impacts before approving it.

"Before that, Du also ruled largely in favor of Lithium Nevada and the Bureau of Land Management in a consolidated case involving claims brought by environmental groups, a local rancher, and two Native American tribes.

"'We’ve dedicated more than a decade to community engagement and hard work in order to get this project right, and the courts have again validated the efforts by Lithium Americas and the administrative agencies,' said Tim Crowley, the vice president of government and community relations for Lithium Nevada, in a statement."

https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2023/11/21/judge-again-rules-against-tribes-effort-to-stop-lithium-mine/