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

[Photos] #PrayerHorseRide to Peehee Mu'huh

Nanesootuhina Pookoo Goobakatudu

#CensoredNews, March 28, 2024
Photos by Melissa Robles-Dyer

Peehee Mu'huh (#ThackerPass) -- "The Prayer Horse Ride, March 17-26, began in Schurz on its jouney to Peehee Mu’huh, Thacker Pass. The ride is in the traditional, ancestral and #unceded lands of the #Paiute, #Shoshone and #Bannock.

"'We do this prayer ride to reconnect our way of life,' said #JoshDiniSr., #WalkerRiverPaiute, #WaterProtector and #PrayerHorseRider.

"The Prayer Horse Ride is to raise awareness about #LithiumMining in #McDermittCaldera, and also #CopperMining in the #PineNutHills, in remembrance of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/People (#MMIW / #MMIP). Riders are revitalizing cultural identity, languages and lifeways in #Indigenous communities."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/03/prayer-horse-ride-to-peehee-muhuh.html

#ProtectThackerPass #IndigenousActivism #IndigenousPeoples #PeeheeMuhuh #NoLithiumMining #EnvironmentalRacism #RecycleElectronics #RecycleLithium #LandBack #TraditionalLands #LithiumNevada #LithiumAmerica #RioTinto #CorporateColonialism

#ThackerPass protesters claim “biodiversity necessity defense” in court case with #LithiumNevada Corporation

By Kevin Sheridan
Published: Mar. 26, 2024

WINNEMUCCA, Nev. (KOLO) - "Six protesters being sued by the Lithium Nevada Corporation are using what they are calling a 'biodiversity necessity defense'.

"They say the defense is 'a legal argument used to justify breaking the law when a greater harm is being prevented; for example, breaking a car window to save an infant locked inside on a stifling hot day, or breaking down a door to help someone screaming inside a locked home. In these cases, trespassing is justified to save a life.'

"This week’s filing states that the 'Defendants possessed an actual belief that their acts of protest were necessary to prevent the present, continuing harms and evils of ecocide and irreversible climate change.'

"'We’re in the midst of the 6th mass extinction of life on Earth, and it’s being caused by human activities like mining,' said attorney Terry Lodge, who is representing the protesters. 'Our lives are made possible by biodiversity and ecosystems. Protecting our children from pollution and biodiversity collapse isn’t criminal, it’s heroic.'

"In a filing with the court, Lodge and other attorneys claimed the company had 'unclean hands', and that Lithium Nevada has 'engaged in serious misconduct including violating the Defendants’ human rights, Defendants’ civil rights, misleading the public about the impacts of lithium mining and how lithium mining contributes to climate change and biodiversity collapse, and conducting the inherently dangerous and ecologically destructive practice of surface mining at the Thacker Pass mine'.

"They further argue stopping the mine will prevent significant greenhouse gas emissions, and that their actions are justified because they are working to prevent #CimateChange."

https://www.kolotv.com/2024/03/26/thacker-pass-protesters-claim-biodiversity-necessity-defense-court-case-with-lithium-nevada-corporation/

#ClimateNecessityDefense #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #ThackerPassProtectors #SLAPPs #SaveThackerPass
#PeeheeMuhuh #Pauite #Shoshone #NoMining #LithiumMining #DirectAction #EarthDefenders #SacredSites #ProtectThackerPass

#ThackerPass #Protectors File First-Ever '#BiodiversityNecessityDefense' in #Nevada Court

While pursuing a '#ClimateNecessityDefense,' and making allegations that #mining company has violated their rights, their attorney said, 'They’re not criminals; they’re heroes.'

Bhie-Cie Zahn-Nahtzu: “#LithiumNevada is a #greedy #corporation on the wrong side of history when it comes to #EnvironmentalRacism and desecration of #SacredSites. It’s ironic to me that I’m the trespasser because I want to see my ancestral land preserved.”

By #ProtectThackerPass, #CensoredNews, March 26, 2024

"In a first for the American legal system, the lawyers for six people sued by Lithium Nevada Corporation for protesting the Thacker Pass mine are arguing a ‘biodiversity necessity defense.’

"The necessity defense is a legal argument used to justify breaking the law when a greater harm is being prevented; for example, breaking a car window to save an infant locked inside on a stifling hot day, or breaking down a door to help someone screaming inside a locked home. In these cases, trespassing is justified to save a life.
.
"This week’s filing states: 'Defendants possessed an actual belief that their acts of protest were necessary to prevent the present, continuing harms and evils of #ecocide and irreversible #ClimateChange.'

"'We’re in the midst of the 6th #MassExtinction of life on Earth, and it’s being caused by human activities like mining,' said attorney Terry Lodge, who is representing the #protesters. 'Our lives are made possible by #biodiversity and #ecosystems. Protecting our children from pollution and biodiversity collapse isn’t criminal, it’s heroic.'

"Currently Earth is experiencing one of the most rapid and widespread extinction events in the planet’s 4-billion-year history.

"Biologists report that habitat destruction, like the bulldozing of nearly 6,000 acres of biodiverse #sagebrush steppe for the Thacker Pass mine, is the main cause of this '#6thMassExtinction.'"

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/03/thacker-pass-protectors-file-first-ever.html

#ThackerPassProtectors #SLAPPs #SaveThackerPass #PeeheeMuhuh #Pauite #Shoshone #NoMining #LithiumMining #EarthDefenders

Judge Tosses Out One Claim Against #ThackerPassProtectors, Five Claims Remain

Rejects 'Unjust Enrichment' Claim, But Five Other Claims Proceed in Ongoing Lawsuit Over Spring 2023 Protests

By Protect Thacker Pass, Censored News, March 11, 2024

WINNEMUCCA, Nevada — "A judge has dismissed an “unjust enrichment” charge filed against seven people sued for protesting the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada, but allowed five other charges to move forward.
District Judge Michael R. Montero rejected #LithiumNevada Corporation’s claims that protesters had engaged in unjust enrichment by writing online messages encouraging supporters to donate, ruling that these messages are '#ProtectedSpeech under the #FirstAmendment.'

"'This is a very significant win for my clients and a rebuke to Lithium Nevada,' says Terry Lodge, an attorney representing six of the protesters. 'But,' Lodge says, 'we’ve still got a long way to go in this case.'

[...]

"While one portion of Montero’s ruling was favorable to the protesters, other portions were not. Judge Montero issued a prelimary ruling in Lithium Nevada’s favor on five other claims. But, Lodge says that at this stage, the judge was not determining whether Lithium Nevada’s claims are true or not. He was simply reviewing Lithium Nevada’s allegations, taking them as true, and determining whether those allegations were violations of Nevada law.

[...]

Native Land Claims “Frivolous”

"In another part of his ruling, Judge Montero called arguments that a #Paiute protester has a right to access the September 12, 1865 #ThackerPass massacre site within Lithium Nevada’s mine site to pray for massacred Paiute #ancestors 'frivolous'.

"The ruling states that recognizing traditional native land claims 'would unequivocally undermine each and every property owner’s rights' and concludes that '[t]his is a Pandora’s box the Court is unwilling to open.”
The defendants are seeking monetary donations to their legal defense fund."

FMI and full article:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/03/judge-tosses-out-one-claim-against.html

#LandBack #NativeActivists #CulturalGenocide #ThackerPass #PeeheeMuhuh #Pauite #Shoshone #Bannock #NoMining #LithiumMining #SaveThackerPass #SLAPPs #LithiumAmerica

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/

#StopThackerPass #CulturalGenocide #OpenPitMining #ProtectPeeheeMuhuh #LithiumNevada #NativeAmericanHistory

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/

#NativeAmericanHistory #CulturalGenocide #RespectTheTreaties #LithiumAmericas #OpenPitMining

‘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

#NativeAmericanHistory #WaterIsLife #LithiumNevada #LithiumMining #CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism #WaterProtectors #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice

#Nevada rancher cites ‘shroud of #secrecy’ at #LithiumMine

By Scott Sonner, Associated Press
Published Friday, Oct. 29, 2021

RENO — “A Nevada rancher suing to block construction of the largest lithium mine in the U.S. says the government’s #environmental assessment of the project relies on a baseline set by a consultant for the #mining company with a conflict of interest that trivializes potential harm to water resources and #wildlife near the #Oregon line.

“Bartell Ranch LLC wants a U.S. judge to order the Bureau of Land Management to provide documents, contracts and internal communications with all third-party consultants the agency used to reach its conclusion that #LithiumNevada Corp.’s mine won’t affect threatened species or significant scientific, cultural or historic resources.

“The ranch filed a lawsuit in February challenging plans for the #ThackerPass mine it says would rob the ranch of its precious water rights.

“The case has been consolidated with lawsuits subsequently filed in U.S. District Court in Reno by conservation groups and tribes alleging the mine would destroy critical #SageGrouse habitat and damage sacred tribal lands that were the site of a massacre in the 1860s.

“The bureau hired its own independent consultant, ICF International Inc., to prepare the scientific foundation for a 2,700-page environmental impact statement required under the National Environmental Policy Act.

“‘But it includes 1,300 pages of studies on groundwater pumping that established the models and baseline created by Tyler Cluff, a hydrogeologist in Reno for Canada-based Piteau Associates, according to the motion the ranch’s lawyers filed last week.

“They say Cluff currently is serving as an expert for Lithium Nevada in a separate water right protest proceeding in which he’s relying on much of the same data and work he did for the mine’s final environmental impact statement.

“’This unusual relationship between a third-party contractor for the NEPA analysis, Piteau, and LNC suggests that Piteau was not working for BLM on the FEIS in a neutral and independent capacity, but rather, was working directly for #LNC,' the motion states.

“Piteau didn’t respond to emails and phone messages seeking comment.

“The ranch’s lawyers say they’re seeking an order to obtain the documents because the bureau and Piteau have refused their requests to collect data at Piteau’s test wells and monitoring locations or turn over field data. They say it’s created a 'shroud of secrecy' over the basis for the mine’s approval.

“'The entirety of the water resources analysis appears to have been entrusted to Piteau Associates, who appears to have worked mostly, if not exclusively, at the direction of LNC,' the motion said. It said the bureau didn’t verify Piteau’s field work and 'simply assumed it was reliable.'

“Bartell’s own hydrogeologist strongly disputes the baseline water quantity and quality, and forage conditions.

“'Piteau could have inputted faulty data into the models to generate a particular baseline and model outcomes to benefit their employer LNC,' it said. 'BLM’s decision to trust the NEPA process to parties like Piteau who may have a financial stake in the approval of the (mine) raises the specter of bad faith.'

“The new filing seeks to add the field studies and samples to the court’s administrative record, which currently contains Piteau’s final reports and analysis 'but excludes nearly all drafts and communications from Piteau.'

“'The environmental baseline is so insufficient that actual baseline conditions are hidden.'

“The bureau has until Nov. 5 to respond to the latest filing.

“A Justice Department lawyer representing the agency said in an email to the ranch’s lawyer last month the bureau wasn’t provided any field reports and 'relied on those contractors’ baseline reports, which are included in the EIS.'

“'BLM has the expectation that contractors with appropriately credentialed staff will provide accurate data and conclusions in a professional manner,' Leilani Doktor wrote in the email attached as an exhibit to the ranch’s motion.

“Lithium Nevada said in its latest filing last week that 'BLM fully analyzed and ensured compliance with water quality standards and appropriately adopted adaptive management.' It said earlier that the bureau conducted a comprehensive review based on its 'experience and expertise,' public comment and 'extensive data collected ... over years in coordination with state and federal environmental agencies.'

“Doktor said the bureau considers the documents sought by the ranch 'internal and deliberative' material exempt from the administrative record. Third-party contracts are exempt because they 'are not materials considered during the decision-making process.'

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2021/oct/29/nevada-rancher-cites-shroud-of-secrecy-at-lithium/

#WaterIsLife #ConflictOfInterest #CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism #CorporateColonialism