‘Going green now for who?’ Yakama protest clean energy project on sacred site to power data center

Mounting evidence shows that a clean energy project along the Columbia River in Washington near a Yakama sacred site would in large part power a data center

by Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle, May 28. 2026

GOLDENDALE, Wash. – "High up on the Washington side of the Columbia River near the John Day hydroelectric dam, members of the #YakamaNation gathered to protest a clean energy storage project slated to be built on a #SacredTribalSite.

'Supporters of the #Goldendale pumped-hydro energy storage project have said it will help meet growing regional energy demand, and the project developers tout its potential to one day power up to half a million homes without sending harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But mounting evidence shows a large #Datacenter campus could be among the main beneficiaries of that power.

"At the event earlier this month, Yakama leaders and a handful of nonprofits fighting the project in federal court, including Hood-River based #ColumbiaRiverkeeper, called on Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson to intervene after state and federal agencies issued key permits to the project developers, a process 10 years in the making. This was despite a state review finding that it would have 'significant and unavoidable adverse impacts' on Yakama historic sites and culturally significant plants.

"The 700-acre hydrostorage project is slated to be built on the contaminated grounds of an abandoned aluminum smelter formerly owned by #LockheedMartin, and, more broadly, a site that has long encroached on a sacred Yakama site called #Pushpum, meaning the 'Mother of all roots.'

"It’s home to #Yakama #ArchaeologicalSites and dozens of seeds, roots, flowers and shrubs harvested and protected by the tribe, some of which are endemic only to the area.

" 'I know we’re in a time when we need renewable energy, but why on our #RootGrounds? Why on critical #MigratoryCorridors for #hawks, for #SageGrouse and the deers?' asked #ElaineHarvey, a watershed manager at the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and a member of the #Yakama’s #KamíłpaBand.

" 'And I say: For who are we building? We’re going green now for data centers,' she said. 'We’re not going green for Washington and Oregon state mandates. We’re going green for data centers.' "

"The project’s owners, the Danish investment firm #CopenhagenInfrastructurePartners, have not disclosed details about who would buy the energy."

Read more:
https://ictnews.org/uncategorized/going-green-now-for-who-yakama-protest-clean-energy-project-on-sacred-site-to-power-data-center/

#NoDatacenters #IndigenousNews #NativeAmericanNews #WashingtonState #Oregon #SacredPlants #ProtectTheSacred #CorporateGreed #RenewablesForPeopleNotCorporations

#SageGrouse #TrumpRegime

"The Trump administration on Monday released final land-use plans concerning imperiled sage grouse habitat across eight western states to criticism from conservationists.

The Bureau of Land Management’s final plans impact around 50 million acres of federal land across Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Nevada, California, Utah and Wyoming.

The bureau bills the plans as ones that will both enhance conservation of the imperiled species and balance access for responsible energy and mineral development, but conservation groups disagree.

'Trump’s reckless actions will speed the extinction of greater sage grouse by allowing unfettered fossil fuel extraction and other destructive development across tens of millions of acres of public lands' Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

The conservationists say the new plans strip protections from 4.3 million acres of sage grouse habitat and eliminate a warning system designed to detect declines in local populations."

https://missoulacurrent.com/sage-grouse-plans/

#Biden admin readies plan to save the sage grouse https://www.eenews.net/articles/biden-admin-readies-plan-to-save-the-sage-grouse/

"The survival of the #SageGrouse depends upon the wide-open #sagebrush plains that are increasingly threatened by #ClimateChange, #wildfires, #InvasiveSpecies... The main focus of the plan is to incorporate updated research that more accurately identifies where sage #grouse thrive and to set priority habitat boundaries"

#ClimateCrisis #Birds #Conservation #JoeBiden #USpol #Climate #Extinction #Wildlife

Yes, this is one way of collecting data on bird populations, we get it. BUT, doesn't anyone else think it's weird that we use dead birds to generate predictions about the fate of live bird populations?

*"Lotsa carcass parts this year, Jim. Yay for sage grouse."*

#SageGrouse

https://buckrail.com/wgfd-sage-grouse-wing-counts-suggest-increase-in-reproduction-rate/

Y'all know we don't use this platform to seek donations very often, but today's an exception. If you like our work on #MexicanWolves #grizzlybears #PublicLands #LivestockGrazing #SageGrouse #EcosystemHealth #climatescience #CleanWater #NativeFish #MigratoryCorridors #Bison #Biodiversity #Soils #NativePlants #CulturalLandscapes #EnvironmentalJustice #SalmonHabitat #DesertTortoise and so much more, please consider donating to support our efforts in 2024. #GivingToday

https://westernwatersheds.org/support/

#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

Bear in mind that the government gave itself blanket permission to chop, harrow, grind, and poison native plant communities across a 388K project area. We tried to stop it with an injunction and a restraining order, but the court declined. We'll continue to fight for the #sagegrouse and the #SacredLandscapes that are at risk from this enormous "restoration" project.
#SpringValley #HamlinValley

https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-denies-request-to-stop-watershed-restoration-project-in-eastern-nevada/

A federal appeals court (because of us, Friends of the Inyo, and Center for Biological Diversity) effectively halted gold mining this week in the Inyo National Forest's Long Valley. This is a win for #OwensTuiChub and #SageGrouse.

You win some and then you just keep at 'em.

https://www.salon.com/2023/08/30/conservation-groups-deter-gold-mining-in-californias-sierra-nevada-mountains/