#airislife — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #airislife, aggregated by home.social.
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#Mississippi homeowners blame a noisy #DataCenter plant for sleepless nights. The mayor's advice? "Consider selling."
By Lauren Fichten, July 16, 2026
"It was 4 a.m. on a Sunday and 46-year-old Jason Haley was once again wide awake.
"The suburban silence that Haley had grown used to in his two decades as a resident of #SouthavenMS, had, for the last few months, been replaced by a constant whirring, like an airplane hovering over his home, he said.
"The noise keeping Haley awake was coming from a plant powering #ElonMusk's #xAI #datacenters in the area, according to a lawsuit filed in June against the company and its subsidiary, #MZXTech. Haley and two other #Southaven residents, who live within a mile of the plant, allege in the suit that 'near-constant' noise and vibrations are causing negative physical and psychological health effects.
"The filing comes amid growing #resistance toward data center development, with the majority of Americans opposing local construction of a data center, according to a Gallup poll published earlier this year.
"Similar disputes are playing out across the country, like in #MountPleasantWI, where a lawsuit this month filed by residents alleges a data center emits 'unreasonable and excessive noise' onto residents' properties and in #LowellMA [a city with a large #Latino population -- #EnvironmentalRacism], where noise from a data center's cooling center 'disrupts neighbors' sleep,' according to an April suit.
"There are more than 4,000 data centers in the U.S., according to a recent United Nations report. To power the data centers, developers are building their own plants, sometimes with little warning to residents like Haley.
"Haley reached out to Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite about the noise in emails he shared with CBS News. In one last November, he urged Musselwhite to drive through the neighborhood 'and take a listen to the constant #HighPitch noises.' "
" 'I am aware of the noise and working on a solution with xAI officials,' Musselwhite had responded to Haley an hour later. 'It is a problem,' he said in another email later in the day.
"But soon, another sleepless night rolled around and Haley was emailing the mayor again.
""Anyone else I can reach out to?" Haley wrote to Musselwhite. "It's almost 4 am and I can hear it from my bed. The high pitch and roaring combined is full force at this time. My ears are ringing. I can't live in this. How was this ever approved?"
[In a later email, this was Musselwhite's response] "I know they want houses for employees, so you may want to consider selling your home." 😡
Read more:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mississippi-elon-musk-xai-data-center-power-plant-noise/#ElonSucks #BigDataSucks #NoisePollution #BigData
#CorporateColonialism #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #AirIsLife #USPol
#AISucks #DatacenterMoratorium
#AIDatacenters #EnvironmentalRacism
#PreyingOnThePoor #EnergyVampires #ResistAI -
#Indigenous at the #UnitedNations Expose #AIDatacenters and Racially-Biased #Misinformation
By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, July 14, 2026
GENEVA -- "The mediocre, middle-of-the-road approach to #AI at the United Nations was countered by testimony today from #IndigenousPeoples pointing out that #ArtificialIntelligence is not a solution, and is doing great harm to Indigenous with derogatory misinformation and massive #datacenters that are poisoning the #land, #water and #air.
"#JaimieWilliams, #MiamiNation in #Indiana, speaking on behalf of the Society of Native Nations, at the U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, responded to the A.I. summary presented this morning. Williams said the summary does not reflect the true impact of artificial intelligence, particularly in the way the technology is powered.
" 'AI data centers are rapidly being constructed on the land of Indigenous Peoples without free, prior and #InformedConsent from us.'
" 'My people came out of the water, the #SaintJosephRiver in the southeast of #LakeMichigan, along that river there are several data centers,' she said, pointing out that Indigenous across #TurtleIsland share similar stories.
" 'These sacred waterways and lands are being used for A.I. data centers.'
" 'I was once convinced artificial intelligence could help my tribe build our language and culture, but AI is not a sustainable solution.'
" 'There is currently no available technology available to power A.I. without poisoning the water, drying up the rivers and causing further contamination in the territories of Indigenous Peoples, who are already disproportionately affected.' "
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/07/indigenous-at-united-nations-expose-ai.html#BigData #BigDataSucks #CorporateColonialism #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #AirIsLife #ProtectTheSacred #USPol
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#AirQuality concerns dominate western #Colorado with incoming smoke
by: Dalen Brazelton
Posted: Jun 24, 2026 / 06:25 AM MDTGRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — "Fires in #Utah and Colorado and smoke in the valley is causing massive air quality concerns. Chances for showers tonight will help soak up a lot of particulates in the air, but with near-100 degree highs today, most chances for daytime rain will evaporate. Dry lightning also remains a concern, with possibilities of it sparking another wildfire. Chances for storms jump to 60 percent tonight."
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So, given the attack on #SamAltman's house (and how gun-ho many workplaces are for employees to join the #AICult), I expect that anyone #ResistingAI will be next ones to be branded as #Terrorists.
#PauseAI and #StopAI: Meet the #AntiAI groups facing questions after the attack on Sam Altman
By Sharon Goldman
April 15, 2026Excerpt: "The attempted firebombing of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s San Francisco home last Friday, allegedly carried out by 20-year-old Daniel Moreno-Gama, has drawn attention to two anti-AI groups with similar names: Pause AI and Stop AI. Both have condemned the violence and said the suspect is not and was never a member of their organizations.
"Still, the incident, in which Moreno-Gama also went to #OpenAI’s headquarters and tried to shatter the building’s glass doors with a chair and threatened to burn the facility, surfaced his activity on Pause AI’s Discord server and renewed scrutiny of Stop AI’s direct actions targeting OpenAI last year."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/IT6gR#ResistanceIsFertile🌿
#ResistAI #AISucks #AIDataCenters #USPol #DomesticTerrorists #BigData #CorporateTerrorism #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #NoisePollution #EnergyGrid
#Technofascism -
'#DataColonialism': Native Communities Fight #AI #DataCenters on #IndigenousLand
#DemocracyNow, April 22, 2026
"The artificial intelligence industry’s #DataCenter boom is the latest chapter in a long history of #EnvironmentalRacism and resource exploitation in vulnerable Native communities, says Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne activist #KrystalTwoBulls, the executive director of #HonorTheEarth, an Indigenous-led #EnvironmentalJustice organization that is tracking over 100 proposed data center projects on tribal and rural lands. We speak to Two Bulls about the myriad impacts of what she calls a 'modern-day iteration' of '#SettlerColonialism,' including #NoisePollution, #cancers and respiratory illnesses, water depletion, #EnergyGrid overload and even '#EcologicalCollapse.' As tech companies set their sights on Indigenous lands, Two Bulls says, 'We’re always the one that ends up having to sacrifice our relationship to land, air, water, our communities and our nonhuman relatives.' "
Read / listen / watch:
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/4/22/krystal_twobulls_indigenous_lands_data_centers#AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #AISucks #AIDataCenters #CorporateColonialism #ResistAI
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#Maine - New testing identifies elevated #benzene emissions near #SouthPortland tank farms
“You might have been able to do this in the past, but we’re not going to let you do this in the future.”
by Norah Hogan, 4/14/2026
Excerpt: "Long-term exposure to benzene has been linked to dizziness, headaches, blood disorders and cancer.
"Reiner, who has lived near three of the sites for years, was diagnosed with bladder cancer last Thanksgiving. He underwent surgery in December and is now receiving treatment.
" 'The big question is, was it this exposure? You can’t say. But this exposure may have contributed,' he said. 'The more toxins and environmental hazards you encounter in your life, it all adds up. It’s the cumulative effect.'
"Concerns about emissions have persisted for years. Previously, oil companies were allowed to self-monitor their emissions and were subject to stricter regulations only if they reported elevated toxin levels.
"In 2019, #GlobalCompanies LLC entered into a legal settlement that required the installation of new technology to reduce emissions. The company’s benzene levels are now well below state thresholds.
" 'They don’t want to be forced to do something that would be the right thing for everybody,' Reiner said. 'Everybody in America could benefit if oil companies started cleaning their emissions before they leave the tank farms and facilities.' "
Read more:
https://www.wmtw.com/article/elevated-benzene-near-south-portland-tank-farms/71016200#MainePol #MaineNews #BenzeneEmissions #AirIsLife #BigOilAndGas #AirPollution #Carcinogenic
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The #Atomic Bowl: Football at Ground Zero -- And #Nuclear Peril Today
The U.S. all-star football game in the atomic ruins of Nagasaki--and why it matters today (53m 6s)
"The second atomic bomb blast over #Nagasaki in August 1945 has become known as 'the forgotten bomb.' Less than five months later, the U.S. military staged an all-star football game on a killing field in #Nagasaki, amid lingering radiation levels.. Why was the game played there? And why does the Nagasaki bombing provide so many lessons and warnings for us today as nuclear dangers proliferate?"
Available for viewing in the US until July 12, 2026.
https://www.pbs.org/show/atomic-bowl-football-at-ground-zero-and-nuclear-peril-today/
#NoNukes #NoNuclearWeapons #NoNuclearWar #NoWar #RadioactiveContamination #Radiation #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #AtomicBomb #ColdWar
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🚨 We all knew this would be coming... Don't like polluters? TOUGH SHIT! You're under arrest!!!
#FBI #Counterterrorism Agents Spent Weeks Seeking a #ClimateActivist — Then Showed Up at His Door
The visit suggests a possible FBI probe into #ExtinctionRebellionNYC as the Trump administration increases surveillance of #activist groups.
Jacqueline Sweet, February 12 2026
Excerpt: "Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, at least one of whom works on counterterrorism, went to the home of a former member of a #ClimateActivism group for questioning last week, potentially signaling a new escalation in the Trump administration’s promise to criminalize #nonprofits and #ActivistGroups as #DomesticTerrorists.
"Two FBI agents, one from New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, told a former member of Extinction Rebellion NYC they wanted to ask him about the group at his home upstate on Friday, an attorney for the group told The Intercept. The visit followed a prior attempt to reach him at his old address.
"The FBI’s apparent probe of Extinction Rebellion NYC comes as the Justice Department ramps up its surveillance of activists protesting immigration enforcement and the Trump administration creates secret lists of domestic enemies under Trump’s National Security Presidential #Memorandum7, or #NSPM7." 'I believe this to be a significant escalation of the criminal legal system against #XR and find it very troubling,' said Ron Kuby, the Extinction Rebellion attorney. 'This is usually the way we find out an actual investigation is underway and is often followed by other visits and other actions.'
"The former Extinction Rebellion member, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for his safety, said that the visit came after a phone call in January from a special agent that he assumed was a scam.
" 'I was skeptical the phone call was really from the FBI, but after I declined to speak with the agent, she said that she was standing outside my door,' he said. She was actually at the activist’s former address, which he said made him additionally dubious. But last week, when the agents showed up at his current address, he said he saw the agent’s business card through his door."
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/fbi-counterterror-extinction-rebellion/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/4Nq3X#USPol #ExtinctionRebellion #CriminalizingDissent #AntiProtestLaws #EPAFail #Polluters #Corporatocracy #CorporateColonialism #Oligarchy #EnvironmentalActivists #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ResistFascism #Authoritarianism #Fascism #Orwellian #ThoughtCrime #BigBrother #NineteenEightyFour #SilencingDissent #SilencingFreeSpeech #CorporationsAreTheRealTerrorists
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🎶 "I said money, money changes everything
We think we know what we're doin'
That don't mean a thing
It's all in the past now
Money changes everything..."🎵From pro-climate Republican to ‘one of the #Trump disruptors’
#EPA Administrator #LeeZeldin's attacks on his agency's spending and regulations have made him a rising star in the Trump Cabinet, but left some former colleagues mystified.
By Hannah Northey, Emily Ngo, Josh Siegel and Miranda Willson
04/06/2025Excerpt: "Others who have known Zeldin wonder what happened to the middle-of-the-road lawmaker they once knew, who acknowledged that humans were warming the Earth and bucked Trump’s first administration on offshore oil drilling."
#EPAFail #GreenhouseGas #FossilFools #ClimateChange #USPol #WorldPol #Oiligarchy #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #CorporateColonialism
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"The Chilean port of #Quintero and adjacent #Puchuncaví have been pointed out as a #SacrificeZone. The zone hosts the #coal-fired #Ventanas Power Plant, an #OilRefinery, a #cement storage, #FundiciónVentanas, a #CopperSmelter and refinery, a lubricant factory and a chemical terminal. In total 15 polluting companies operate in the area. In 2011, #EscuelaLaGreda located in #Puchuncaví, was engulfed in a #ChemicalCloud from the #VentanasIndustrialComplex. The #SulfurCloud poisoned an estimated 33 children and 9 teachers, resulting in the relocation of the school. The old location of the school is now abandoned. In August and September 2018 there was a public health crisis in Quintero and Puchuncaví, where over 300 people experienced illness from toxic substances in the air, coming from the polluting industries."
Related article from 2023: Chile closes state copper smelter that polluted bay for decades
https://apnews.com/article/ventanas-copper-chile-pollution-quintero-8a53aa725a7110f34a57e17481573a51
#SacrificeZones #SEZs #HumanRights #HumanRightsFreeZone #Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation #EnvironmentalRacism #EconomicSacrificZones #AirIsLife #Industries #IndustrialUse #PollutionSacrificeZones
#GlobalSacrificeZones #CorporateColonialism -
#Wikipedia - Case Study - #Argentina
"#VillaInflamable neighborhood is located in the city of #DockSud and is part of the Greater #BuenosAires Metropolitan Area. The community is situated at the center of a #petrochemical development area, where 44 hydrocarbon companies are currently operating. These same companies are mainly responsible for turning the #RiachueloMatanza basin into one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world.
"Reports from Argentinian and foreign public agencies have confirmed the presence of lead, chromium, benzene and other hazardous chemicals in the water supplies of the neighborhood, in amounts far in excess of what is allowed by international regulations. Journalistic and academic research has collected multiple testimonies of serious health diagnoses commonly associated with the presence of these contaminants. Likewise the book Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an Argentine Shantytown explores the effects of toxicity in the daily lives of the residents of the Inflammable neighborhood, referring to multiple diagnoses of lead poisoning among the inhabitants of Inflammable, especially among children."
Follow-up... #Argentina Abandons #ToxicRiver, Leaving Residents to Face the Fallout
With cleanup halted and drains unfinished, Villa Inflamable residents face rising water and rising illness. Many have nowhere else to go.
#SacrificeZones #SEZs #HumanRights #HumanRightsFreeZone #Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation #EnvironmentalRacism #EconomicSacrificZones #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #Industries #IndustrialUse #Mining #PollutionSacrificeZones
#GlobalSacrificeZones #CorporateColonialism -
Definition: "A #SacrificeZone or sacrifice area is a geographic area that has been permanently impaired by environmental damage or economic disinvestment.
Another definition states that sacrifice zones are places damaged through locally unwanted land use causing "chemical pollution where residents live immediately adjacent to heavily polluted industries or military bases."
For Ryan Juskus, sacrifice zones are "geographical areas that bore a disproportionate amount of #IndustrialPollution, toxic chemical exposure, or other #Environmental harms associated with industry or national security" (p. 11). Another important aspect of this definition is that the existence of Sacrifice Zones involves the presence of Abundance Zones. In other words, the disproportionate environmental damage that some communities receive is directly related to maintaining privileges and lifestyles in other geographies. Another important aspect of sacrifice zones is that they are often located in #LowIncome communities with a large presence of ethnic or religious minorities which benefits majority groups."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifice_zone
#SacrificeZones #SEZs #HumanRights #HumanRightsFreeZone #Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation #EnvironmentalRacism #EconomicSacrificeZones #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #Industries
#IndustrialUse #Mining #PollutionSacrificeZones
#GlobalSacrificeZones #CorporateColonialism -
[Thread] #Wikipedia: #SacrificeZones
"A sacrifice zone or sacrifice area (often termed a national sacrifice zone or national sacrifice area) is a geographic area that has been permanently changed by heavy environmental alterations (usually to a negative degree) or economic disinvestment, often through locally unwanted land use (#LULU). Commentators including Chris Hedges, Joe Sacco, and Steve Lerner have argued that corporate business practices contribute to producing sacrifice zones. A 2022 report by the United Nations highlighted that millions of people globally are in pollution sacrifice zones, particularly in zones used for heavy industry and mining."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifice_zone
#Industries #IndustrialUse #Mining #PollutionSacrificeZones #GlobalSacrificeZones #CorporateColonialism #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #AirIsLife #SacrificeZones
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Changing Population Exposure to Pollution in #China's #SpecialEconomicZones
Leslie A. Martin, Katie Zhang, May 2021
Abstract:
"Martin and Zhang (2020) show that the increase in manufacturing output in China's special economic zones significantly increased air pollution. In this complementary paper, we document that widespread migration into these industrial clusters between 2000 and 2010 did little to change overall population exposure to pollution. We show using satellite air pollution data that there is much heterogeneity across zones and that most population growth occurred in relatively cleaner zones, supporting recent literature that documents local willingness to make location decisions based on environmental quality (Chen et al. 2019, Khanna et al. 2020)."Article link [paywall]:
https://ftp.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20211074#SacrificeZones #SEZs #HumanRights #HumanRightsFreeZone #Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation
#EconomicSacrificZones
#AirIsLife #WaterIsLife -
How communities in #SacrificeZones suffer environmental injustices in #Mexico, #Chile, #Nigeria and #Indonesia (analysis)
Daniela Sepulveda and Angélica Arellano, 9 Apr 2025
"Across continents, 'sacrifice zones' resemble wounds carved deep into the fabric of our planet. These are regions where ecosystems and livelihoods have been ravaged by fossil fuel and other industries that promise progress but leave devastation in their wake. These are places where big business and transnational corporations are contaminating the rivers, darkening the skies, and making the soil barren; where the toll of development is paid in human suffering and ecological destruction.
"What unites these 'sacrifice zones' is the shared story of areas where prosperity for the few is built on the suffering of many, and where communities fight to mend the fractures inflicted upon their land, health and dignity.
"Here are four case studies highlighting the experiences of communities and civil society organizations collaborating with us in the Coalition for Human Rights in Development’s Community Resource Exchange.
"In the #TulaTepejiApaxco region, where the #Toltec plains once supported rich #biodiversity and #CulturalHeritage, the water and air are now saturated with pollution. This devastated landscape was declared both in 1975 and again in 2005 by the U.N. as one of the most polluted places on Earth, marking it as an #EnvironmentalDisaster zone. Since the early 20th century, the arrival of #CementPlants, #refineries, #ChemicalFactories, a #coal-fired power plant and #LimeKilns has transformed the region. Backed by all levels of government, these industries have destroyed the area’s ecological balance and ruined the health of its people, poisoning the water, air and soil with #ToxicWaste.
"Prominent among these polluters are cement giants like #Holcim, #CEMEX, #CementosFortaleza and #Clarimex, whose operations release harmful gases that exacerbate the region’s environmental and public health crises. One of the epicenters of this environmental catastrophe is the #TulaRiver, which receives 150,000 liters (nearly 40,000 gallons) of untreated wastewater every second from Mexico City and the Valley of Mexico. These 'black waters' are teeming with industrial and hospital waste plus sewage, overwhelming the river and its tributaries.
"The #EndhóDam, originally built to support local #agriculture, has become a toxic dumping ground, poisoning thousands of people who rely on wells for drinking water. Despite decades of warnings, local and national governments have allowed this contamination to persist. The poisoned waters have killed fish, flooded the land with toxic sludge, and led to a surge in cancer, leukemia, respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases among the 15,000 inhabitants living along its banks. In 2021, a devastating flood related to the overflowing Tula River left 17 dead and displaced thousands, a stark reminder of the ongoing risks of government inaction.
"The region now faces a massive public health crisis, and the recent declaration by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to designate the area as an ecological restoration zone is a necessary but overdue step. This declaration covers municipalities such as #Atitalaquia,TepejiDelRío, #Tepetitlán and Tlahuelilpan, where 498 businesses have been identified as generators of hazardous waste, including 14 that produce hydrocarbons. The study, based on a water, air and soil analysis, could mark the beginning of recovery if it is implemented with urgency and seriousness.
"Over the years, organizations like #RedDeConcienciaAmbiental '#QueremosVivir' have resisted, bringing visibility to the devastation and fighting to halt deforestation and continued pollution. In the words of one of the leaders of Queremos Vivir ('We want to live'), 'There needs to be a legal solution, because it’s that urgent. We believe there is still a way to reverse it, and we have time to show the newly elected president #ClaudiaSheinbaum the dire situation we’re in.'
"Their demands include a reduction in the water flow of the Tula River through holistic water management solutions, and government accountability for decades of environmental neglect, calling for reparations for both industrial pollution and the catastrophic 2021 floods.
"While they welcome Sheinbaum’s promises to clean the river and launch a circular economy project, they emphasize that meaningful environmental justice must not be delayed any longer. After stating the communities’ demands through tears, the Queremos Vivir leader said, 'Are we really just going to be destined to be a sacrifice zone? The damage is so severe, the degradation we are in, that if we don’t protect it, don’t defend it, then what are we going to do?' "
#SEZs #Antofagasta #Nigeria #Indonesia #HumanRights #HumanRightsFreeZone #CorporateColonialism
#Exploitation #RaceToTheBottom
#HumanRightsViolations
#Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation
#EconomicSacrificZones
#ForcedRelocation #ForcedDisplacement #TraditionalLifestyles #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #EnvironmentalRacism #Exploitation -
WTF! #Navajo Reporter #MarleyShebala Violently Arrested by #NavajoPolice, After Filing Ethics Complaint on Navajo President #BuuNygren
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, October 16, 2025
WINDOW ROCK, Navajo Nation -- "Navajo Police were sent today to evict Marley Shebala, Dine' Zuni Pueblo reporter, from her home. Marley, 73, screamed in pain as she was arrested by police. Marley had filed an ethics complaint against Navajo President Buu Nygren, and was reporting on the ongoing #corruption in the Navajo tribal government.
" 'I am 73 years old, and they have me handcuffed in my home with my daughter, our Navajo police, to
serve and protect' Marley says, as she continues to livestream. Navajo police used a locksmith to enter her home, before the violent arrest."Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/10/navajo-reporter-marley-shebala.html#Diné #Dineh #ACAB #Journalists #ReaderSupportedNews #Journalism #BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople #UraniumMining #NavajoNation #IndigenousNews #SilencingDissent #CoalMining #TrumpSucks #BeautifulCleanCoal #Cancer #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #EnergyFuels
#Dineteh #NukingTheNavajo
#Havasupai #UraniumMines
#EnvironmentalRacism #WhiteMesaMill #NukingTheNavajo #NukingTheUte #Ute #Paiute #Hopi #BidiiRoots #DineCARE #PinyonPlainUraniumMine #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #UraniumTransport #RadioactiveDust #RememberKleeBenally #BigCoal #DishonoringTheMemoryOfKleeBenally
#HaulNo #NoMiningWithoutConsent -
What's on my mind? Why how we have enough on our plates with trying to power ESSENTIAL SERVICES (like air conditioning, hospitals, waste treatment, water systems, etc), without #Crapitalistic stuff like #Cryptocurrency, #Datacenters, #AI, etc. sucking the planet's resources dry!
#CrapitalismSucks #CapitalismSucks #TechBros #CorporateColonialism #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #NoisePollution #AirPollution #WaterPollution
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We can't breathe
The Invisible #ClimateChange Effect That Is Most Likely to Kill You
#AirPollution is less dramatic than floods or storms, less inconvenient, and much harder to politicize. It’s also much more deadly.
Liza Featherstone, August 1, 2025
Excerpt: "In #NewYorkCity, I’m lucky enough to enjoy better air quality than many other places. We are only the fiftieth most #polluted city in the world, way behind #Chicago, #Dubai, #Jakarta, #Delhi, and numerous (enormously populous) cities in #China. But for a few days early this week, it was hard to breathe and our phones were buzzing with alerts warning that the most vulnerable—the very young and the very old, and those with poor respiratory health—should stay indoors, due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. But the elderly, the asthmatic, and the babies weren’t the only ones feeling it; my son, a college soccer player, got headaches training outside, as did his friends—all fellow rain-or-shine athletes. Yet for the most part, the problem has gone unremarked.
"Compared to a flood, a fire, or a heat wave, a bad #AirQualityAlert isn’t that inconvenient even when it’s happening. You can still go to work and otherwise go about your day. If you own property, it won’t be damaged. And because #AirPollution lacks visuals, it doesn’t lend itself to morbid #doomscrolling or panicked media coverage.
"Yet compared to floods, fires, and heat waves, bad air is much more deadly. In fact, the danger is barely even comparable. The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution kills about seven million people every year. The direct death toll from heat waves is under half a million, although that’s getting worse. The number of people who die in floods annually is in the thousands, and the direct death toll from wildfires is much smaller than that, though these threats are also getting worse. "
#AirQualityAlert #AirQuality #AirQualityIndex #AQI #AirPollution #AirIsLife #ParticulatePollution #ParticlePollution
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#RadioactiveWaste leakage would be threat to area: critic
By Doug Diaczuk The Chronicle-Journal Apr 22, 2025
"A radioactive waste specialist from the United States says #NuclearWaste disposal sites place a giant bullseye on an area, as well as all communities along the transportation route, and residents of Northern #Ontario should take notice.
"#KevinKamps, a radioactive waste specialist with #BeyondNuclear, a non-profit advocacy group in the United States, will be speaking in Thunder Bay at Environment North's annual meeting on Wednesday [April 23].
"Kamps has opposed several nuclear waste sites across North America, including a site in the #YuccaMountains in #Nevada and a site at #Kincardine in #Ontario at the #BruceNuclear Generating Station.
" 'That was a 20-year campaign all told, but we prevailed in the end,' Kamps said of the Kincardine site in an interview with The Chronicle-Journal.
"The Nuclear Waste Management Organization [#NWM] identified a site between #Ignace and #Wabigoon Lake as the location for a proposed deep geological repository [#DGR] for #SpentFuel from #Canadian #NuclearPower plants.
"Last summer, the #TownshipOfIgnace expressed a willingness to be the host community for the repository following a survey showing the majority of residents supported the site.
"But several #FirstNation communities have spoken out in opposition to the site, citing #environmental concerns and the safety of transporting spent fuel through the region.
"Kamps said if anything was to go wrong at the deep geological repository site it would be catastrophic: 'for all points #downstream, #downwind, up the #FoodChain, down the generations.'
" 'In your neck of the woods, what I find ironic is the current target in your area is just outside of the #GreatLakes basin and I think it is a raw political calculation to try to silence what has been more than a decade of U.S. congressional opposition to the #LakeHuronDump,' he said.
" 'Now magically a site has been chosen outside of the Great Lakes basin.'
"There are many safety concerns to take into consideration when it comes to nuclear waste, Kamps said, beginning with the transportation of nuclear material to the site itself.
" 'One of the most controversial aspects is the transportation component, because it makes it everyone's problem along those routes,' he said. 'So that is another part of our challenge, to educate communities that would be along the most likely transportation route, be it road, rail, or waterway.'
"Then there is the site itself, which Kamps said could be vulnerable to #ExtremeWeather, #NaturalDisasters, or even potential attacks.
" 'You had better know your geology really well because if and when this starts leaking from its containers into the geology, then it's a question of how long will it take to mix with underground waterflows and perhaps even surface waterflows,' he said. 'And then the risk flows with the water, and with the air.'
"For those opposed to such sites, Kamps said the best way to fight back is through the democratic process and engaging with government representatives at all levels.
"He cited the opposition to the #Kincardine site that was a 20-year fight and the role First Nations communities played.
" 'An important part of that was the #SaugeenOjibwayNation who asked good questions and in the end voted 86 per cent no to that dump coming into their community,' he said.
"In terms of what to do with nuclear waste from generating stations, Kamps said it should stay at the site of origin."
#EnvironmentalRacism #GreatLakesBasin #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #NuclearDumping #ClimateChange #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #NoDumpingWithoutConsent
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From 2021... This started before #Trump, but things are way worse now!
#AntiProtestLaws Threaten #Indigenous and #Climate Movements
“#CriticalInfrastructure” laws in over a dozen states wrongly invoke national security to justify targeting #PipelineProtesters.
Kaylana Mueller-Hsia, March 17, 2021
"In 2016 as a member of Congress, #DebHaaland stood for four days in solidarity with protesters at the #StandingRockSioux Reservation against construction of the #DakotaAccessPipeline. Today, as the first #NativeAmerican to be the secretary of the interior — the first to lead any cabinet department — she has the opportunity to support the #FirstAmendment rights of the protesters she joined in the past.
"With her authority over energy development on federal lands, Haaland can be a voice for Indigenous and climate movements facing an urgent threat: the rapid spread of laws to protect 'critical infrastructure' that single out activists.
"Since 2016, 13 states have quietly enacted laws that increase criminal penalties for trespassing, damage, and interference with infrastructure sites such as oil refineries and pipelines. At least five more states have already introduced similar legislation this year. These laws draw from national security legislation enacted after 9/11 to protect physical infrastructure considered so 'vital' that the 'incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety.'
"Many industry sectors are designated critical infrastructure, including food and agriculture, energy, water and wastewater, and communications, but most state critical infrastructure laws focus more narrowly on oil and gas #pipelines. While protecting critical infrastructure is a legitimate government function, these laws clearly target environmental and Indigenous activists by significantly raising the penalties for participating in or even tangentially supporting pipeline trespassing and property damage, crimes that are already illegal. Many laws are modelled on draft legislation prepared by the American Legislative Exchange Council, also known as #ALEC, a powerful lobbying group funded by #FossilFuel companies like #ExxonMobil and #Shell.
"Central to the new critical infrastructure laws are increased criminal penalties and vague, broad definitions that could discourage protest and particularly, nonviolent civil disobedience. Many laws make any 'damage' to or 'interference' with a facility deemed critical infrastructure a felony. Under #Ohio’s law, trespass with the purpose of 'tampering' with a facility is a third degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. In Indiana, a felony conviction is applied for any facility trespass, a crime that is typically a misdemeanor or fine.
"Vague language like 'damage,' 'tamper,' and 'impede' in critical infrastructure laws makes it unclear if, for example, knocking down #SafetyCones and starting a fire next to a natural gas facility are the same under the law. Many critical infrastructure laws do not clarify if they apply only to land a company fully owns or also to pipeline easements, which run through both public and private lands. At least some laws apply to both. Only a week after Louisiana’s critical infrastructure law was enacted, opponents of the Bayou Bridge pipeline were charged with trespassing for boating on public waters on the border of a pipeline easement.
"The combination of overly broad language and steep penalties in critical infrastructure laws make it likely that future activists and supporting organizations will be discouraged from exercising their First Amendment-protected protest rights. A lawsuit brought in response to the #BayouBridge charges will test the laws for the first time on First Amendment grounds.
"Many of these laws even extend beyond the protesters. In a proposed law in #Minnesota, anyone who 'recruits, trains, aids, advises, hires, counsels, or conspires' someone to trespass without a 'reasonable effort' to prevent the trespassing is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. In #Oklahoma organizations that conspire with perpetrators are liable to be fined up to $1 million. These laws may infringe on the freedom of association protected under the First Amendment. Indeed, the Supreme Court ruled that the illegal actions of a few individuals do not implicate an entire group.
"The criminalization of environmental protest is fueled by federal security agencies and oil and gas companies, who are often major political donors. For years, the Department of #HomelandSecurity and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have labelled activists at infrastructure sites as #DomesticTerrorists and violent extremists in order to justify further #surveillance and #policing. Government documents have been released that detail the FBI’s focus on '#AnimalRights / #EnvironmentalExtremism,' describing even #NonviolentProtesters as #extremists.
"At Standing Rock, a private security firm [#Blackwater] hired by the pipeline companies consistently referred to protesters as 'terrorists' while working with law enforcement. Ahead of the #KeystoneXLPipeline protests in 2018, #DHS agents held an '#AntiTerrorism training' for state and local authorities. In contrast, members of the #FarRight militant group the #ThreePercenters have established a significant presence at oil and gas plants with little law enforcement reaction.
"To be sure, as the recent power outages in Texas showed so vividly, the United States needs reliable energy. But it’s questionable whether pipeline construction sites that could feasibly be moved or replaced with renewable energy sources should legitimately be considered 'vital' to the energy grid. Furthermore, a singular focus on this aspect of security comes at the cost of others. Whose essential resources do pipeline projects protect and whose do they threaten? Black Americans are disproportionately likely to live near natural #GasPipelines and experience higher #CancerRisk due to unclean air. An oil spill from the Dakota Access Pipeline could devastate the #SiouxTribe’s water source. Meanwhile, on some reservations, 10 percent of households lack electricity and as many as 40 percent of households must haul water and use outhouses. The well-being of these communities must count too.
"The rise in critical infrastructure laws may foreshadow more anti-protest legislation to come. A similar wave of anti-protest laws has already begun in response to the 2020 #BlackLivesMatter protests. State legislators contemplating critical infrastructure laws should bear in mind that laws that criminalize trespassing and protect the safety of construction workers and law enforcement already exist. Critical infrastructure laws don’t fill an unmet need — they only raise the penalties for specific groups of people. Courts adjudicating #FirstAmendment challenges in the coming years should recognize that these laws are overbroad and impose disproportionately severe penalties that chill freedom of assembly and association.
"As secretary of the interior, Haaland promises to uplift the voices of Indigenous and climate protesters in the Biden administration. State legislators, law enforcement, and the fossil fuel industry should follow suit and listen to these activists rather than suppressing constitutionally protected activity under the guise of national security."
#BrennanCenter #Authoritarianism #Fascism #NoDAPL #NoKXL #PipelineProtests #WaterIsLife #ACAB #ErikPrince #BigOilAndGas #Oiligarchy #CorporateColonialism #EnvironmentalRacism #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #ExxonLied #Blackwater #StandWithStandingRock #StandingRockSioux
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#PenobscotNation citizens rally in opposition to proposed expansion of #JuniperRidgeLandfill
Jul. 18, 2025
OLD TOWN/ALTON, #Maine (WABI) - "Penobscot Nation citizens rallied across the Penobscot County court Friday afternoon in opposition to a proposed expansion to Maine’s largest #landfill.
"The rally was in response to the #ConservationLawFoundation and the Penobscot Nation appealing an expansion to #JuniperRidgeLandfill, which will allow #CasellaWasteSystems to expand Juniper Ridge by 11.9 million cubic yards.
"According to members of the #WabanakiAlliance, the expansion would pose a threat to surrounding #TribalLands due to concerns of air and #WaterPollution surrounding the #PenobscotRiver from the landfill.
"Speakers at the rally represented citizens of the Penobscot Nation, the Wabanaki Alliance, as well as the environmental groups #Slingshot and #DontWasteME.
" 'It is incredibly powerful to see the number of people out here in opposition to this expansion and support of this appeal. We know the time for #EnvironmentalJustice is now. We need to turn the tide towards #ZeroWaste,' said #DanaColihan, Co-Executive Director of environmental group Slingshot.
" 'I just hope that the state can get serious about actual environmental justice, and Casella can implement some practices that it make it so that they don’t have to bring out of state waste to stabilize our sludge, and really find solutions instead of creating more problems with us,' stated #MaulianBryant, Executive Director of the Wabanaki Alliance."
Read more:
https://www.wabi.tv/2025/07/18/penobscot-nation-citizens-rally-opposition-proposed-expansion-juniper-ridge-landfill/
#AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #MaineResists #PFAS #PenobscotRiver #Casella #ProtectTheSacred #Wabanaki #Wabanakik #NativeAmericanNews #MaineNews -
#AirQuality in #NorthernMaine reaches 'unhealthy' levels due to #wildfire smoke
Though the Maine DEP expects a large amount of smoke to move out on Wednesday, the smoke will not entirely clear out of Maine until Thursday.
July 15, 2025
#ClimateDiaryMaine #ClimateDiary #Maine #MaineWx #AQI #AirIsLife #ClimateChange #Wildfires #FireSeason
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Millionaires' island is plagued with 'toxic' drinking water that's slowly infecting its inhabitants
By SONYA GUGLIARA
29 June 2025"Water supplies across a wealthy Massachusetts island have been plagued with toxic 'forever chemicals' that cause a slew of health complications.
"#Nantucket environmental officials have been discovering alarming levels of PFAS in the ritzy enclave's drinking water.
"PFAS, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are long-lasting chemicals that linger in the air, soil and water.
[...]
"What makes Nantucket's dilemma unique is the island's dependency on groundwater.
" 'One is that Nantucket is a sole source aquifer, so all of the water on Nantucket comes from the ground that residents live on top of, whether that’s private wells or the public water supply,' Shapero told the Boston Globe.
" 'So Nantucket really has no alternative options.' "
Read more:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14858137/toxic-drinking-water-inhabitants-nantucket.html#WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #Massachusetts #Pollution #PFAS #PFOS #ForeverChemicals
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International Survey Shows 81% Back Forcing #BigOil to Pay for #Climate Destruction
"People are no longer buying the lies. They see the fingerprints of #FossilFuel giants all over the #storms, #floods, #droughts, and #wildfires devastating their lives, and they want accountability," said the head of one green group.
by Eloise Goldsmith, Jun 19, 2025
"Large majorities of people around the world support both taxing #oil, #gas, and #coal companies for the #EnvironmentalDamage made worse by fossil fuels and using higher taxes on #polluters to support communities most impacted by the #ClimateCrisis, according to the results of an international survey released Thursday.
"The study, which was jointly commissioned by #Greenpeace International and #Oxfam International, surveyed roughly 1,200 people in each of these 13 countries: #Brazil, #Canada, #France, #Germany, #India, #Italy, #Kenya, #Mexico, #Philippines, #SouthAfrica, #Spain, #UnitedKingdom, and the #UnitedStates. The research was conducted by the data company Dynata, and field work was done between May 9-28, 2025. Greenpeace noted that, taken together, the countries represent close to 50% of the globe's population.
"The results of the survey showed a whopping 81% of those surveyed would support taxes fossil fuel companies to pay for damages wrought by 'fossil-fuel driven climate disasters.'
"These survey results send a clear message: people are no longer buying the lies. They see the fingerprints of fossil fuel giants all over the storms, floods, droughts, and wildfires devastating their lives, and they want accountability," said #MadsChristensen, the executive director of #GreenpeaceInternational.
" 'It's only fair that those who caused the crisis should pay for the damage, not those suffering from it,' he added.
Read more / listen:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/international-survey-shows-81-back-forcing-big-oil-to-pay-for-climate-destruction#BigOilAndGas #BigCoal #BigOilLied #BigOilKnew #Sunoco #BP #Chevron #Capitalism #Oiligarchy #Oligarchy #AmericanPetroleumInstitute #ShellOil #ExxonLied #ExtremeWeather #BPLied #ClimateCrisis #TaxThePolluters #CorporateColonialism #OilCompanies #ChevronDoctrine #MakePollutersPay #Pollution #WateIsLife #AirIsLife
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"#Ethics experts said #ClarenceThomas’ undisclosed ties to the #Koch network could call his impartiality in the case into doubt. This sort of potential conflict is why the judiciary has rules against both political activity and fundraising, they said. 'Parties litigating in the court before #JusticeThomas don’t know the extent of Thomas’ relationship with the parties on the other side,' said James Sample, a Hofstra University law professor who studies judicial ethics. 'You have to be pretty cynical to not think that’s a problem.' "
#OligarchCamp
#BohemianGrove
#SCOTUS
#ImpeachClarenceThomas
#ChevronDoctrine
#NDRC
#KochIndustries
#Oligarchy
#CorruptSCOTUS
#SCOTUSIsCompromised
#Corporatocracy
#Oiligarchy
#EnvironmentalProtections
#BigOilAndGas
#CorporatePolluters
#HeritageFoundation
#ClimateDeniers
#WaterIsLife
#AirIsLife -
#ClarenceThomas Secretly Participated in #KochBrothers Network Donor Events
by Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski
Sept. 22, 2023, 5 a.m. EDTExcerpt: "Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.
" 'In the 15 years since, the Koch network has left a deep imprint on American society. Its advocacy is credited with helping stamp out Republican Party support for combating #ClimateChange, once an issue that drew bipartisan concern. The “full weight of the network” was thrown behind passing the 2017 #TrumpTaxCut, securing a windfall for the Kochs and their donors. And the upcoming Supreme Court term could bring the network a victory it has pursued for years: overturning a major legal precedent known as #Chevron.
"While most Americans aren’t familiar with the 1984 case Chevron v. #NRDC, it’s one of the Supreme Court’s most-cited decisions. Legal scholars sometimes mention it in the same breath as Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. In essence, Chevron is about government agencies’ ability to issue regulations. After a law is enacted, it’s generally up to agencies across the government to make detailed rules putting it into effect. The Chevron decision said courts should be hesitant to second-guess the agencies’ determinations. In the years that followed, judges cited Chevron in upholding rules that protect endangered species, speed up the approval process for new cellphone towers and grant benefits to coal miners suffering from black lung.
"The Koch network has challenged Chevron in the courts and its lobbyists have pushed Congress to pass a law nullifying the decision. It has also provided millions of dollars in grants to law professors making the case to overturn it.
"The network’s position has become increasingly popular in recent years. Once broadly supported by academics and judges on the right, Chevron is now anathema to many in the conservative legal movement. And there’s no more prominent convert than Thomas.
"In 2005, Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case that expanded Chevron’s protections for government agencies. Ten years later, he was openly questioning the doctrine. Then in 2020, Thomas renounced his own earlier decision, writing that he’d determined the doctrine is unconstitutional after all — a rare reversal for a justice with a reputation for being unmovable in his views.
"By last year, Koch network strategists sensed that victory could be at hand. During an internal briefing for network staff, Jorge Lima, a senior vice president at Americans for Prosperity, said the Supreme Court seemed primed to radically change its approach to the issue. The network was trying to find cases that could bring about major changes in the law, according to a video of the meeting obtained by the watchdog group Documented. “We’re doubling down on this strategy,” Lima told the crowd.
"Several months later, the Supreme Court announced it would take up a case, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which Koch network staff attorneys represent the plaintiffs. If Thomas and his colleagues side with them this coming term, Chevron will be overturned once and for all."
#OligarchCamp #BohemianGrove #SCOTUS #ImpeachClarenceThomas #Chevron #ChevronDoctrine #NDRC #KochIndustries #Oligarchy #CorruptSCOTUS #SCOTUSIsCompromised #Corporatocracy #Oiligarchy #EnvironmentalProtections #BigOilAndGas #CorporatePolluters #HeritageFoundation #ClimateDeniers #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife
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'Planet Wreckers': 4 Rich Nations Plotting Nearly 70% of New Oil and Gas Over Next Decade | Common Dreams
This is not just hypocrisy," said one climate campaigner. "It is a death sentence for communities on the frontlines of the #ClimateCrisis."
Brett Wilkins
Jun 16, 2025"Four wealthy nations—the #UnitedStates, #Canada, #Norway, and #Australia—account for the majority of planned oil and gas expansion over the next decade, according to new data published by #OilChangeInternational on Monday, the first day of the #BonnClimateChangeConference in Germany.
"Oil Change's analysis, titled #PlanetWreckers, notes that if those four #GlobalNorth nations stopped their planned new oil and gas extraction, 32 billion tons of carbon pollution would stay in the ground instead of being burned and released into the atmosphere, where they fuel planetary heating. That's the equivalent of three times the annual global emissions created by burning coal.
" 'A handful of the world's richest nations remain intent on leading us into disaster. This is not just hypocrisy. It is a death sentence for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis,' Oil Change International global policy lead Romain Ioualalen said in a statement Monday.
"It is sickening that countries with the highest incomes and outsized historical responsibility for causing the climate crisis are planning massive oil and gas expansion with no regard for the lives and livelihoods at stake," Ioualalen added."
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/oil-change-report-planet-wreckers#Oligarchy #Oiligarchy #BigOilAndGas #DrillBabyDrill #LeaveItInTheGround #CorporateColonialism #FossilFuels #Fracking #Oil #Pollution #Drilling #Ecocide #USPol #CanadaPol #PetroState #ThanksBigOil #ClimateCatastrophe #BPKnew #ExxonKnew #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #OilUpTheSwamp #ExtractiveIndustries #NoPipelines #RenewablesNow #FossillFuel #NoJobsOnADeadPlanet
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Dine' tell Navajo Council 'NO COAL!'
The Monster has returned, and it is even more grotesque than the one before. Dine' remember forced relocation, the loss of water and medicine plants, and the loss of loved ones. Navajos say 'No!; to Trump and Navajo President Nygren's push for coal.
By #BrendaNorrell, @bsnorrell.blogspot.com June 1, 2025
#ForestLake, #NavajoNation -- "Dine' told the #NavajoNationCouncil that the #CoalIndustry has cost them their aquifer water, and their health. Combined with #UraniumMining, they have lost their loved ones to widespread #cancer and #BlackLungDisease killing their people.
"Dine' remembered #ForcedRelocation and the stripping of the #forest by #PeabodyCoal, during a hearing on Friday. The Navajo Council was told to stand up for #FutureGenerations, or step aside.
" 'The Navajo Nation has provided coal to the big cities for decades, while the people of #BlackMesa have nothing to show for it," Dine' from Black Mesa told the Council.
" 'We are supposed to be the Protectors of the Earth.'"#LouiseBenally [#KleeBenally's aunt] of Big Mountain told the hearing that you can't trust what #Trump is telling you because he'll change whatever he says in the next sentence. Louise said he has no concept of what being a human is.
" 'Keep your prayers and your language, those are the things that really matter for us #IndigenousPeople,' said Louise. She and her family spent their lives resisting forced relocation brought by Peabody Coal's mining on Black Mesa.
" 'Everyone was opposed to another #CoalMining, it's not good for anything, and it is causing #GreenhouseGases to continue to rise,' Louise told Censored News.
" 'Doctor Nygren doesn't know that. He needs a hogan level of education.'
" '#ClimateChange is so, important to every living thing, we need to be finding solutions not making things worse.' "
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/05/live-navajo-hearing-on-revitalizing.html#EO14241 #Diné #Dineh #Dineteh #NavajoNation #WaterIsLife #DirtyCoal #TrumpSucks #AirIsLife #NoCoalMining
#BigCoal #USPol #NativeAmericanNews #CorporateColonialism #RememberKleeBenally
#BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople -
#CoalMining Devastated the #Water and Brought #BlackLungDisease -- #ForestLake Hearing on #Coal
by #TóNizhóníÁní, #CensoredNews
via @bsnorrell.blogspot.com
June 6, 2025"On Friday, May 30, 2025, the Office of the Speaker held a public hearing on coal at the Forest Lake Chapter House in Forest Lake (Tsiiyi’ Be’ak’id), Arizona. This open forum allowed participants to share their input and comments regarding the Federal Executive Order 14241, “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry,” aimed at amending federal policies to boost the #CoalIndustry. This public hearing came after community opposition and frustration to Navajo Nation President #BuuNygren ’s support of President #Trump’s executive orders to prop up coal. The public hearing generated over 50 public comments, more than 169 people in attendance.
"Tó Nizhóní Ání executive director #NicoleHorseherder was one of the first to provide comments in opposition of coal siting the decades-long impacts on the land and water. “The bottom line is coal mining has had adverse impacts to the aquifers and that’s Navajo water. What is Navajo going to do about it?' said Nicole as she provided a brief overview of the coal mining and reclamation issues at the #KayentaMine.
"The federal agencies responsible for overseeing reclamation and cleanup acknowledged, verbally, that their duties are to the shallow #aquifers impacted by coal but mentioned the deep aquifers are the responsibility of the Department of Interior. These are just one of many issues impacting the #BlackMesa region, which played host to the coal industry for over 50 years."https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/06/to-nizhoni-ani-coal-mining-devastated.html
#EO14241 #Diné #Dineh #Dineteh #NavajoNation #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #NoCoalMining #BigCoal #USPol #NativeAmericanNews #BigCoal #CorporateColonialism #DirtyCoal #BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople
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The smoke from #Canada’s #wildfires may be even more #toxic than usual
A legacy of #mining means that #ToxicMetals could be carried along plumes of smoke.
by Matt Simon, June 5, 2025
"More than 200 wildfires are blazing across central and western Canada, half of which are out of control because they’re so hard for crews to access, forcing 27,000 people to evacuate. Even those nowhere near the wildfires are suffering as smoke swirls around Canada and wafts south, creating hazardous air quality all over the midwestern and eastern parts of the United States. The smoke is even reaching Europe.
"As the climate changes, the far north is drying and warming, which means wildfires are getting bigger and more intense. The area burned in Canada is now the second largest on record for this time of year, trailing behind the brutal wildfire season of 2023. That year, the amount of #carbon blazed into the atmosphere was about three times the country’s #FossilFuel emissions. And the more carbon that’s emitted from wildfires — in Canada and elsewhere — the faster the #PlanetaryWarming, and the worse the fires.
" 'There’s obviously the #ClimateFeedback concern,' said Mike Waddington, an environmental scientist at McMaster University in Ontario who studies Canada’s forests. 'But increasingly we’re also concerned about the smoke.'
"That’s because there’s much more to wildfire smoke than charred sticks and leaves, especially where these blazes are burning in Canada. The country’s #forests have long been #mined, operations that loaded #soils and #waterways with #ToxicMetals like #lead and #mercury, especially before clean-air standards kicked in 50 years ago. Now everyone downwind of these wildfires may have to contend with that legacy and those pollutants, in addition to all the other nasties inherent in #WildfireSmoke, which are known to exacerbate respiratory and cardiac problems.
" 'You have there the burning of these organic soils resulting in a lot of carbon and a lot of #ParticulateMatter,' said Waddington. 'Now you have this triple whammy, where you have the metals #remobilized in addition to that.'
"What exactly is lurking in the smoke from Canadian wildfires will require further testing by scientists. But an area of particular concern is around the mining city of #FlinFlon, in #ManitobaCanada, which is known to have elevated levels of toxic metals in the landscape, said Colin McCarter, an environmental scientist who studies pollutants at Ontario’s #NipissingUniversity. Flin Flon’s 5,000 residents have been evacuated as a wildfire approaches, though so far no structures have been destroyed.
"But a fire doesn’t need to directly burn mining operations to mobilize toxicants. For example, in #Yellowknife, in Canada’s #NorthwestTerritories, #GoldMining operations between 1934 and 2004 spread #arsenic as far as 18 miles away, adding to a landscape with an already high concentration of naturally occurring arsenic. In a paper published last year, Waddington and McCarter estimated that between 1972 and 2023, wildfires around Yellowknife fired up to 840,000 pounds of arsenic into the atmosphere. Arsenic is a known carcinogen associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and developmental problems, according to the World Health Organization. (After the 2023 #LahainaFire in Maui, officials reported elevated levels of arsenic, lead, and other toxic substances in ash samples. California officials also found lots of lead in smoke from 2018’s #CampFire.)"
Source:
https://grist.org/climate/canada-wildfire-smoke-toxic-arsenic/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us#WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #AirIsLife #Mining #ToxicLegacy #FirstNations #Canada #Pollution #Worldwide #AQI #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateCatastrophe #AirQualityIndex
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#NavajoNation Targeted Again for Sacrifice Zone: '#Energy Companies Preying on the People'
#Diné ask: Why is the Navajo Nation allowing energy companies to prey on communities and individuals?
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, May 23, 2024
"Dine' on the Navajo Nation are now targeted with a push to revitalize dirty coal energy, and a hydropower project that would pump precious water from their aquifer. Dine' question why the Navajo Nation government is allowing energy companies to prey on the communities and individuals.
"#LouiseBenally of #BigMountain [#KleeBenally's aunt] said the bottom line is greed. 'They want to eat up everything but, don't know that even their lives depend on it too. Poisoning the natural cycle will come back and destroy them too.'
"The new stampede of parasitic energy companies to the Navajo Nation comes at the same time that #radioactive #uranium trucks, covered only with tarps, are traveling across the Navajo Nation, from the #GrandCanyon uranium mine to the mill in the #WhiteMesaUte community in Utah.
"At the same time, more than 500 #UraniumMines, and scattered radioactive debris, remain on the Navajo Nation, and was never cleaned up by the U.S. government. Dirty coal mines and power plants left the legacy of death and #ForcedRelocation.
Navajo Council Plans Meeting on Revitalizing Coal Industry
"Citing #Trump's push for new #CoalMining, the #NavajoNationCouncil plans to hold a public hearing on
revitalizing the coal industry.
"The Navajo Nation Council announced the public hearing, stating that on April 8 President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order entitled, 'Reinvigorating America’s #BeautifulCleanCoal Industry
and Amending Executive Order 14241' aimed at reversing past federal policies, to boost the coal industry and to strengthen the country’s national energy security, according to the White House."The public hearing is scheduled in Forest Lake Chapter on Friday, May 30. Louise Benally and her family spent their lives battling #PeabodyCoal and resisting forced relocation at Big Mountain on #BlackMesa. She said what Trump is doing is another chapter in the assault on the land and people.
" 'Pl 93-531 is a law created by #BarryGoldwater to target our rights to water and land base to be taken away. He developed that law so, with what Trump is trying to do is no different.'" 'They want to eat up everything but, don't know that even their lives depend on it too. Poisoning the natural cycle will come back and destroy them too.'
" 'The American political system is not our government as traditional people which is where all our modern day problems come from in the form of an endless greed to keep eating up the earth and the natural resources.'
"Louise questioned Navajo Nation President #BuuNygren's support of Trump and coal mining in Washington, and Nygren's agreement for uranium trucks to cross the Navajo Nation. 'The Navajo Nation government is at a crossroads. Buu has been taken by Trump, and the people he is supposed to be responsible for are in question.'
" 'He has been taken into the bag of greed -- uranium and coal yet, there is no water. We want accountability.' "
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/05/navajo-nation-targeted-again-for.html#Diné #Dineh #BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople
#WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #EnergyFuels
#Dineteh #NukingTheNavajo
#Havasupai #UraniumMines
#EnvironmentalRacism #WhiteMesaMill #NukingTheNavajo #NukingTheUte #Ute #Paiute #Hopi #BidiiRoots #DineCARE #Havasupai #PinyonPlainUraniumMine #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #UraniumTransport #RadioactiveDust #RememberKleeBenally #BigCoal #DishonoringTheMemoryOfKleeBenally
#HaulNo #NoMiningWithoutConsent -
What’s in Trump’s big bill? Trillions in tax cuts, changes to Medicaid and more
By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO
Updated 8:21 PM EDT, May 13, 2025WASHINGTON (AP) — "#Republicans in Congress are moving with rapid speed to advance President Donald Trump’s big bill of #TaxBreaks, #SpendingCuts and beefed-up border security funding as leaders work to enact many of his campaign promises.
"House committees have been laboring for months to draft the legislation, which Republicans have labeled 'THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,' a nod to Trump himself. Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing to approve the package and send it to the Senate by Memorial Day.
"Democrats say they will fight what House party leader #HakeemJeffries calls 'this extreme and toxic bill.' "
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tax-cuts-bill-medicaid-work-requirements-17cbde167f3b434e925a199c3253b8e1#BigUglyBill #Environment #Ethics #StudentLoans #Medicaid #TaxBreaksForTheRich
#CorporatePolluters #AirIsLife
#WaterIsLife #LandIsLife
#MAGADeathCult #TrumpHatesTheEnvironment
#TrumpHatesThePoor
#AntiLife #Greenpeace
#Indivisible #FreePalestine
#CREW #PeaceAndJustice
#Corporatocracy #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#SilencingDissent
#USPol #HR9495 #StopHR9495
#TaxPackage #Authoritarianism
#AuthoritarianRule
#FightForTheFuture
#Section112209 -
House Republicans look to help Trump strip tax-exempt status of nonprofits he says support terrorism
By ALEXA ST. JOHN and MATTHEW DALY
Updated 1:37 PM EDT, May 13, 2025WASHINGTON (AP) — "A proposal by Republicans in Congress would allow President Donald Trump’s administration to remove the tax-exempt status of nonprofits that it says support #terrorism, creating what some #nonprofits say is an arbitrary standard to financially punish #charities that advocate for issues that don’t align with his agenda.
"Unusual language added Monday to a reconciliation bill from the House Ways and Means Committee — the tax-writing committee — would allow for terminating the tax-exempt status of groups the administration deems 'terrorist supporting organizations.' The language mirrors a bill from the last Congress that passed in the House but did not pass the Senate.
"The definition and criteria for determining whether or how an organization supports terrorism are unclear. The bill also targets nonprofits in other ways, echoing complaints by Trump, who has called the tax-exempt status a 'privilege' that has been 'abused.' Trump has threatened to revoke tax-exempt status for groups that don’t abide by his directives or agree with his views."
[...]
"Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network, which represents hundreds of former scientists and regulators, said last month 'we all pay the price' when charitable organizations are silenced based on politics.
"For example, the move to revoke #TaxExempt status could choke off funding for groups that urge greater action to promote clean air, water and land, work to help communities most affected by industrial pollution and advocate for projects and policies to combat #ClimateChange — among other issues.
" 'It threatens the rights, health, and future of every community,' Roos said in a statement.
Last month, Trump said he could target environmental groups and the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington."
#Environment #Ethics #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #MAGADeathCult #TrumpHatesTheEnvironment #TrumpHatesThePoor #AntiLife #Greenpeace #Indivisible #FreePalestine #CREW #PeaceAndJustice #CorporatePolluters #Corporatocracy #CharacteristicsOfFascism #SilencingDissent #USPol #HR9495 #TaxPackage #Authoritarianism #AuthoritarianRule #StopHR9495 #FightForTheFuture #Section112209
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#FlagstaffAZ: Radioactive #Uranium Truck Driver in Medical Distress: Endangerment on the Haul Route
by Shannonlynn Chester,,May 8, 2025, #CensoredNews
Excerpt: "The Navajo Nation, law enforcement and the mainstream media downplayed the risks today to Navajos and everyone on the haul route.
"This comes after Navajo President #BuuNygren cut a secret deal with #EnergyFuels for the uranium transport trucks to pass through the Navajo Nation.
Nygren released a statement about the sick truck driver. Nygren said the Navajo Nation EPA coordinated with the Coconino County Sheriff's Office and the Flagstaff Fire Department. The Fire Department conducted radiation scans on the truck and said that the radiation levels at the location were within safe limits."Three other uranium ore trucks at the designated inspection site were allowed to pass and continue to the White Mesa Mill, Nygren said.
Energy Fuels notified the Navajo Nation EPA at 11:40 a.m. that the fourth truck -- whose driver was sick -- returned back to the Pinyon Plain Mine, Nygren said.
Coconino County Sheriff Bret Axlund said the truck driver had "flu-like symptoms" and refused medical transport from the site. An ambulance was called to the site, just north of Flagstaff, in the area of Hwy 89 and Townsend Winona Road."Earlier, the Navajo Nation Council said President Nygren entered into a secret deal with Energy Fuels, without the knowledge or consent of the #NavajoCouncil, to allow the uranium ore trucks to pass through the Navajo Nation from the #GrandCanyon mine enroute to Utah.
"More than 500 uranium mines and scattered radioactive waste remain on the Navajo Nation, which the U.S. never cleaned up after the #coldwar, resulting in widespread cancer for Dine'."Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/05/now-flagstaff-radioactive-uranium-truck.html#HaulNo #ReaderSupportedNews #WhiteMesaMill #Ute #Dine #BidiiRoots #DineCARE #NukingTheNavajo #NukingTheUte #WaterIsLife
#LandIsLife #Dineteh #NukingTheNavajo
#Havasupai #UraniumMines
#EnvironmentalRacism
#PinyonPlainUraniumMine
#AirIsLife #UraniumMine #UraniumTransport #RadioactiveDust #NoMiningWithoutConsent #BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople -
Tensions escalate among #Navajo leaders as #BuuNygren finally agrees to address #NavajoNationCouncil
Delegates accused #Nygren of “mocking” collaboration after he skipped Monday’s session despite a subpoena
by Shondiin Silversmith, Apr 25, 2025
Excerpt: "In a statement posted on social media, Nygren said he was traveling to #WashingtonDC, to meet with federal partners [in the #Trump administration].
" 'This trip underscores my commitment to working collaboratively, regardless of political affiliation—be it Republican or Democratic—to advocate for our Nation’s needs and priorities,' he wrote on Facebook. [You know, like allowing radioactive material transport through their lands without notification, or turning their reservation into an extension of ICE].
"Nygren said that he fulfilled his 'obligations' to the Navajo Nation Council by submitting a written report, which aligns with the requirements of Title 2 of the Navajo Nation Code.
" 'This action demonstrates my commitment to transparency and accountability to the Navajo people,' he added.
"Curley said working with federal partners is important, but the president must also report to the Navajo people and engage in meaningful dialogue with the Council members.
" 'What we’re seeing from President Nygren is a lot of one-way communication directed at the Navajo people through radio, livestreams, newsletters, social media, and now a written report,' Curley said in a press release.
" 'The Navajo people want to hear President Nygren present his report in person and to have an in-depth dialogue with the Council,' she added. 'Yes, it’s important to work with our federal partners, but President Nygren also needs to work with our #Diné leaders as he promised when he campaigned for the presidency.'
"During Monday’s opening day of the spring session, several Navajo Nation Council delegates voiced their concerns about Nygren’s administration. They cited repeated absences, unilateral decision-making, and alleged misrepresentations made to both federal partners and the Council.
" 'We’ve been patient and willing to work with him,' Navajo Nation Council Delegate #BrendaJesus said. 'But enough is enough. At what point does the Navajo Nation Council show that we mean business? He’s not honoring our collaboration — he’s mocking it.' "
#IndianCountryToday #BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #Dineteh #NukingTheNavajo #Havasupai #UraniumMines #EnvironmentalRacism #PinyonPlainUraniumMine #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #UraniumTransport #RadioactiveDust #HaulNo #NoMiningWithoutConsent #BigCoal
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#Diné Coalition Opposes #Navajo President's Push for #CoalMining and #Uranium Transport
Dine' Coalition Press Statement, #CensoredNews, April 17, 2025
WINDOW ROCK, Arizona -- "A coalition of grassroots groups released a statement in response to recent announcements and actions by #NavajoNation President #BuuNygren regarding coal development, carbon market deals, and potential new mining projects.
"The coalition will host a Press Conference from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (MDT) on Monday, April 21, 2025, outside the Navajo Nation Council Chambers during the first day of the Navajo Nation Council’s Spring Session. Please bring a folding chair, water, hats, and sunscreen, and dress appropriately for the weather to keep yourself safe and comfortable during the Press Conference.
"Summary of full statement:
● We call on the Navajo Nation President to stop making deals that degrade our land, water, and future.
● We urge tribal leaders not to repeat historical mistakes with respect to uranium extraction: Leave this Nayee’, Łeetso, in the ground. The cleanup and remediation of hundreds of abandoned mines must be completed, prioritizing public health safety and ecosystem health.
● We stand against the transport of uranium ore across the Navajo Nation because it is inconsistent with the intent of the Navajo Radioactive and Related Substances, Equipment, Persons and Materials Transportation Act of 2012, regardless of jurisdictional limits on our highways and roads.
● We steadfastly OPPOSE coal development, which negatively impacts the lands, water, and health of the Navajo people and contributes to #ClimateChange.
● We stand in protection of our water, health, traditional lifeways, Earth bundles (#Jish), and #MotherEarth.
"We call on all Diné #LandDefenders, #WaterProtectors, healers, young leaders, #matriarchs and warriors to stand together at WINDOW ROCK on APRIL 21, 2025. Together, we will make our voices heard and remind our Navajo Nation government that they are entrusted to make decisions that protect our People and protect our sacred homelands.
Statement from Diné Coalition of Grassroots Organizers in response to Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren’s recent statements and actions regarding uranium, carbon markets, coal, and
other harmful extractive processes.
We are a coalition of Diné organizers, land defenders, water protectors, traditional knowledge holders, matriarchs, and young leaders. We are calling on our Diné people to stand united in protecting Mother Earth and our sacred homelands and waterways."The Nygren Administration’s recent statements and actions do not reflect the
will of the Diné People, and we call on our Navajo Nation Council to ensure that such actions are not taken in violation of our Free, Prior, and Informed Consent."With the Trump administration’s announced intent to ramp up production of 'mission-critical' uranium,
the private energy offenders are again targeting Diné lands with no intention of ensuring public health, safety, or environmental health. Diné land and water protectors understand that energy offenders operate through systematic #racism that does not adhere to
#PinyonPlain uranium mine,
radioactive haul trucks, in #GrandCanyon."Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/dine-coalition-opposes-navajo.html#WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #Dineteh #NukingTheNavajo #Havasupai #UraniumMines #EnvironmentalRacism #PinyonPlainUraniumMine #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#DontNukeTheGrandCanyon #DontNukeThePlanet #WeAreTheFuture #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #DontNukeTheFuture #ReaderSupportedNews -
#Radioactive #Uranium Trucks -- Slick Politicians and Easy-Chair Journalists
Endanger PublicArticle by #BrendaNorrell, Censored News, April 17, 2025
"The copy and paste journalists, and the slick politicians doing self-promotion selfies on social media, don't want the public to know the facts."This is #PinyonPlainUraniumMine in the #GrandCanyon, poisoning the air, land and water in the homeland of the #Havasupai.
"The #UraniumMine is spewing out #RadioactiveDust for the world travelers who love this place, poisoning traditional medicine plants, and endangering the aquifer for future generations.
"#Navajo President #BuuNygren secretly did a deal with the owners, #EnergyFuels, to bring radioactive #uranium ore trucks through the #NavajoNation, without the #NavajoNationCouncil's knowledge.
"This agreement for radioactive trucks, shown here [at the link below], is an extreme danger for everyone on the transport route -- #Havasupai, #Paiute, #Dine', #Hopi, #Ute, and the residents of #FlagstaffAZ.
"Remote Native communities have no way to deal with radioactive spills.
"The radioactive trucks are covered only with tarps and dump their loads in the #WhiteMesaUte community in southeastern #Utah."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/radioactive-uranium-trucks-slick.html#WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #PinyonPlain #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#DontNukeTheGrandCanyon #DontNukeThePlanet #WeAreTheFuture #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #DontNukeTheFuture #Diné #ReaderSupportedNews #BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople -
'#DemonMineral' Featured in #InternationalUraniumFilmFestival 2025
"'Demon Mineral' co-written by #Dine' Tommy Rock, in Dine' and English, is featured at the International Uranium Film Festival 2025, which begins its global journey in #RioDeJaneiro, Brazil, in May. The festival returns to #WindowRock on Nov. 13 and 14."
Follow @uraniumfestival on Mastodon!
Source: https://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/demon-mineral-featured-in-international.html
FMI about the #UraniumFilmFestival: https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/
#IndigenousFilmmakers #NativeAmericanFilmMakers #NoUraniumMining #WhiteMesaMill #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #PinyonPlain #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#DontNukeTheGrandCanyon #DontNukeThePlanet #WeAreTheFuture #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #DontNukeTheFuture -
Blog: Voices of #Decolonization
#FirstNations chiefs shouldn’t be duped by the ‘#nuclear-is-green' deception
by William Eric Altvater, February 6, 2025
"Some First Nation Chiefs are victims of shenanigans, not unlike the swindle behind the purchase of Manhattan. The federal government needs the support of #Indigenous peoples to expand nuclear power generation capacity in #Canada.
"For millennia, the cornerstones of the Indigenous people that inhabit Turtle Island, now known as North America, held all that is essential to life, in reverence. Every decision considered the next 7 generations. These cornerstones are crumbling.
"Newcomers, armed with the #Colonizing tool, 'The #DoctrineOfDiscovery' and their mentality of superiority, invaded the land of those they called 'Savages,' almost totally exterminating #Skicinuwok, People of The Earth.
"Determined to bestow Christianity and civility to this wild untamed population, old growth forests were cut, rivers and streams were dammed to power sawmills, roads and railroads were built, bridges erected. All to create an infrastructure for #capitalism, a system to make a #profit, that morphed into #greed, a word of foreign root. This unbridled desire for progress has ruined what was once called Paradise.
"Now most water is not fit to drink, clean air is scarce, #deforestation is rampant, #biodiversity loss out of control, plants genetically modified, food manufactured with unpronounceable chemicals, caged fish starved of oxygen while being fed chicken feathers and pig parts, cancer cases in the millions, the list goes on.
"As the population increased over this continent the available sources for power generation have not been able to satisfy the insatiable desires of the 'bigger, better, faster, more is never enough' mentality. Some have finally acknowledged the fact that #FossilFuels are not the golden egg they were once deemed to be.
"So-called '#GreenEnergy' is required to slow the blind drive to extinction of man; man, who is considered by some to be the most intelligent creature to ever roam Earth. Unfortunately, the lure of riches and the corruption of self-serving purposes have led man to stray from practices that nurture everything required to sustain life on this tiny blue marble floating through the universe.
"#NuclearPower is now being touted as being 'Green.' It is not. Big money corporations are lobbying legislators to convince them and the public that it is. They are also lobbying to convince the public that they should foot the bill in the form of taxes and rate hikes, for a process that pollutes from the day it starts. Water is life. As soon as #uranium is mined from the earth it begins to contaminate the water in surrounding aquifers.
"When the uranium is processed sufficiently, it is used as fuel for reactors where it generates heat while delivering electricity, not just for essential needs, but also for many things once considered luxuries. This fission generated heat is then dumped into nearby waters where it kills thousands, if not millions of small beings that form the basis of life itself.
"After this radioactive fuel is depleted, it is stored in various containers where it will stay radioactive for eons. Indigenous #Grandmothers have labelled it 'Forever Dangerous.'
"The power generated during the fission process benefits only those who exist today as the process occurs, not those born tomorrow or next week or next month. All the #RadioactiveWaste and the inherent danger it creates is left to future generations, kicking the can down the road.
"What better place to dump this waste than in an area with a population that has witnessed Newcomers enrich themselves for hundreds of years? Yes, what better place than a population that has been targeted for assimilation, suffered theft of lands, witnessed the taking of naturally bestowed rights? A population that has been subjected to racial Indian Act legislation essentially stripping away all that sustained this population for thousands of years.
"Yes, let us give the Indians some more shiny beads and trinkets so that they willingly agree to care for our radioactive garbage. How do we do this? Let’s talk to the Chief and Council. Let’s wine and dine them. Let’s give them some money, take them to dinner, buy some drinks and make them feel all festive and most of all make them think we are looking out for their best interests. Some Chiefs have taken the bait.
"Egregious as it may be, this is exactly what is happening in some Indigenous communities contrary to the will of the majority. Elected Chiefs are continuing the deception as they are blinded and professing the 'Nuclear is Green' mantra. They have lost connection with the Spirit of Ancestors and traditional values. They need to have a serious introspection and realize that looking forward, we need only look back at what has sustained us to this point in time. We need not do any more than that."
Eric lives in #PeskotomuhkatiNation territory in Maine and stands shoulder to shoulder with his Peskotomuhkati relations in #NewBrunswick in the struggle to achieve Canadian Government recognition.
https://www.wabanakireach.org/first_nations_chiefs_shouldn_t_be_duped_by_the_nuclear_is_green_deception_by_william_altvater
#NoNukes #NoNewNukes #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #UraniumMining #UraniumMilling #LeaveItInTheGround #Greenwashing #NuclearIsNotCarbonFree #NuclearIsNotGreen #CanadaPol #NuclearWaste #NuclearIndustry #TEPCOLies #HoltecLies #NuclearColonialism -
CALL FOR FILMS! #IndigenousFilmmakers!
#InternationalUraniumFilmFestival Returns to Window Rock in November, 2025
"Films by Indigenous and #NativeAmericanFilmmakers wanted. Send your films on #uranium or #NuclearIndustry and #RadioactiveContamination to the Window Rock Uranium Film Festival. Deadline: September 10, 2025.
"The International Uranium Film Festival (#IUFF) will return to Window Rock on November 7 and 8, 2025. This is the 4th edition of the IUFF to be held in Window Rock and will take place in cooperation with the #NewMexico #SocialJusticeAndEquity Institute at the #NavajoNation Museum.
"During these two days, the festival will present an extraordinary selection of specially curated documentaries and fiction movies about #UraniumMining and the #environmental and human consequences of the #military and civilian #nuclear industries.
"The Window Rock IUFF will focus in particular on films about Native American and Indigenous peoples around the world, particularly in North America. This is where, 80 years ago, the first atomic bomb was detonated on #Indigenous land. As a result, these lands are among those most affected by uranium mining and the nuclear industry in general.
"Until now, few Indigenous filmmakers have tackled this difficult and often hidden subject. For this reason, the organizers are dedicating an award to promote the production of Indigenous and Native American films about nuclear power, nuclear weapons, nuclear waste, uranium mining, and their consequences.
"The best film by an indigenous or Native American filmmaker will receive a special festival trophy in Window Rock.
"Now in its 14th year, the International Uranium Film Festival (IUFF) is dedicated to presenting films on all nuclear issues and the entire nuclear fuel chain: from uranium mining to nuclear waste, from nuclear war to nuclear accidents. This unique-in-the-world film festival - named 'One of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals 2024' by MovieMaker Magazine - was founded in 2010 in Rio de Janeiro and took place for the first time in May, 2011. It has presented more than 300 films in 9 countries and more than 40 cities around the world.
"The founders and directors of the International Uranium Film Festival, Márcia Gomes de Oliveira and Norbert G. Suchanek, were recently awarded the internationally respected 2025 Nuclear Free Future Award for their work.
Film submissions are free for indigenous filmmakers and the deadline is September 20, 2025.
Contact for Film Entry: info @ uraniumfilmfestival . org (no spaces)
We welcome any support, partners and sponsors. Make a donation via PayPal (link below)Source:
https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/usa-2025To donate:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=UQTPP2BGUT3AUFollow:
@uraniumfestival#Dine' #NoUraniumMining #WhiteMesaMill #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #PinyonPlain #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#DontNukeTheGrandCanyon #DontNukeThePlanet #WeAreTheFuture #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #DontNukeTheFuture #UraniumFilmFestival -
High tide for #Holtec
#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report
"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."
by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024
"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.
"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.
"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.
"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.
"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.
"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.
"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.
“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.
"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.
"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.
"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'
"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'
"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'
"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.
"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.
"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.
"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.
"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.
"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.
"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'
"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.
"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.
"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.
"So far the governor has not taken action."
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational -
#NorthShore brush fires sent smoke to #Boston — and eluded #AirQuality readers
Story by Steph Solis
October 28, 2024"The smoke from brush fires around #Salem wafted over Boston on Monday, puzzling residents who got no indication of it from air quality readings on their phones.
"Why it matters: As #ClimateChange makes wildfires more likely and severe in the U.S., #Massachusetts residents will have to learn to detect the signs and protect themselves.
"Catch up quick: Firefighters are battling brush fires across #Salem, #Peabody and #Lynn, sending smoke as far south as Foxborough.
"More than 130 acres of brush have burned since Saturday, NBC Boston reported.
"Between the lines: Smoke inhalation can harm people with all sorts of health conditions, from those with asthma and emphysema to heart attack survivors.
"It's especially risky for children, whose lungs are still developing, says Anthony Wexler, director of the Air Quality Research Center at UC Davis.
"Multiple studies show air pollution can hurt lung development.
"How it works: The smoke smell caught locals' attention in the morning, as opposed to Monday afternoon, because smoke stays close to the ground after the Sun sets, Wexler says.
Once the Sun rises, it warms up the ground and mixes low-lying air with cleaner air above, causing the smoke to dissipate as the day progresses.
"Yes, but: The smoke didn't show up on some air quality readings, like the ones on iPhones.
"That's because the state and federal governments only have a few air quality monitors in a given community. If a plume of smoke passed through your neighborhood but missed the monitor, the reading will end up lower.
"Commercial air quality readers like #PurpleAir monitors are inexpensive and more common, so they can give better readings, Wexler notes.
"#AirNow, the federal government's service, also has better readings on its smoke and fire map."#AirIsLife #WildfireSeason
#ExtremeDrought #ClimateCrisis #NorthShoreOfMassachusetts
#EssexCountyMassachusetts
#SalemMA #MiddletonMA #LynnMA