#antofagasta — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #antofagasta, aggregated by home.social.
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A Reminder that Antofagasta’s Copper and Nickel Mine on the edge of the Boundary Waters is a Coordinated Political Project
In my most recent post about the Senate vote to overturn the Rainy River Watershed Mineral Withdrawal, I made the simple point (for what seems the umpteenth time, forgive me) that this latest bid to hand over the Boundary Waters to a foreign mining company is part of a coordinated political project, one that stretches back to Trump’s first term and with connections to Project 2025.
The coordinating is being done behind closed doors, much of it by Antofagasta’s lobbyists, and nowadays that means The Bernhardt Group, the lobbying firm that Trump’s former Secretary of Interior, David Bernhardt, set up last year. The Group has edged out all other firms and now exclusively runs the Antofagasta lobbying game in DC.
Now we have The Bernhardt Group’s lobbying disclosures for the first quarter of 2026. The form shows a slight increase in revenue — from $110,000 in the final quarters of 2025 to $120,000 this quarter. Three Bernhardt lobbyists worked every room necessary: the House, the Senate, Interior, Executive Office of the President, and USDA.
It’s notable that the Group did not lobby DOJ this quarter, as they did in 2025. As I remarked last week, passing HJR 140 likely rendered moot the case before the DC District Court of Appeals. A favorable judgment in that case seemed highly unlikely.
Having worked with the federal government to put that case on hold, the Bernhardt Group could focus instead on the political front. The House and Senate passed House Joint Resolution 140 to overturn the mineral withdrawal. The Executive Office of the President could be involved in all sorts of ways, and it’s worth remembering that one of the most powerful figures in that Office these days is Russell Vought, architect of Project 2025; the agencies (Interior and USDA) had to be captured and controlled — easy enough with people like Doug Burgum and Brooke Rollins in charge.
Under their direction, the agencies will now start taking steps to approve Antofagasta’s lease applications (the stated object on these federal disclosures) and move the Twin Metals project toward the permitting phase.
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#Antofagasta #corruption #cronyism #ethics #power #resourceHoarding #revolvingDoorCorruption #Water -
Another delay in the Boundary Waters litigation will open the door to even more political finagling
No one should be surprised by the Joint Status Report just filed in the Boundary Waters litigation before the DC District Court of Appeals. Twin Metals, joined by the federal government, has asked for yet another 180-day abeyance. The mining company clearly sees that it has little chance of succeeding at law, so it has joined forces with the federal government, the putative defendant in this case, to keep the Twin Metals project on a strictly political path.
This is the same strategy they’ve pursued for a while. By petitioning for delay at the DC Circuit, the mining company and its lobbyists can make headway on the political front. They have already made some. Last July, the Department of the Interior revoked the Biden-era legal opinion that canceled (or re-canceled) the zombie leases revived by a legal opinion issued by the Solicitor of the Interior during Trump’s first term. There is still time over the next few weeks for the Chilean mining company and its lobbyists to push the republican-controlled Senate to pass House Joint Resolution 140, which would overturn the 20-year Rainy River watershed mineral withdrawal. And just last week, the Trump administration announced the dismantling of the US Forest Service, closing more than 57 research facilities and virtually shutting down the agency’s ability to conduct scientific research — the kind of careful, incremental, localized research that the 20-year mineral withdrawal would allow and for which it was designed.
Another 180-day abeyance would bring us to October 3rd or thereabouts (depending on when exactly the court issues the order). That’s about a month before the November elections, after which the the political finagling behind closed doors should face some much-needed congressional scrutiny.
We are still waiting to hear from Intervenor Defendant Appellees — the group of non-profits and small businesses that I call the Civil Society Group. Though the federal government has done an about-face, the Civil Society Group has not, so I would expect them to oppose this request. I am not confident the court will see it their way, though. For now, here’s today’s Joint Status Report.
260406 Joint Status ReportDownloadUpdate 11 April 2026: Here’s the 9 April order: the case is on ice until 5 October, 2026. The plan is to keep justice at bay, sideline science, and let the mining company’s lobbyists (led by Trump’s former Secretary of the Interior) dictate to the corrupted agencies. And remember, there is still a chance — a slim chance at this point, but a chance all the same — that the Senate votes to overturn the 20-year mineral withdrawal.
If all this reads like so much inside baseball, that’s because it is: this is a complex and coordinated political project, with many moving parts.
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#ANTO #antiScience #Antofagasta #cheating #corruption #delay #kleptocracy #resourceHoarding #USForestService #Water -
Las lecciones que deja la suspensión del proyecto INNA: “Es importante actualizar nuestras normativas” | vía #UChileRadio
#aesandes #antofagasta #chile #contaminación #elt #eso #inna #maríateresaruíz #observatorioparanal #rodrigoherrera #telescopios
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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