#arizonalithium — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #arizonalithium, aggregated by home.social.
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[Photos] Protect Ha'Kamwe' Stop Big Sandy #LithiumMine Protest Walk
"#WaterIsLife!" #Hualapai say as they march today to protect their sacred ceremonial place Ha'Kamwe' from a lithium mine.By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, October 20, 2024
Photos via #HualapaiCulturalResources
"'Water is life!' Hualapai said as they marched to protect their sacred ceremonial place, Ha'Kamwe' from a lithium mine.
"'For generations and through modern day, Tribal members have used Ha’Kamwe’ (also known as Cofer Hot Spring) for cultural and traditional purposes. It features prominently in tribal songs and stories about their history and connection to their land, including those known as the #SaltSongTrail,' the Hualapai Tribe said in its lawsuit filed against the U.S. Interior.
"Hualapai filed suit against Interior's #DebHalaand. The CEO of the so-called #NavajoTransitionalEnergyCompany, a tribal enterprise based in Farmington, New Mexico, was hired by an Australian company, #Hawkstone, aka #ArizonaLithium, to drill into Hualapai's sacred site for lithium.
"While sipping wine at the Sydney Opera House, #investors heard how much money they can make mining lithium in Arizona. The enthusiastic project manager was excited to tell them that Arizona loves mining, as can be seen with all its #CopperMines.
"'They are a mining friendly state,' says Paul Lloyd, managing director at Arizona Lithium, owned by #HawkstoneEnergy, in Perth, Australia. 'They are very pro-lithium production.'
"Federal judge #DianeHumetewa Hopi, granted a temporary restraining order. Humetewa is the first federal judge in Arizona to halt #Haaland's runaway train of permits for destruction.
"Hualapai's lawsuit said the Interior's #BureauOfLandManagement, BLM, never consulted Hualapai before authorizing #drilling."
Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/10/protect-hakamwe-stop-big-sandy-lithium.html#StopBigSandyLithiumMine #ProtestWalk #ProtectHaKamwe
#NoLithiumMining
#NoMiningWithoutConsent #BigSandyLithiumMine #ProtectTheSacred #ReaderSupportedNews #DefendMotherEarth #DefendTheSacred #NativeAmericanActivists #PeacefulProtest -
Ha'Kamwe' Background information from #SacredLand. #NoLithiumMining! #ProtectHaKamwe!
"Ha’Kamwe’ is a naturally occurring hot spring in the #BigSandyRiver basin where the #Mojave and #Sonoran deserts meet in what is now known as #Arizona. Ha’Kamwe’ is a sacred healing place for the Hualapai Tribe. This important cultural and ecological site is threatened by a proposed #LithiumMine, as a subsidiary of the Australian company Hawkstone Mining Ltd. seeks permission to explore and drill on three sides of the spring, which would destroy cultural sites and block access to the oasis for desert #wildlife. Visiting the site with a reporter from the Phoenix New Times, Hualapai Tribe Director of Natural Resources, Richard Powskey, said, 'This spring is a place for healing and medicine and other things that they have here. Our people are buried all through here. There’s a grave just on the other side of this hill right here.'"
[...]
"At a Wikieup community information session in 2021 many of the 100 attendees were concerned that the proposed mine would drain too much water from this already drought-prone area. Caretaker Ivan Bender feels that the waterflow of the well that feeds Ha’Kamwe’ has already decreased due to the company’s drilling. There is a dispute between the company, the Tribe, and local ranchers regarding how shallow the water table is, with those who live in the area concerned that drilling could easily puncture the #aquifer.
"In the early 2000s a power plant was proposed in the area and though it was never built the Environmental Impact Statement for that project found 'the discharge from Cofer Hot Spring would be reduced, and possibly cease, as a result of groundwater withdrawal from the volcanic aquifer.'
"The #HulapaiTribe is concerned the proposed lithium exploration activity would deplete the spring as well.
"In April of 2021 the #Hualapai Tribe passed a resolution against the mine. 'The Hualapai Tribal Council strongly objects to any further permitting of surface or subsurface disturbances within the #SandyValley Lithium mining claim area, which will result in devastating impacts to significant cultural and spiritual resources; will threaten long-term tribal water rights and quality; will cause irreparable harm to the Tribe’s ability to continue cultural activities and to pursue economic development of Cholla Canyon Ranch, and will result in long term ecological destruction of a fragile desert environment, including plant and animal species with cultural significance. Further, should an open pit mine ever be permitted, it would create enormous public health issues caused by pollution, dust, noise, and overall safety concerns caused by having such a mine immediately adjacent to Hualapai land, as well as severe visual impacts.'
"The Inter-Tribal Association of Arizona, an association of 21 tribal governments in Arizona, which provides a forum for tribal governments to advocate for national and regional tribal concerns and to join in united action to address issues, passed a similar resolution.
"The Hualapai Tribe is demanding that the BLM develop a full Environmental Impact Statement as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. This would require a thorough examination of issues protected by the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. The Tribe asserts that these concerns were not adequately addressed in the published Environmental Assessment: “The BLM’s position as indicated in the EA implies that academically-based western science approaches to research take precedence over traditional #Indigenous knowledge. This position is unacceptable and is not in keeping with the requirement to make a good faith effort to identify cultural resources.'
"In January 2023, #Earthjustice collected and submitted 31,671 letters demanding the BLM conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement.
What You Can Do
"Sign up to support The Campaign to Protect Ha’Kamwe’ and follow the issue."
Learn more:
https://sacredland.org/hakamwe/#HulapaiNation #WaterIsLife #DefendTheSacred #NoLithiumMining #HawkstoneMining #ArizonaLithium #WikieupArizona #ProtectTheSacred #NavajoTransitionalEnergyCompany
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Federal Judge #DianeHumetewa, #Hopi, is First to Halt Interior Sec. #DebHaaland's #Lithium Drilling Permits in #Native #Ceremonial Places
By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Sept. 18, 2024
"Federal Judge Diane Humetewa, Hopi, is the first federal judge to halt the lithium permits being given out by Interior Sec. Deb Haaland. Humetewa granted a temporary restraining order halting an Australian company's lithium drilling at #Hualapai's Sacred Spring.
"Now, U.S. District Judge Humetewa will rule on whether to make it permanent. Humetewa is the first to ask attorneys to submit arguments concerning the federal laws that protect historic and archaeological sites and the environment.
"Judge Humetewa gave lawyers on both sides until next Tuesday to summarize their arguments and more specifically respond to questions she asked about the government’s compliance with the #NationalHistoricPreservationAct and the #NationalEnvironmentalPolicyAct.
"#Biden's Justice Dept attorneys joined the drillers in court to argue for the drilling to proceed. And the #NavajoTransitionalEnergyCompany, a tribal enterprise in Farmington, NM, plans to do the drilling. CEO #VernLund has joined the board of the Australian-owned company #Hawkstone / #ArizonaLithium of Perth, Australia.
"In a separate case, the #TohonoOodham and #SanCarlosApache have filed a lawsuit against Interior Sec. Haaland for the bulldozers now destroying ancient village sites, #burial places and #MedicineGrounds in southern #Arizona. A Tucson federal judge refused to halt the destruction by the #SunZia Transmission Lines, for a wind energy project that plans to take electricity from New Mexico to California. The wind energy company, #PattenEnergy, is owned by the #CanadianPensionFund.
"The lithium drilling continues at the #Paiute Massacre Site in northern Nevada by the Canadian-owned #LithiumAmericas / #LithiumNevada. #Paiute and #Shoshone elderly and mothers have been charged in a court case for defending the grounds where their ancestors remain. #Haaland said she supports the #LithiumMining.
"#ApacheStronghold filed a case before the U.S. #SupremeCourt [#SCOTUS] this week, to halt the planned destruction of their ceremonial place, #OakFlat in Arizona, targeted for a massive copper mine by Australia's #RioTinto and #BHP, and pushed by the Biden administration. Rio Tinto already blew up 46,000 years of sacred #Aboriginal teachings in caves in #Australia. Rio Tinto was forced to admit widespread sexual attacks in its mines, with the highest number in Australia and #SouthAfrica."
Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/federal-judge-humetewa-hopi-is-first-to.html#DefendTheSacred #ReaderSupportedNews #NoMiningWithoutConsent #NoLithiumMining #EnvironmentalRacism #environment #Greenwashing #EVs #WaterIsLife #NoLithiumMiningWithoutConsent #HumanRights #WaterIsLife #HumanRightsDefenders #IndigenousActivists #CorporateColonialism #SaveOakFlat
#CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism #ExtractiveMining -
#Lithium drilling project temporarily blocked on sacred #TribalLands in #Arizona
The case is among the latest legal fights to pit #NativeAmerican tribes and #environmentalists against President Joe #Biden’s administration.
By Scott Sonner, Associated Press
"A federal judge has temporarily blocked exploratory drilling for a lithium project in Arizona that tribal leaders say will harm land they have used for religious and cultural ceremonies for centuries.
"Lawyers for the national environmental group #Earthjustice and Colorado-based Western Mining Action Project are suing federal land managers on behalf of the #HualapaiTribe. They accuse the U.S. Bureau of Land Management of illegally approving drilling planned by an Australian mining company in the #BigSandyRiverBasin in northwestern Arizona, about halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
"The case is among the latest legal fights to pit Native American tribes and environmentalists against President Joe Biden’s administration as green energy projects encroach on lands that are culturally significant.
"U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa granted a temporary restraining order late Monday, according to court documents. Humetewa is suspending the operation until she can hear initial arguments from the tribe, #ArizonaLithium Ltd., and the bureau at a hearing in #PhoenixArizona on Sept. 17.
"The tribe wants the judge to issue a preliminary injunction extending the prohibition on activity at the site pending trial on allegations that federal approval of the exploratory drilling violated the National Historic Preservation Act and National #Environmental Policy Act.
"'Like other tribal nations who for centuries have stewarded the lands across this country, the #Hualapai people are under siege by #mining interests trying to make a buck off destroying their cultural heritage,' Earthjustice lawyer Laura Berglan said in a statement Wednesday.
"The tribe says in court documents that the bureau failed to adequately analyze potential impacts to sacred springs the Hualapai people call Ha'Kamwe,' which means warm spring. The springs have served as a place 'for healing and prayer' for generations.
"The tribe and environmental groups also argue that a 2002 environmental review by the bureau and the U.S. Energy Department determined that the land was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a traditional cultural property.
"Arizona Lithium plans a total of 131 drilling sites across nearly a square mile (2.6 square kilometers) to obtain samples to help determine if there's enough lithium to construct a mine and extract the critical mineral needed to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles [#EVs], among other things."
#ProtectTheSacred #WaterIsLife #HaKamwe #SacredSite #CulturalGenocide
#EnvironmentalRacism
#NoMiningWithoutConsent
#LithiumMining #NoLithiumMining
#EarthJustice #BigSandyRiver
#WesternMiningActionProject #CorporateColonialism