#sacredsites — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #sacredsites, aggregated by home.social.
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"Public lands belong to all of us. No one should plunder those lands for profit."
"A planned dismantling of everything.""Trump’s plan to sell off a part of Yosemite is what oligarchy looks like." - Rebecca Solnit
"The Trump administration’s ruthless efforts to turn over public lands for mining and logging and fossil fuel exploitation while it also dismantles the US Forest Service and National Park Service is about turning long-term wellbeing for the many, human and more than human, into short-term profit for an elite."
"To give away a piece of land is one form of harm to the parks, to take away the park’s workers, whose labors protect endangered species, waterways and land, prevent fires and provide public services from search and rescue operations to education to clean restrooms is another." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/31/trumps-plan-to-sell-off-a-part-of-yosemite-is-what-oligarchy-looks-like
#biodiversity #conservation #NationalParks #FastTrack #redistribution #FirstNationsPeoples #SacredSites #SettlerSociety #NPWS -
Offerings left inside the hollow trunk of an ancient Yew tree that sits atop a sacred well
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Federal Contractors Begin #BorderWall Construction in #BigBend #NationalPark
via #CensoredNews
"New Mexico threatens to revoke licenses of contractors drilling water wells in drought-stricken #NewMexico. The #TohonoOodham Nation has filed for an injunction to halt the Trump administration from seizing its tribal land for the border wall in Arizona, pointing out that only Congress can diminish its land.
"Border Wall construction will destroy O'odham burial places and #SacredSites. Today, contractors are destroying the fragile tree life at Big Bend in Texas. Today is Day 10 of a tree sitter and supporters halting border wall contractors in Lochiel, Arizona, east of Nogales." -- Censored News
Federal Contractors Begin Border Construction in Big Bend National Park
“This is the most heinous attack on an American national park in generations,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.
By Center for Biological Diversity, Censored News, August 7, 2026
TERLINGUA, Texas— "Bulldozers broke ground today on border barrier and road construction in Big Bend National Park amid widespread bipartisan opposition. Videos shared with the Center for Biological Diversity show contractors plowing through native vegetation along the Rio Grande’s riparian corridor, with the iconic Santa Elena Canyon visible in the background.
" 'This is the most heinous attack on an American national park in generations,' said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.
" 'The administration is preparing to blast hundreds of miles of destructive roads through the wildest place left in Texas and cut off public access to the Rio Grande, all to enrich private contractors. Big Bend belongs to us all, and sacrificing it is a betrayal of every Texan and every American who believes our national parks should be protected. We won’t stop fighting this reckless assault on Big Bend National Park and America’s natural heritage until this destruction ends.'
"Department of Homeland Security contractors have stockpiled heavy equipment across the Big Bend region, where staging yards have been cleared, worker camps built and water wells drilled.
"According to Customs and Border Protection’s [ #CBP ] online map, the agency plans to build vehicle barriers and patrol roads across Big Bend National Park, including in rugged and remote areas such as Mariscal Mountain that would require extensive dynamite blasting. The plans also include building in remote walled canyons where no unauthorized vehicle crossings have been documented and where vehicles cannot access the border with Mexico.
"In May the Department of Homeland Security awarded a $1.7 billion contract for border work through the national park. In June the department waived dozens of #EnvironmentalLaws — including the National Park Service Organic Act, #EndangeredSpecies Act and National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act — to authorize construction of border barriers, roads and lighting through Big Bend National Park. It was the first time in U.S. history that the federal government had waived such a broad set of environmental protections for construction inside a national park.
"The Center sued the Department of Homeland Security, saying the waivers violated the Constitution by taking actions with vast economic and political consequences without congressional authorization. That case is ongoing."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/08/federal-contractors-begin-border.html#USPol #CulturalGenocide #NoBorderWall #TrumpsBorderWall #ProtectTheSacred #EnvironmentalProtectionAct #EndangeredSpecies #RespectTheTreaties #AbolishICE #DefundDHS #MurderPatrol #BorderPatrol #IndigenousSacredSites #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
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@chris actually I was just looking up some (english language) info about the Wormbach church and realised an interesting similarity ... the Kempley church had a Wheel of Life, also known as The Ten Ages of Man ... not a direct correspondent to a zodiac wheel, but a similar orientation!
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Stopped to brew a cup of tea next to a random church in a tiny little hamlet ... AND FOUND THIS 😍🤩😍
From the info board: "Built around 1130, St Mary's [Kempley, Gloucestershire] is an extraordinary survival from the Norman world.
The wall paintings were discovered in 1872 hidden behind layers of whitewash. They are among the most complete 12th-century religious paintings ever found in England and are of international significance."I love my life!
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Sacred Sites As Refuges For Native Plant Diversity In An Urbanized Tropical Landscape [Madagascar]
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-026-00489-x <-- shared paper
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H/T @nicolas Salliou | Senior scientist at ETH Zürich
“When [the authors] investigated the potential for blue-green infrastructures for the capital of Madagascar,… a large team surveyed plant communities along a rural-urban gradient.
They found that 12 Malagasy "sacred" hill settlements, situated in the core of a pre-colonial kingdom, are particularly precious as they host a high diversity of native plants. A key insights when one considers that Madagascar is a unique hotspot for biodiversity and human cultures…”
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“In fragmented and intensively managed remnant urban green spaces, enabling natural regeneration is crucial to sustain ecosystem functioning and associated services. Natural regeneration therefore offers an important lens into ecological resilience in human-modified landscapes. Here [the authors] present one of the most comprehensive field-based assessments of urban plant diversity in the Afrotropics, comprising over 25,000 naturally regenerating woody plant individuals of 206 species (39% native) across 329 vegetation patches in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Landscape-level native species diversity declined with greater building complexity, density and socio-economic development, whereas exotic species showed no consistent associations with determinants of urban characteristics. Native species richness was highest in ‘sacred’ forest fragments, many of which contain historic remains dating back to pre-colonial times. Notably, seven of the ten most species-rich patches were located in such sites. [Their] findings highlight the potentially important role of these sites in sustaining native species diversity and indicate how socio-cultural factors can present both opportunities and barriers for tropical urban conservation and restoration...”
#sacredsites #antananarivo #madagascar #vegetation #nativeplant #urban #greenspace #tropical #hillsettlements #spatialanalysis #survey #ecosystem #biodiversity #ecology #regeneration #humanimpacts #GIS #spatial #mapping #afrotropics #forest #forestfragments #precolonial #sustainability #diversity #native #sociocultural #restoration -
And while we're on #HolyWells here's another I sought out near Polzeath, North Cornwall last week ... St Kew's Well.
#holywellsandsprings #sacredsites #Nomadichearts #RuthsRoadTrip
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So, working backwards through the last 2 weeks of being unable to post photos (due to poor signal) ... here's today's #HolyWell in Trellech, South Wales. Originally dedicated to Annis - celtic goddess of rivers, water, wells, magic, and wisdom (according to a sign at the site - later christianised to St Anne's Well, but also known at The Virtuous Well.
Said to cure complaints of the eyes and women's issues (what, it'll cure the patriarchy?)
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Couldn't drive past this lovely church tonight without pulling over to see who the striking white figure was, shining in the evening light ... St Andrew, as it turns out.
Makes sense, since it was St Andrew's Church at Bridge Sollars
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Arthur's Stone, Herefordshire, for the solstice sunrise 🩶
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Hereford Cathedral ... went there to see the Mappa Mundi ... but really like this photo
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I know it's not #StandingStoneSunday yet, but I'm really excited that this arrived today ... I was originally after Julian Cope's 'The Modern Antiquarian' but at £275 that was not an option. This one, however, is most excellent and a fraction of the price 💙
#stonecircles #standingstones #sacredplaces #AncientPlaces #sacredsites #history #archeology
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Bronze age stone circle at Doll Tor, Stanton Moor, Derbyshire. This was a little off the beaten track, but all the more special for it
#stonecircles #standingstones #sacredsites #Derbyshire #photography
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An ancient spring head at Linby, Nottinghamshire ... the cross (above it, but out of shot) was erected in the 14th century, but little is known about the history of the spring.
#sacredsites #holywellsandsprings #Nottinghamshire #photography
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Happy Monday, everyone!
I've got a new piece of writing on my blog, if you're interested 😊
"Somewhere between remembrance and forgetting, we can meet, we can witness each other, me and these stones, these wells. Something is alive here, but it won't always be, and just possibly, it shouldn't."
https://2ruth.blog/2026/06/14/half-forgotten-places/
#standingstones #springsandwells #sacredsites #remembranceandforgetting
#photography #creativenonfiction #writing #NomadicHearts -
We did find St Edith's Well in the end ...and I haven't seen one quite like this before ... but, believe me, we had to battle through some foliage and then there was an iron grate in front of it ... so I couldn't strip off and immerse myself in the water 🤪
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#NativeAmericaCalling: #BorderWall construction damaging #SacredSites
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
"Construction crews working on the wall on the #USMexico border in #Arizona significantly damaged a 1,000-year-old #geoglyph located in #CabezaPrieta #NationalWildlifeRefuge. It’s one of a number of places tribes on both sides of the border say are damaged or are threatened by the fast-tracked construction process. #Tribal leaders say such desecration is happening at a record pace after the #Trump administration sidelined #cultural and #environmental barriers to construction. We’ll hear from cultural historians and policy experts about that is being lost and what can be done about it.
Tune into Native America Calling to hear from cultural historians and policy experts about that is being lost and what can be done about it. "
#CulturalGenocide #Colonialism #USPol #NativeAmericanNews #ProtectTheSacred #NativeAmericans #TrumpBorderWall
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Happy #doorsday 😊
Can't get enough of these beautiful old wooden doors ... this one from 15th Century St Stephen's Church in Old Radnor
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Another day, another church!
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Inside the church, it was cool and peaceful. Also quite beautiful in its simplicity.
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Visited the church when I went to the well yesterday. Also, foraged some wild watercress from the stream on the way 😋
#photography #churches #sacredsites #flowers #bloomscrolling
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U.S. is Dynamiting #Kumeyaay #SacredMountain for #BorderWall Expansion
Kumeyaay's sacred mountain is being dynamited at the same time Hia-Ced #Oodham's sacred place is being bulldozed for this border wall on the #Arizona border.
By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, May 15, 2026
"The United States government is dynamiting the sacred place of Kumeyaay, who live on both sides of the border, and blasted two sacred monoliths that were 60 to 120 million years old. The U.S. began blasting #CerroCuchumá in early April, a historic and #SacredSite where their #MedicinePeople carry out ceremonies, without consultation as required by U.S. federal law."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/05/us-is-dynamiting-kumeyaay-sacred.html#USPol #ProtectTheSacred #DefundCBP #RespectTheTreaties #TohonoOodham #KumeyaayPeople #NativeAmericans #SacredSites #SacredLand #NoBorders
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Ah-ha! I did manage to find something for #DoorsDay 😁
What I've noticed is that I seem to be more drawn to doorways and portals, than doors themselves. Might have to start an offshoot : #DoorwayDay maybe?
Anyway, this is Kilpeck Church, south of Hereford (circa 1140). It has a famous Sheela-na-Gig ... alongside 80-something other gargoyles of pagan significance, with some interesting folklore
#photography #architecture #churches #paganism #AncientPlaces #sacredsites
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The Esto’k Gna Fight to Protect #SacredLands from #SpaceX Expansion
Oct 14, 2025
Key takeaways:
- Tribal nation challenges #SpaceX expansion: The Esto’k Gna, or #CarrizoComecrudo Tribe of #Texas, oppose SpaceX’s ongoing expansion at Boca Chica, saying the project desecrates sacred lands and harms protected ecosystems.
- #EnvironmentalDamage documented: Tribal leaders and #conservationists report that rocket launches have caused #fires, #debris fallout, and #HabitatLoss in an area home to #EndangeredSpecies.
- Lack of consultation and oversight: The Esto’k Gna say they were never properly consulted by federal or state agencies, despite legal obligations to consider Indigenous rights and cultural heritage in environmental reviews.
- Broader fight for recognition: The Tribe’s concerns highlight ongoing struggles for federal acknowledgment and protection of #IndigenousSovereignty in the face of high-tech industrial expansion.Excerpt: "On the southernmost edge of Texas, where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf, the Esto’k Gna Tribal Nation — also known as the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas — still hopes to protect what remains of its ancestral lands from Elon Musk’s expanding SpaceX base.
The tribe says the company’s operations at Boca Chica — rebranded 'Starbase' — have devastated fragile #ecosystems, desecrated #SacredSites, and cut off traditional access to the coastline that forms the heart of their creation story. What SpaceX hails as a gateway to Mars, tribal leaders call a continuation of the centuries-long #erasure of Indigenous peoples in the name of progress. As Tribal Chairman #JuanMancias recently told Decatur Metro, 'They dream of reaching Mars. We’re just trying to stay on Earth.' "
Read more:
https://icmagazine.org/the-estok-gna-fight-to-protect-sacred-lands-from-spacex-expansion/Watch video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPcDYLEKc0c#CulturalGenocide #EstokGna #IntercontinentalCry #ReaderSupportedNews #SacredLand #BocaChicaBeach #RocketLaunch #Pollution #CarrizoComecrudoTribe #ProtectTheSacred #Colonialism
#CorporateColonialism #OccupySpaceX #TwoHeartedPeople #GarciaPasture #EndangeredSpecies #AncestralLand #ElonSucks #StarbaseCity -
2023: #Environmentalists and #NativeAmerican tribe rebuke #SpaceX ahead of historic rocket launch
Opponents of the project say owner #ElonMusk’s space travel aspirations are not worth the risk of a catastrophic explosion.
by Cameron Langford / April 19, 2023
"SpaceX launched a rocket with 33 engines, the most powerful ever built, Thursday morning from its South #Texas port and hailed the test flight as a success, though the rocket and an attached space capsule exploded just four minutes after liftoff.
"The company said in a best-case scenario it would be a 90-minute maiden voyage into space and its first-stage #SuperHeavy rocket would separate from its second-stage #Starship spacecraft about three minutes into the flight, and do a controlled descent into the Gulf of Mexico. And Starship would travel around the globe and land off the coast of Hawaii.
"But with SpaceX livestreaming the event the components failed to separate and the vehicle flipped over before exploding.
"Musk, who also owns Twitter, praised his employees’ work on the project in a Twitter post: 'Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.'
"Environmental and #CivilRights groups condemned SpaceX’s endeavor in statements Wednesday afternoon, saying they feared an explosion would destroy #EndangeredSpecies’ habitat in a nearby wildlife refuge and that rocket shrapnel could injure area residents.
"But there were no immediate reports of environmental damage or injuries Thursday morning after the explosion.
"Since Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, it has become the world’s premier commercial space business, launching its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets more than 220 times, making history as the first private firm to send astronauts to the International Space Station and delivering cargo to the International Space Station more than 20 times with its Dragon spacecraft.
Aborted launches and explosions are commonplace for the company as it refines its technology, including a 2019 test flight from its '#Spaceport' in #BocaChica — an unincorporated and sparsely populated village in Cameron County outside #BrownsvilleTX — that started a 100-acre brush fire in the Lower #RioGrandeValley #NationalWildlifeRefuge."
#ElonSucks #EnvironmentalRacism #RioGrandeDelta #SacredSites #WildlifeRefuge #ProtectTheSacred #Colonialism #CorporateColonialism
#OccupySpaceX #TwoHeartedPeople #USPol #NativeAmericans #CarrizoComecrudo #AncestralLand #ProtectTheSacred #Pollution #ExplodingRockets -
Forgotten Keepers of the #RioGrandeDelta
An industrial buildout on the southern tip of Texas is erasing the last traces of an ancient world that still hasn’t died.
by Dylan Baddour
May 13, 2024"This society has been trying to get rid of #Mancias’ people for 500 years. It couldn’t kill them all, so it’s destroying the evidence that they ever existed. That’s what Mancias sees as 100-ton bulldozers flatten the hills his #ancestors camped on, churn up their bones, and casually crush them into rubble, removing these last traces of their world.
" 'They almost annihilated us, and that #genocide continues,' Mancias said. 'To destroy the #environment you have to destroy the people who protect it.'
"He faces a formidable foe here at the last frontier for oil and gas on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Every other major inlet from the Mississippi River west through Port Arthur, Houston, Freeport, Lavaca Bay, and Corpus Christi is already ringed with #refineries, #ChemicalPlants, and terminals.
"But at the farthest tip of #Texas, the #RioGrande meets the Gulf between #WildlifeRefuges, a #StatePark, and a majestic #wilderness that still shelters endangered and little-known #wildlife.
"This is where Houston-based developer #NextDecade has begun constructing an $18 billion #MegaProject, which it called the 'largest greenfield energy project [financed] in U.S. history' when it announced in 2023 that it had secured investors to proceed.
"Named #RioGrandeLNG, the 750-acre facility will eventually pipe in up to 27 million tons per year of gas from #fracked wells in the #PermianBasin, supercool it to negative 260 degrees fahrenheit, and load it onto #TankerShips for sale overseas as liquefied natural gas (#LNG). It’s part of an explosion of lookalike projects that quickly made the United States the world’s top exporter of liquefied gas and drove soaring gas production at home.
"On an adjacent tract, another project called Texas LNG intends to build atop a site called #GarciaPasture—an ancient village ground where people lived seasonally for almost 800 years. The World Monument Fund calls it 'one of America’s premier #archaeological sites.' That project has its permits and awaits investor commitments before breaking ground.
"And about 5 miles away, #SpaceX continues to expand its #Starbase complex, where it manufactures and launches the most powerful #rockets in the world (which occasionally explode and fall to earth).
"Mancias fears this is just the beginning.
" 'All of this will be gone,' he said, driving his pickup truck down a highway through the marshes. 'They’re going to destroy all of this.' "
Read more:
https://www.texasobserver.org/forgotten-keepers-of-the-rio-grande-delta/#DefendingTheSacred #SacredSites
#TexasObserver #InsideClimateNews #BigOilAndGas #CulturalGenocide #CorporateColonialism #ElonSucks #MegaProjects #Pollution #Fracking #SpaceIndustry #DefendTheSacred #EndangeredSpecies -
Another reason that #ElonSucks! [Spoiler alert -- #Starbase city is expanding!]
From 2022: Defending #NativeAmerican #SacredSites From #ElonMusk and #SpaceX
By Frank Hopper
Dec 21, 2022"The #CarrizoComecrudo Tribe of Texas is suing to protect the tribe’s #AncestralLand.
"From an observation deck near the top of his South Texas rocket launch tower, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and self-proclaimed proponent of free speech, looks northward to South Padre Island, home to many ancient village sites of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas.
"In a video published last May to the YouTube channel Everyday Astronaut, Musk is seen looking over the tower’s railing and down at a 'farm' of huge rocket fuel storage tanks filled with liquid oxygen and methane gas. These will service weekly launches of SpaceX’s massive #SuperHeavy and #Starship orbital launch vehicles in 2023.
"Musk surveys the land from the gleaming metal launch tower, looking down on an #ecosystem filled with #EndangeredSpecies, such as #Ocelots and Kemp’s #RidleySeaTurtles. To the east, he sees the waves of the Gulf of Mexico crashing on #BocaChicaBeach, the site of the Carrizo Comecrudo creation story. To the northwest just a few miles away is #GarciaPasture, an #ArchaeologicalSite containing the remains of a #PreColumbian village nearly a thousand years old.
"Musk wears a black T-shirt with 'Occupy Mars' emblazoned across the front, as if his #corporate conquest and #colonization of space were some sort of righteous protest. As he stands atop his multibillion-dollar mountain of #ToxicMachinery, he cannot see the Indigenous people below who have come to offer tobacco to their ancestors.
"Musk doesn’t see them because, according to the Carrizo Comecrudo, he is blind to the concerns of the #IndigenousPeople who fought and died for the land he now occupies."
Read more:
https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2022/12/21/sacred-site-spacex#ProtectTheSacred #ElonMusk #Colonialism #CorporateColonialism #OccupySpaceX #TwoHeartedPeople
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Feral pigs are running wild
"Destruction wrought by pig-borne disease is thining the canopy of bunya pine forests. Australian landscapes didn’t evolve for hard-hoofed animals and aggressive foragers with the mass of a feral pig … we are seeing severe ecological imbalances starting to occur.” >>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/nov/30/feral-pigs-queensland-rainforests-rivers-sacred-sites
#InvasiveSpecies #pigs #ungulates #bunya #SacredSites #harm -
#Trump administration fast-tracks #oil and #mining projects, angering #environmentalists
By Mary Cunningham
Updated on: April 25, 2025"The Trump administration said it will accelerate permit approvals for #mining, #drilling and #FossilFuel production and transportation on public land, fast-tracking a review process that would normally take years.
"In announcing the emergency procedures Wednesday, the Department of the Interior, which oversees the management of federal lands and natural resources, said the permitting process will now take up to '28 days at most' — a drastic departure from the current one- to two-year timeline.
"The government agency said the move is in response to President Trump's January 20 declaration of a national energy emergency. In an executive order on the first day of his second term, the White House said it would 'eliminate harmful, coercive 'climate' policies that increase the costs of food and fuel.' [#ClimateChange, caused by harmful oil, gas and coal, will take care of that! #FAFO!]
"The speedy permitting policy opens the door for the U.S. to expand oil and gas projects and for Mr. Trump to make good on his promise to "#DrillBabyDrill" — a common refrain on his campaign trail. The new guidelines will apply to a wide range of energy projects, including crude #oil, #NaturalGas and #coal.
"The U.S. leads the world in oil and gas production, with an output of 20 million barrels of oil a day and accounting for roughly a quarter of global gas production, according to the International Energy Agency.
"The DOI said it would use #emergency authorities under the National Environmental Policy Act, #EndangeredSpeciesAct and the National #HistoricPreservationAct to expedite the permitting process.
" 'The United States cannot afford to wait,' Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a statement on Wednesday. 'President Trump has made it clear that our energy security is national security, and these emergency procedures reflect our unwavering commitment to protecting both.'
Environmental advocates rebuked the announcement, saying that in addition to adverse environmental impacts on public land and water sources, the expedited procedures will strip away community members' ability to weigh in on projects happening in their own backyards. Experts say the move is expected to draw legal challenges."
#LeaveItInTheGround #Oiligarchy #NoDrilling #NoPipelines #BigOilAndGas
#ExtractiveIndustries #USPol #WaterIsLife #SacredSites #WildlifeRefuge #Extinction #CulturalGenocide #Ecocide #MadKingTrump -
Trump to approve land swap for Rio Tinto copper mine opposed by Native Americans
By Ernest Scheyder
April 18, 2025- Forest Service to republish environmental report within 60 days
- Publication needed to approve land swap for Resolution project
- Native groups oppose project on religious grounds
- Related case still pending at Supreme Court"The #Trump administration said on Thursday it would approve a land swap needed for #RioTinto and #BHP to build one of the world's largest copper mines, despite concerns from Native Americans that it would destroy a site of religious value.
The move is likely to escalate tensions between Indigenous groups vocal about the need to preserve historical lands and Western governments eager to boost critical minerals production and offset China's sector dominance."The U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the Agriculture Department, said it will republish within 60 days an environmental report needed for the #ResolutionCopper project land swap to occur.
"Congress and then-President #BarackObama approved the mine in 2014 after it was added at the last minute to a must-pass military funding bill [#NDAA] with the condition that an environmental report be published.
"The underground mine - which President Donald Trump approved in his first term before successor Joe Biden reversed him - would supply more than a quarter of U.S. appetite for copper and be a key part of Trump's plan to boost U.S. mining.
"Copper is used in construction, transportation, electronics and many other industries. The United States imports roughly half of its copper needs each year.
"Yet the mine's construction would cause a crater that would swallow the Oak Flat site where Arizona's San Carlos Apache worship. That has fueled strong opposition from all but one of the state's 22 Native American tribes, as well as the National Congress of American Indians.
"Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and conservationists, asked the U.S. Supreme Court last September to block the land swap. The court has not yet decided whether to take that case.
Were the court to do so, however, the Forest Service said on Thursday it 'may reevaluate how to proceed' regarding the land swap." 'The U.S. government is rushing to give away our spiritual home before the courts can even rule, just like it's rushed to erase Native people for generations,' said #WendslerNosie, an #ApacheStronghold leader."
#Apaches #WesternApaches #NativeAmericans #SacredSite #ResolutionCopper #SaveOakFlat #ChichilBiłdagoteel #CorporateColonialism #ProtectOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews #SCOTUS #DefendTheSacred #CopperMine
#WaterIsLife #CulturalGenocide #WesternApache #SacredSites #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleCopper #TontoNationalForest -
#Apaches ask lower court to stop government’s imminent transfer of #SacredSite
Becket Law, via #CensoredNews, April 25, 2025
There will be a Hearing May 7, 2025 @ 0930 @ Sandra Day O’Connor
U.S. Courthouse, 401 West Washington Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85003WASHINGTON – "A coalition of #WesternApaches, other #NativePeoples, and non-Native #allies asked a federal court late yesterday to stop the U.S. government from handing over their sacred site at Oak Flat to a multinational mining giant as early as June 16, 2025.
"In #ApacheStronghold v. United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year refused to stop the federal government from transferring #OakFlat to #ResolutionCopper, a Chinese-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending Apache religious practices forever (Watch the short video linked below to learn more).
"The emergency appeal comes after the government announced last week it will forge ahead with the transfer even though the case is currently under consideration by the #USSupremeCourt."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/apaches-ask-lower-court-to-stop.htmlVideo link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh68xOn0B_8#SaveOakFlat #ChichilBiłdagoteel #CorporateColonialism #ProtectOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews #SCOTUS #DefendTheSacred #CopperMine
#WaterIsLife #RioTinto #RecycleCopper #CulturalGenocide #NDAA #WesternApache #SacredSites #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleCopper #TontoNationalForest -
#ApacheStronghold #PrayerJourney to #SupremeCourt: Oak Flat Mirrors National Struggle for Sacred
By Apache Stronghold, #CensoredNews, August 30, 2024
"On July 11th, 2024, the Apache Stronghold started the journey of prayer to the Supreme Court to stop the shattering of human existence and to protect #MotherEarth. We have traveled, held ceremonies and gathered prayers from Tribes, Communities, Churches, and people in support of saving Oak Flat and religious freedom and protections for all. We began in the Northwest, West Coast, South, Mid- west to the East to gather in Washington DC at the Supreme Court on September 11.
"We are appealing a lower court ruling that would have allowed the total destruction of Oak Flat by allowing the land to be transferred to #ResolutionCopper, a foreign owned company, owned by #BHP and #RioTinto.
We will appeal Apache Stronghold v. United States to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 11. The case involves the federal government’s planned destruction of Oak Flat—known in Apache as Chi'chil Biłdagoteel —a sacred site where Western Apaches and other Native peoples have worshipped since time immemorial. Oak Flat is the birthplace of our religion and the site of sacred ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else."The United States is now planning to transfer ownership of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a foreign- owned mining company that plans to destroy it. Resolution’s mine will swallow Oak Flat in a two-mile- wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater, ending Apache religious practices forever.
"Our lawsuit challenges the destruction of Oak Flat as a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (#RFRA), #TheUSConstitution, and the #1852Treaty with the #WesternApaches. In March, the sharply divided Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 6-5 vote, ruled that the obliteration of Oak Flat does not amount to a 'substantial burden' on our religious exercise and that the Constitution and federal civil rights laws do not apply to the government’s disposition of 'its own land.'
"In September, we will ask the Supreme Court to correct this ruling and hold that federal law protects Oak Flat. The stakes could not be any higher. If the Ninth Circuit’s ruling is allowed to stand, the United States will be allowed to destroy Oak
Flat and any other sacred site with impunity. If the Supreme Court rules in our favor, it will ensure that #NativeAmericans receive the same protection for our religious freedom that all other religious groups across the country already enjoy. A decision in the case is expected in 2025."Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. explained, 'what saddens me, what I have witnessed going through #reservations, towns, sitting with and discussing with many people across this country, is seeing that when it comes to the #environment, it’s not being protected. When we talked about water or land, it not only affects Oak Flats but many places have been affected by Acts of Congress, the cities are no different. The United States does not protect the environment by bypassing the laws that they enacted, I have seen devastation across this country, the government pursuing unproven endeavors overlooking it’s peoples essential liberties. We need to come together on this court case, our spirituality and the survival of the earth are at stake, the suffering of the people is what we are bringing to the Supreme court.
This is an invitation to participate in the Apache Stronghold’s #DayOfPrayer on September 11, 2024, at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C."Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/08/apache-stronghold-prayer-journey-to.htmlFMI:
http://www.apache-stronghold.com/#SCOTUS #SaveOakFlat #SanCarlosApache #Arizona #ProtectOakFlat #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivism #WaterIsLife #SacredSites #RecycleCopper #MiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #CulturalGenocide #Ecocide #NativeAmericanNews #IndigenousActivism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #CorporateColonialism #ChichilBiłdagoteel #RespectTheTreaties
