Protecting Thacker Pass
May. 5th, 2021 12:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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thisfinecrewThis is an environmental and Indigenous-rights set of actions.
Thacker Pass/Pee'hee Mu'huh is sacred and historically significant land to the northern Paiute and the Shoshone. It is unceded, but currently managed as public land by the Bureau of Land Management. It is vital habitat for many endangered flora and fauna, some endemic to only this region. Due to Trump-era environmental deregulation, it is also the proposed site of a giant lithium mine run by Canadian company Lithium Americas.
Lithium Americas says this is a "green" mine, meant to provide batteries for electric cars, but the impact would be environmentally devastating. Lithium mining means open-pit mining and the chewing up of mountaintops in the refining process, such that producing one ton of lithium will require strip mining and processing between ~110 and 500 tons of Earth. Alongside the lithium, the process produces hundreds of tons of sulfur waste, including sulfuric acid. It will also burn enormous quantities of diesel and suck up hundreds of thousands of gallons of water -- in Nevada. All this quite aside from the fact that it will require eating up more than 5,000 acres of sacred and irreplaceable land, threatening the wider watershed, cutting off its relationship to its originary stewards, and truncating a critical wildlife corridor.
How I heard about this was because Lithium Americas is 49% owner of Minera Exar, a South American company accused of misleading and violating principles of free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous communities in the vicinity of their mine in Argentina. This is only part of the horrific abuses against Indigenous peoples living around lithium mines in the Andes, and you'd better believe the same will happen in the U.S.
All this to say, it must be stopped, and people are working to stop it.
--
Protect Thacker Pass/Pee'hee Mu'huh - Protestors, including Paiute and Shoshone tribal members, are constructing an encampment at Thacker Pass. Learn more about the project and donate to help with construction, travel, and living fees.
Sign a petition to the Department of Interior, crafted by the Fort McDermitt Paiute & Shoshone.
Indigenous Women Hike - Originally founded to help Indigenous women (Paiute, Navajo, and other nations) heal their ancestral connection to Nüümü and Newe territory through hiking and activism, IWH is currently involved in the Thacker Pass action. Check the link in their bio to learn how to donate directly to them or support them through merch.
Text PCLPBP to 50409 to get ResistBot to send Biden a letter telling him to tell the DOI to revoke Lithium Americas' permits.
And then email the DOI (feedback@ios.doi.gov) and the Nevada chapter of the BLM (BLM_NV_NVSO_web_mail@blm.gov) directly, using more or less that same script.
--
The White House must put a stop to the desctruction of sacred and environmentally vital lands in the name of “green” mining. Tell the Department of Interior to revoke Lithium Americas’ permit to mine at Thacker Pass, Nevada.
Thacker Pass/Pee'hee Mu'huh is sacred and historically significant land to the northern Paiute nation and the Shoshone nation. It is unceded, but currently managed as public land by the BLM. It is vital habitat for many endangered flora and fauna, some endemic to only this region. Due to Trump-era environmental deregulation, it is also the proposed site of a giant lithium mine run by Canadian company Lithium Americas.
Lithium Americas says this is a "green" mine, meant to provide batteries for electric cars, but the impact would be environmentally devastating. Lithium mining means open-pit mining and the chewing up of mountaintops in the refining process, such that producing one ton of lithium will require strip mining and processing between ~110 and 500 tons of Earth. Alongside the lithium, the process produces hundreds of tons of sulfur waste, including sulfuric acid. It will also burn enormous quantities of diesel and suck up hundreds of thousands of gallons of water -- in Nevada. All this quite aside from the fact that it will require eating up more than 5,000 acres of sacred and irreplaceable land, threatening the wider watershed, cutting off its relationship to its originary stewards, and truncating a critical wildlife corridor.
Furthermore, Lithium Americas is 49% owner of Minera Exar, a South American company accused of misleading and violating principles of free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous communities in the vicinity of their mine in Argentina. This is only part of the horrific abuses against Indigenous peoples living around lithium mines in the Andes, and the same will likely happen in the U.S., violating the civil and human rights of American citizens.
Stop the mine at Thacker Pass.
Thacker Pass/Pee'hee Mu'huh is sacred and historically significant land to the northern Paiute and the Shoshone. It is unceded, but currently managed as public land by the Bureau of Land Management. It is vital habitat for many endangered flora and fauna, some endemic to only this region. Due to Trump-era environmental deregulation, it is also the proposed site of a giant lithium mine run by Canadian company Lithium Americas.
Lithium Americas says this is a "green" mine, meant to provide batteries for electric cars, but the impact would be environmentally devastating. Lithium mining means open-pit mining and the chewing up of mountaintops in the refining process, such that producing one ton of lithium will require strip mining and processing between ~110 and 500 tons of Earth. Alongside the lithium, the process produces hundreds of tons of sulfur waste, including sulfuric acid. It will also burn enormous quantities of diesel and suck up hundreds of thousands of gallons of water -- in Nevada. All this quite aside from the fact that it will require eating up more than 5,000 acres of sacred and irreplaceable land, threatening the wider watershed, cutting off its relationship to its originary stewards, and truncating a critical wildlife corridor.
How I heard about this was because Lithium Americas is 49% owner of Minera Exar, a South American company accused of misleading and violating principles of free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous communities in the vicinity of their mine in Argentina. This is only part of the horrific abuses against Indigenous peoples living around lithium mines in the Andes, and you'd better believe the same will happen in the U.S.
All this to say, it must be stopped, and people are working to stop it.
--
Protect Thacker Pass/Pee'hee Mu'huh - Protestors, including Paiute and Shoshone tribal members, are constructing an encampment at Thacker Pass. Learn more about the project and donate to help with construction, travel, and living fees.
Sign a petition to the Department of Interior, crafted by the Fort McDermitt Paiute & Shoshone.
Indigenous Women Hike - Originally founded to help Indigenous women (Paiute, Navajo, and other nations) heal their ancestral connection to Nüümü and Newe territory through hiking and activism, IWH is currently involved in the Thacker Pass action. Check the link in their bio to learn how to donate directly to them or support them through merch.
Text PCLPBP to 50409 to get ResistBot to send Biden a letter telling him to tell the DOI to revoke Lithium Americas' permits.
And then email the DOI (feedback@ios.doi.gov) and the Nevada chapter of the BLM (BLM_NV_NVSO_web_mail@blm.gov) directly, using more or less that same script.
--
The White House must put a stop to the desctruction of sacred and environmentally vital lands in the name of “green” mining. Tell the Department of Interior to revoke Lithium Americas’ permit to mine at Thacker Pass, Nevada.
Thacker Pass/Pee'hee Mu'huh is sacred and historically significant land to the northern Paiute nation and the Shoshone nation. It is unceded, but currently managed as public land by the BLM. It is vital habitat for many endangered flora and fauna, some endemic to only this region. Due to Trump-era environmental deregulation, it is also the proposed site of a giant lithium mine run by Canadian company Lithium Americas.
Lithium Americas says this is a "green" mine, meant to provide batteries for electric cars, but the impact would be environmentally devastating. Lithium mining means open-pit mining and the chewing up of mountaintops in the refining process, such that producing one ton of lithium will require strip mining and processing between ~110 and 500 tons of Earth. Alongside the lithium, the process produces hundreds of tons of sulfur waste, including sulfuric acid. It will also burn enormous quantities of diesel and suck up hundreds of thousands of gallons of water -- in Nevada. All this quite aside from the fact that it will require eating up more than 5,000 acres of sacred and irreplaceable land, threatening the wider watershed, cutting off its relationship to its originary stewards, and truncating a critical wildlife corridor.
Furthermore, Lithium Americas is 49% owner of Minera Exar, a South American company accused of misleading and violating principles of free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous communities in the vicinity of their mine in Argentina. This is only part of the horrific abuses against Indigenous peoples living around lithium mines in the Andes, and the same will likely happen in the U.S., violating the civil and human rights of American citizens.
Stop the mine at Thacker Pass.
