Hualapai Run to Save Sacred Spring -- Navajo Nation Agrees to Dig into Hualapai Sacred Spring for Lithium
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, March 24, 2024Hualapai runners and walkers trekked more than 200 miles over six days from western Arizona to the Phoenix to save their Sacred Spring from open-pit lithium mining. Hualapai runners were joined at the Arizona Capitol with support from O'odham and Dine' on Tuesday.
The Navajo Nation's transitional energy company agreed to destroy the Sacred Spring of Hualapai and lead the project to dig into the earth for lithium, in another fake green act.
Ivan Bender, Hualapai, organized the Protect Ha’Kamwe Prayer Run, and shared that his idea for this spiritual journey came to him in a dream, KJZZ reports.
“Through a prayer, we’re here, to come here, and bring something nice, a voice. If you believe in prayer, that's why we're here,” Bender said. “It’s not a miracle. Our ancestors were already waiting for us.”
The Australian company Arizona Lithium, AZL, signed an agreement with the Navajo Transitional Energy Company, NTEC, owned by the tribe, to develop the Big Sandy Lithium Project in Mohave County.
Nicole Horseherder, Dine', came from Black Mesa in support.
"Navajo, and Navajo Enterprises have no business exploiting other Indigenous Nations and destroying their life-giving water sources. That is not economic development, and it doesn't bring prosperity," said Horseherder, cofounder of Tó Nizhóní Áni.
Water contamination and the desecration of this sacred site are concerns that Bender and his grassroots allies repeatedly raised. The Hualapai Tribal Council passed a resolution opposing the proposed mine claim area in 2021.
Lithium Mining Targets Paiute Massacre Site
Lithium Mining Targets Paiute Massacre Site
In Nevada, the struggle to protect Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass, continues, as Canada's Lithium Americas digs into the Paiute Massacre Site for lithium in northern Nevada. Currently horseback riders are on their way to the sacred place for prayers.
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| Horseback ride now underway to Peehee Mu'huh. Photo courtesy Gary McKinney |
The Prayer Horse Ride, March 17-26, began in Schurz and is now on its way to Peehee Mu’huh, Thacker Pass. The ride is in the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Paiute, Shoshone and Bannock.
The Prayer Horse Ride is to raise awareness about lithium mining in McDermitt Caldera, and also copper mining in the Pine Nut Hills, in remembrance of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/People. Riders are revitalizing cultural identity, languages and lifeways in Indigenous communities.
“We do this prayer ride to reconnect our way of life,” said Josh Dini Sr., Walker River Paiute, water protector and Prayer Horse Rider.
“We do this prayer ride to reconnect our way of life,” said Josh Dini Sr., Walker River Paiute, water protector and Prayer Horse Rider.
Meanwhile, Biden and Interior Sec. Deb Haaland are promoting the foreign-owned lithium mine, Lithium Americas of Canada, now digging into the Paiute Massacre Site.
Tohono O'odham and San Carlos Apache file lawsuit against Interior Sec. Haaland
Interior Sec. Haaland, Laguna Pueblo, is named in a lawsuit filed by the Tohono O'odham and San Carlos Apache Nations, who are requesting a restraining order and injunction in federal court in Tucson.
Haaland is spearheading another fake green destructive project now bulldozing through O'odham and Apache sacred and historical areas, east of Tucson, for SunZia's transmission lines. The wind project plans to carry wind energy from New Mexico to California.
The lower San Pedro River Valley is the homeland of the ancestors of San Xavier O'odham, and their ancestors, the Hohokum. Bulldozers are now tearing through ancestral and historical places there, clearing away the sacred for transmission lines for SunZia. Above this region, are San Carlos Apache ancestral lands.
Under the banner of 'green energy' Navajo board members are on a second mining company board in Texas
Lund, and Vice Chairman Peter Denetclaw, are both on the board of a second mining company, Texas Mineral Resources Corp.
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| https://tmrcorp.com/about_us/directors/ |
Texas Mineral Resources is mining rare earth elements in Round Top Mountain, in Hudspeth County, in western Texas along the borders of New Mexico and Mexico. The company says earth elements are used in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, assembled by Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth Texas.
Lockheed Martin is being protested around the world as a war profiteer, as the war crimes and genocide continue of Palestinians, with funding and weapons from the United States.
Dine' Solidarity with Hualapai
While the Navajo Nation government indulges in mining, Dine' from Black Mesa joined the Hualapai runners in solidarity.
Dine' carried this message from northern Arizona to the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix, with a reminder of the devastation of Peabody Coal's mining of Black Mesa: "We lost our water source to coal mining. Don't let them do that to you! Protect Sacred Sites."
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| Photo Lorraine Herder, Dine', Censored News |
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Hualapai runners arrive at Arizona Capitol. Photo by Lorraine Herder, Dine', Co-founder of Tó Nizhóní Áni, Censored News. |
Read the article on Hualapai runners at KJZZ:
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