Lakota Horseback Riders Lead the Demand
'Haul No! Shut Down Uranium Mine in Grand Canyon'
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| Photo credit Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity |
"Haul No! Uranium mining has got to go!" was the protest cry as Lakota horseback riders led the demand to shut down Pinyon Plain uranium mine in the Grand Canyon on Saturday, continuing the demand to shut down the uranium mine endangering Havasupai drinking water and their aquifer. The radioactive uranium haul trucks have already endangered Havasupai, Paiute, Dine' and Hopi on the trucks dangerous haul to the Energy Fuels uranium mill that is poisoning White Mesa Ute in Utah.
Photo Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity near sacred Red Butte on Saturday.
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About 250 people protested the Pinyon Plain uranium mine in the Grand Canyon on Saturday. The U.S. government has permitted Energy Fuels to mine uranium in the Grand Canyon, endangering Havasupai. Photo by Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, Saturday, near sacred Red Butte, Censored News.
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 24, 2024
The legacy of death from uranium mining already spreads across the Southwest. Scattered radioactive tailings are spread across the Navajo Nation from Cold War uranium mines, which the U.S. has not cleaned up. The dangerous processing mill in southeastern Utah is now bringing in radioactive waste from Europe.
The genocide continues -- from the genocide in Palestine that the United States is producing weapons for, to the slow and toxic genocide in the Southwest -- where the U.S. allows uranium mining to continue.
Nearby, lithium mining in Hualapai's Ceremonial Place has been halted.
Federal Judge Diane Humetewa, Hopi, granted a temporary restraining order this week and halted the Interior Department's permit for an Australian company, Hawkstone Energy aka Arizona Lithium, to mine for lithium at Hualapai's Ceremonial Sacred Spring.
Attorneys for the Biden administration and Interior Sec. Deb Haaland told the federal court in Phoenix that the lithium mining at Hualapai's Ceremonial Spring was necessary for the "transition to green energy."
Uranium Mining Desecrating Sacred Red Butte, Endangering Water and Air
New! More photos from Saturday's rally
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| Carletta Tilousi, Havasupai, speaking at Santa Fe Indian Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico, shares the importance of sacred Red Butte, and the impacts of uranium mining on her people in the Grand Canyon. (Video screenshot by Censored News) Carletta Tilousi, Havasupai, speaking at the Santa Fe Indian Market in August, urged support to protect their sacred water and Red Butte from the uranium mining of Pinyon Plain mine. Sharing how she grew up in her homeland, in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Tilousi said she has been fighting this battle since the age of 14. "Havasu Creek is one of the oldest aquifers in the Southwest," she said, adding that it drains into her village and creates the waterfalls. "That's the water we're trying to protect," she said, pointing out it is a small tribe, with only 597 Havasupai tribal members. "We don't know when the contamination is going to reach us, it's just a matter of time." Although 600 uranium mining claims have been eliminated, the Pinyon Plain uranium mine maintains its claim and is mining. "This mine is next to our sacred mountain, Red Butte, where our Creation Stories come from. It is now being desecrated," she said, pointing out that it is unknown what is in the air from the uranium mining, and how the medicine plants there, cedar and sage, are being affected, for their sweat lodges. "Our voice is through our art, our voice is through our songs." Tilousi, urging unity, called for all people to stand together and protect the sacred waters. |
"We Want a Future: Shut Down Grand Canyon Uranium Mine'
Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, lead rally on horseback.
Article copyright Censored News. Top protest photos copyright Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity.
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