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| Sacred Lands Prayer Walk courtesy photo. |
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| Havasupai with Sacred Lands Prayer Walk. Photo courtesy Carletta Tilousi, Havasupai |
Today: Peace Walkers to Havasupai's Sacred Red Butte for A Nuclear Free World
Photo by Berta Benally, Censored News, 2024
Photos by Berta Benally, Censored News 2024
In Memory of Klee Benally
Buddhists Walking to Havasupai's Red Butte in Solidarity to Shut Down Pinyon Plain Uranium Mine in Grand Canyon
Article by Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Oct. 3, 2024
FLAGSTAFF, Arizona -- Jones and Clayson Benally, Dine', joined walkers as they began their journey from Flagstaff City Hall to Havasupai's Sacred Red Butte on Wednesday, on the Sacred Lands Prayer Walk for a Nuclear Free World.
Jun San Yasuda, a Nipponzan Myohoji walker for peace, and additional Buddhist monks and nuns are walking over 66 miles from Flagstaff to Sacred Red Butte on Havasupai homelands in solidarity with the fight to stop the Pinyon Plain uranium mine. They plan to reach the sacred butte on Sunday. (See schedule below.)
"As a Nipponzan Myohoji walker for peace, Jun San has walked thousands of miles across Turtle Island over the past 46 years. All are invited to join this meditative prayer walk for a nuclear free world," walkers said.
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," Tilousi said.
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.
Deadly Corridor
A new map by Grand Canyon Trust shows the Fatal Accident Risks on the route of radioactive trucks going from the Pinyon Plain uranium mine in the Grand Canyon to the White Mesa Mill -- endangering Havasupai, Paiute, Dine', Hopi and Ute, in northern Arizona and southeastern Utah.
The Pinyon Plain mine and the deadly White Mesa Mill are owned by Energy Fuels, a Canadian company, endangering Havasupai water, poisoning sacred medicine plants with radioactive dust, and endangering lives on the deadly haul route.
Energy Fuels uranium mill on ancestral Ute land is poisoning the land, water and air, and is now bringing in radioactive waste from other countries. Radioactive waste that was too deadly to leave at the Nuclear Test Site in Nevada was dumped here, poisoning Utes.
Uranium Haul Route Risky, Fatal Accident Data Shows
Amber Reimondo, Energy Director for Grand Canyon Trust said, "A recent analysis of fatal vehicle accidents along the haul route uranium trucks travel between Canyon Mine (renamed Pinyon Plain Mine), a uranium mine near the Grand Canyon, and the White Mesa uranium mill in southeastern Utah shows an elevated risk along long stretches of the more than 300-mile route, especially on the Navajo Nation."
"The most risky segments of the route are between 240% and 700% more dangerous than an average stretch of road in the United States in terms of vehicle accident fatalities per mile driven."
"That means that any vehicles traveling in these sections face an elevated risk of fatal accidents. Energy Fuels Resources, which owns the controversial Pinyon Plain Mine, has said it intends to send six to eight large trucks loaded with uranium ore from the Grand Canyon area mine to its Utah mill every day," Reimondo said.
Uranium and Lithium Mining Targeting and Destroying Native Sacred Places
While Havasupai are struggling to shut down the Pinyon Plain uranium mine in the Grand Canyon, and halt the deadly radioactive haul route, at the same time, nearby the Hualapai Nation is battling to halt a lithium mine at their Ceremonial Spring.
Hualapai filed a lawsuit against Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland. Federal Judge Diane Humetewa, Hopi, in Phoenix granted a temporary restraining order to halt Australia's Hawkstone Energy, aka Arizona Lithium, from drilling for lithium at Hualapai's Ceremonial Place. The CEO of the Navajo Transitional Energy Company signed an agreement to operate the mining destruction for the Australian company. The Navajo tribal enterprise is based in Farmington, New Mexico.
In northern Nevada, Lithium Americas, a Canadian company is digging into Peehee Mu'huh, the Paiute Massacre Site, for lithium, in violation of all federal laws that protect Native historical and religious sites, and the environment. Paiute and Shoshone elderly and women have been arrested and face court proceedings. A federal judge ruled in favor of the desecration of the Paiute Massacre Site. Interior Sec. Deb Haaland told AP she supports the lithium mine.
Klee's book is now available in French, translation by Christine Prat:
PARUTION: TRADUCTION FRANÇAISE DU LIVRE DE KLEE BENALLY
PARUTION: TRADUCTION FRANÇAISE DU LIVRE DE KLEE BENALLY
Prayer Walk Schedule to Red Butte
More at Censored News:
"We Want a Future: Shut Down Grand Canyon Uranium Mine'
Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, lead rally on horseback.
"We Want a Future: Shut Down Grand Canyon Uranium Mine'
Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, lead rally on horseback.
More photos:
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