Law Enforcement's Secret Surveillance of Defenders at Thacker Pass, Peehee Mu'huh, Exposed by ProPublica and Nevada Independent

Myron Dewey, Paiute

Law Enforcement's Secret Surveillance of Defenders at Thacker Pass, Peehee Mu'huh

Lithium Americas of Canada plans huge man camp in Winnemucca

The BIA and BLM were part of 10 agencies in a joint terrorism task force stalking defenders of Peehee Mu-huh, Thacker Pass, new documents reveal. The surveillance intensified when Myron Dewey supported. The Nevada Sheriff said there could be "another Standing Rock," and called in a "spin master" to discredit Water Protectors, as he had done at Standing Rock. ProPublica and Nevada Independent expose the surveillance. Censored News tracks back on the timeline. Interior Sec. Deb Haaland's BIA was part of the joint terrorism task force targeting the defenders of Peehee Mu-huh.

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Updated Aug. 12, 2025

THACKER PASS, Nevada -- While descendants of the survivors of the massacre of Paiutes at Peehee Mu'huh struggled to protect the sacred remains from the digging of a lithium mine, owned by Lithium Americas on Canada -- law enforcement had a spider web of surveillance.

The law enforcement surveillance of defenders of Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass, began before Myron Dewey was killed, and continued afterwards.

ProPublica and Nevada Independent expose the spy trail of law enforcement and private security of Lithium Americas. The surveillance web of 10 agencies included the BIA, and a counter-terrorism task force.

Fort McDermitt Tribal Leader Choked Youth During Lithium Americas Community Meeting

Former Fort McDermitt tribal chairman Arlo Crutcher is shown on video as he approaches a tribal youth before choking him during a meeting with Lithium Americas. Screenshot of Young Warrior video by Censored News.

Fort McDermitt Tribal Leader Choked Youth During Lithium Americas Community Meeting

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News

Video by Young Warrior

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jWAKwPbb0U

A Fort McDermitt tribal leader attacked a minor and choked him. The youth was videotaping a public community meeting being held about financial benefits from lithium mining by Lithium Americas, now digging into the Paiute Massacre Site in northern Nevada.

The incident was broadcast on KPFK Los Angeles. It occurred during the quarterly meeting with Lithium Americas and Fort McDermitt Tribal Council, on Monday, Jan. 8.

During the meeting, Arlo Crutcher, former chairman of Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone, walked across the conference room where tribal youth Jimmy, a minor, was videotaping. 

Dorece Sam, Jimmy's mother, "It was a quarterly meeting, the community was never advised of this meeting."

Just Released: "Mining the Sacred: Indigenous Nations Fight Lithium Gold Rush at Thacker Pass"

Dean Barlese is charged by Lithium Americas of Canada for protecting the sacred massacre site of Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass in northern Nevada.

Watch now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLO7ClVtlBA

Cree Journalist Brandi Morin said, "We are taking back the narrative and this story about North America’s largest lithium mine being constructed while violating sacred Indigenous territories is told from the Native perspective. The 'green' energy revolution isn’t what you think it is!"

IndigiNews Media and The Real News

Go watch!

@IndigiNewsMedia

@TheRealNews

@ricochet_en

Follow Native journalist Brandi Morin, who came from Canada, and covered this powerful story.

"In Nevada’s remote Thacker Pass, a fight for our future is playing out between local Indigenous tribes and powerful state and corporate entities hellbent on mining the lithium beneath their land. Vancouver-based Lithium Americas is developing a massive lithium mine at Thacker Pass, but for more than two years several local tribes and environmental organizations have tried to block or delay the mine in the courts and through direct action.

"The Thacker Pass Project is backed by the Biden administration, and companies like General Motors have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the project, looking to capitalize on the transition to a 'green energy economy,' for which lithium is essential. While it is a vital component in the manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries, though, there’s nothing “green” about mining lithium. Ending our addiction to fossil fuels is urgently necessary, but the struggle of the local tribes around Thacker Pass reveals the dark side of a “green revolution” that prioritizes profits and consumption over everything (and everyone) else." -- Mining the Sacred

Paiute Blocked Lithium Mine Construction at Thacker Pass Nevada

Protect Peehee Mu'huh!

Fort McDermitt and Pyramid Lake Paiute offered prayers, and blocked construction by Lithium Americas of Canada, at the Paiute Massacre Site in northern Nevada. "They are digging right into the massacre site." Biden calls this 'green energy' for electric vehicle batteries. The federal court said it is illegal and allowed it to proceed anyway. 

Follow Protect Thacker Pass on social media. -- Censored News, April 25, 2023.

'Justice for My Dad' Myron Dewey's Daughter Describes Harsh Road to Justice

Paiute Shoshone Myron Dewey, journalist, filmmaker, and drone activist, was killed in a head-on collision when a truck pulled into his lane on an isolated dirt road near his family's home in Yomba, Nevada, on Sept. 26, 2021. Myron's reports from the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock were shared around the world in 2016 and 2017. Myron was killed one day after live streaming from the Fallon Bombing Range, speaking out against its expansion, and opposing the lithium mine planned for the Paiute Massacre Site at Thacker Pass. The driver of the truck, John Walsh, is scheduled for arraignment on Nov. 8, 2022. Nine months after the head-on collision, law enforcement admitted what was discovered in the driver's blood test at the time. Walsh was then charged. -- Censored News

'Justice for My Dad' Myron Dewey's Daughter Taylor Describes the Harsh Road to Justice

By Taylor Dewey

Censored News

Justice for my dad is calling the District Attorneys office every week for almost a year to get any updates.

Justice is finding out the Nye County Sheriffs office case was closed and arguing with them as to why it was closed so fast and making it a point we lost a great father, friend, family member, brother, and person and that they needed to further investigate.

Five New Historic Sites 'Discovered' in the 11th Hour at Thacker Pass

Five New Historic Sites “Discovered” in the 11th Hour at Thacker Pass

By Will Falk

Censored News

French Translation by Christine Prat

https://chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=7345

OROVADA, Nevada (August 9, 2022) — For over a year, Nevada and Oregon Indian tribes have been accusing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of rushing tribal consultation for Lithium Nevada Corp.’s planned Thacker Pass lithium mine and of failing to account for Native American sacred sites and the site of an 1865 massacre.

These allegations appear to be true as BLM has now informed area tribes that they have “discovered” five “new” historic sites in Thacker Pass, including the massacre site. BLM is now legally required to reopen tribal consultation about the new sites, which could suspend construction activities for months.