Tohono Nation Files Lawsuit Over Plans to Take Tribal Land for Border Wall

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Border Wall contractors bulldozing saguaro cactus near Ajo, Arizona.

Tohono Nation Files Lawsuit Over Plans to Take Tribal Land for Border Wall

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, June 17, 2026

The Tohono O'odham Nation filed a federal lawsuit to halt the seizure of tribal land for the border wall, pointing out that the United States government is disregarding tribal sovereignty and construction will destroy sacred sites and impact ceremonies and religious practices.

"The Nation has not consented to the construction of a border wall or associated infrastructure across its Reservation," the Tohono O'odham Nation said in the lawsuit.

The Tohono O'odham Nation said the construction would destroy petroglyphs that are "perpetual prayers," block ancient trails and disrupt the lives of O'odham families who live on both sides of the border.

Defending the Ancestors, Voices from Phillip Deere Round House

Movement Rights said, "We opened with the history of the Phillip Deere Round House from Bonnie Deere (Mvskoke). We are grateful to share this space for the Convening of the Four Winds and learn of what this space was created for and continues to be a place for the Mvskoke community. We gather here to be in ceremony, build strategy to protect indigenous lands, and defend the Rights of Nature."

Photo courtesy Movement Rights

Defending the Ancestors, Voices from Phillip Deere Round House

Update: March for Justice to 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, at dawn, as oral arguments begin on Sept. 25, 2024

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Sept. 7, 2024

OKEMAH, Oklahoma -- The ancestors who were left behind, fleeing for safety, were  buried in Alabama, when the Mvskoke were forced on the cruel Trail of Tears. Today, speaking at the Phillip Deere Round House in Oklahoma, Muscogee Creek described how it is all about the money these days for those who dug up the ancestors and handled them in a disrespectful way to build a casino.

Mvskoke Samuel 'Bonnie' Deere, son of Phillip Deere, spoke on the creation of the Phillip Deere Round House, and the devastation of 57 Mvskoke ancestors who were  dug up in Alabama for a casino.

Hoopa Valley Tribe files lawsuit: U.S. failed to protect salmon on Klamath River

Federal Agency Actions Drive Klamath -- Trinity River Fisheries to brink of Extinction and the Hoopa Valley Tribe to Court

By Hoopa Valley Tribe

29 July 2016

Censored News

Today, the Hoopa Valley Tribe (HVT) filed its lawsuit against the federal government for violations of Endangered Species Act (ESA) regarding its management actions on the Klamath River, California's second largest river system.

"The harm caused by the Bureau of Reclamation's  and National Marine Fisheries Service's failure to protect the Coho is driving this federally protected fish and our Tribe to extinction," said Chairman Ryan Jackson. "These fish have been essential to our culture, religion and economy since time immemorial," added Jackson.

Federal irrigation project and private dam operators on the Klamath River divert and store water, leaving less for fish. The water that remains is warmer than tolerable for salmon and polluted with nutrients and chemicals. Under those conditions, fish are vulnerable to diseases they ordinarily could survive. In 2002, thousands of migrating adult salmon died under those same conditions. Moreover, literally hundreds of thousands of juvenile salmon have been infected with disease pathogens that have severely reduced the survival Klamath River Coho salmon.

To help prevent another die off, federal agencies set ESA standards for Klamath fish health and Klamath Project operations were bound to meet standards in the 2013 Biological Opinion issued by NMFS.  Multi-year drought and project operation changes have contributed to juvenile fish infection rates in 2014 and again in 2015 that have soared past the limits established in the Biological Opinion. "Instead of reacting to the impacts on fish health caused by unforeseen circumstances, the federal agencies have proposed to lower the standards for fishery protection (e.g. increase numbers of fish that can be killed) so that damaging irrigation diversions and dam operations can continue," said Hoopa Fisheries Director Michael Orcutt.

"The effect of these actions stands the law on its head," said tribal attorney Thomas Schlosser.  "The Hoopa Valley Tribe's fishery, not irrigation and dam operations, has priority for Klamath River water under both federal Indian law and reclamation law," said Schlosser.

In its suit, the Tribe is charging that the failure by federal agencies to re-consult on the 2013 Biological Opinion in light of new information is a direct violation of the ESA.  "It is unfortunate that it will take this lawsuit to gain the attention of the federal agencies", summarized Jackson.  "However, this action is unavoidable if we are to protect our fishery resources for future generations".  

"This ESA suit is not the warning of a miner's canary; it is the tsunami siren alerting North Coast communities of impending environmental catastrophe and cultural devastation for the Hoopa Valley Tribe,"  concluded Jackson.

New Lawsuit Challenges Approval of More Navajoland Coal Pollution at Four Corners

Lawsuit to Challenge Feds’ Approval of Decades More Coal Pollution at Four Corners

By Shiloh Hernandez, Western Environmental Law Center

Colleen Cooley, Diné C.A.R.E.
Mike Eisenfeld, San Juan Citizens Alliance
Rachel Conn, Amigos Bravos
Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity

Nellis Kennedy-Howard, Sierra Club

PHOENIX — After years of refusal by U.S. government agencies to address coal pollution damage from the Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine, Diné (Navajo), regional and national conservation groups today took joint legal action to seek justice for impacts to communities, the climate and endangered species.

Today the groups filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the Office of Surface Mining, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies for approving the Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine Energy Project in July. The approval prolongs the 52-year-old power plant and coal mine – among the most notorious for coal contamination in the country – through 2041 despite impacts from coal toxins to communities, the San Juan River Basin, its ecosystems and endangered species.

“While the rest of the world is transitioning to alternative forms of energy, the Four Corners Power Plant continues to burn coal and will do so for the next 25 years,” said Colleen Cooley with Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment. “Prolonging coal not only condemns our health and the water, air, and land around us, it undermines our community’s economic future because we are not investing and transitioning to clean energy. Even former owner of the Navajo Mine, BHP Billiton has exited many coal contracts across the globe because coal is no longer economically feasible.”

Community and conservation groups have exposed gaping deficiencies in the U.S. government’s impact study of Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine, including inadequate analysis of clean energy alternatives to prolonged operation of the coal plant and insufficient consideration of carbon pollution impacts, public health problems, threats to endangered species, water contamination from coal ash waste, and impacts to Navajo culture.

“The U.S. government supposedly sees the importance of the transition to the clean energy economy nowadays, so it’s really an affront to Four Corners area residents when the feds won’t even provide honest evaluation of pollution or solar and wind alternatives at Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine,” said Mike Eisenfeld with San Juan Citizens Alliance. “All of us in the Southwest deserve at least an honest expert analysis.”

Today’s notice cites violations of the Endangered Species Act, and will be followed in 60 days by additional claims under the National Environmental Policy Act relating to pollution impacts on climate, people and local communities.

"Mercury is the top cause of water quality impairment in New Mexico lakes and reservoirs,” said Rachel Conn, interim executive director for Amigos Bravos. “Over 60,000 acres of New Mexican lakes and reservoirs are polluted with Mercury. It is unacceptable that in over half of the State's lakes and reservoirs, New Mexicans can no longer fish without worrying about poisoning their families.”

“Decades of deadly coal pollution in the San Juan Basin have poisoned people, the San Juan River and its endangered fish,” said Taylor McKinnon with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Our laws require the government to recover endangered species, but more coal pollution will push San Juan River fish toward extinction. The time for a just transition to clean, renewable energy is now.”

“Federal agencies must assure that coal operations follow the law. What agencies can’t do is bend the law to accommodate coal operations, but that’s just what they did here,” said Western Environmental Law Center Attorney Shiloh Hernandez. “What this really shows is the outdated and heavily polluting Navajo Mine and Four Corners Power Plant can’t operate in compliance with the law. These facilities are obsolete and need to transition.”

“This toxic, outdated facility has been wreaking havoc on the health of people and ecosystems for far too long,” said Nellis Kennedy-Howard, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. “The Office of Surface Mining and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ignored the obvious environmental impacts of this facility when they approved extending its life.” 

Groups party to today’s notice include Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, San Juan Citizens Alliance, Amigos Bravos, Center for Biological Diversity, and Sierra Club. They are represented by attorneys Shiloh Hernandez, Matt Kenna, Kyle Tisdel and Laura King of the Western Environmental Law Center, John Barth, and Michael Saul of Center for Biological Diversity.

Download a copy of today’s notice here.

For Immediate Release, December 21, 2015

Floyd Hand: 'Spiritual vampires' desecrate sweatlodge way of life

BLACK HILLS SIOUX NATION TREATY COUNCIL
MEMBER RESERVATIONS
Cheyenne River
Crow Creek
Fort Peck
Lower Brule
Pine Ridge
Rosebud
Standing Rock
Yankton
Contact: Natalie Hand @ 605-867-5762
November 24, 2009
By Natalie Hand
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

On November 2, 2009, Floyd Hand, Jr., (Oglala Lakota Sioux) Oglala Delegate to the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, along with Ivan H. Lewis (Pima/Maricopa/Yavapai), filed a lawsuit (Case No.: CV-09-8196-PCT-FJM) in the U.S. District Court in Arizona against James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center.
In the petition, Hand and Lewis assert that Ray caused the desecration of the sacred Lakota ceremony, “Inikaga,” commonly referred to as sweat lodge, by causing the deaths of three participants. The suit contends that Angel Valley Retreat Center is culpable for allowing individuals like Ray to rent their property which offers a sweat lodge for paying participants. Furthermore, Ray and Angel Valley Retreat Center committed fraud by impersonating Native Americans and must be held responsible for causing the deaths of the victims and serious injuries to the survivors.
In the immediate aftermath of the deaths, Ray fled the scene and Angel Valley Retreat Center staff dismantled the sweat lodge, thus tampering with a crime scene.
Hand contends that the “Inikaga” and other ancient Lakota rituals is a way of life, not a religion.
“Ray is a spiritual vampire who will use whatever means necessary to turn a profit. He and others like him that profit from our culture must be held accountable for their continual fraud and desecration. This ceremony comes from the Lakota. We maintain our cultural identity today and people like Ray are trying to mock it as a means to acquire material possessions. They cannot hide behind the Religious Freedom Act. This is NOT a religion," stated Hand.
The Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868 between the United States and the Great Sioux Nation is a legal binding agreement that is the “supreme law of the land."
Article 1 of the Treaty states that “… if bad men among the whites or other people subject to the authority of the United States shall commit any wrong upon the person or the property of the Indians, the United States will … proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained …”
For Ivan Lewis, this lawsuit is a long overdue. “I joined with my Lakota brothers to stop the desecration. These new-agers have been selling our native ceremonies for years here on our homeland. The non-natives are taking everything from us. Ray and the Angel Valley folks are a dime a dozen in Yavapai territory. My hope is that this lawsuit will put light on our treaties with the U.S. and will show the people of Arizona that we have sovereign rights," stated Lewis.
Importantly, Hand and Lewis want to emphasize that they are not affiliated with a group calling themselves the “Council of Indigenous Traditional Healers."
“This group claims that they will authenticate and qualify individuals, including non-Indians, to conduct our ceremonies. Our people know who is a real healer and who isn't. Yes, everyone is entitled to pray, but our ceremonies belong with us in our native tongue," noted Lewis.
To date, the plaintiffs have received notification that a judge has been assigned to the case. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office's homicide investigation continues and hopes to submit evidence to the County Attorney's Office in December.

Comments:

Alex White Plume, Lakota
"Thank you for this. The elders in a meeting at Billy Nills Hall discussed this. They said, we never say no, now they are getting out of hand with our ways. The Lakota make wopila, not to charge for personal gain. A society leader was acknowledged. This society is created to stop people from this type of outright capitalization of ceremonies. They are young, sober, and strong Lakota. We know they will defend our way. This society is sovereign, and can act any where they see our ceremonies being violated. I think the concept will grow across our country."