US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Industry Challenge to Grand Canyon Uranium Mining Ban

Supai Gathering Opposing Uranium Mining at Red Butte. Photo by Brenda Norrell.
French translation by Christine Prat at:
http://www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=4700

For Immediate Release, October 1, 2018 Contact:  Abbie Fink, HMA Public Relations, 602-957-8881 x 208, afink@HMAPR.com (for the Havasupai Tribe) Ted Zukoski, Earthjustice, (303) 641-3149, tzukoski@earthjustice.org Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Trust, (928) 890-7515, rclark@graqndcanyontrust.org Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 300-2414, tmckinnon@biologicaldiversity.org Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club, (602) 999-5790, sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org Kevin Dahl, National Parks Conservation Association, (520) 603-6430, kdahl@npca.org U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Industry Challenge to Grand Canyon Uranium Mining Ban GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz.— The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear the mining industry’s challenge to the 20-year ban on new uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. The National Mining Association and the American Exploration and Mining Association claimed the Interior Department’s ban is based on an unconstitutional provision of federal law. Today’s decision means that the Supreme Court will not review December’s appeals court decision that rejected industry arguments and upheld the ban. The Havasupai Tribe and a coalition of conservation groups, who helped successfully defend the ban in lower courts, praised the decision. “The lands in and around the Grand Canyon have always been the homeland of the Havasupai People,” said Muriel Coochwytewa, chairwoman of the tribe. “Our ancestors lived and died amongst the sacred sites that cover this land. The mineral withdrawal is a necessary way to protect the land and the water that our people and our village depend upon, and we are grateful that the Supreme Court has agreed with the 9th Circuit’s conclusion ― that our lands and our people must be preserved.” .

Grand Canyon Guardians Gather at Red Butte, Oct. 4 -- 7, 2018

Grand Canyon Guardians gather at Red Butte

By Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Program Director

Censored News
Also listen to the song of Tiny Hanna, at the 2009 gathering, recorded by Censored News
.https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/07/havasupai-singing-away-uranium-mining.html?m=1

The Havasupai Tribal Council is inviting Native American neighbors and the general public to gather at Red Butte for four days this fall, October 4-7, 2018, for an intertribal spiritual gathering to protect their Grand Canyon homeland from uranium mining contamination.

Why gather at Red Butte?
For first-time participants, these periodic gatherings near the southern gateway to Grand Canyon National Park offer a crash course in listening and learning.

Mohawk Nation News 'Great Law vs. United States'

GREAT LAW VS. UNITED STATES

Posted on September 29, 2018

Mohawk Nation News

MNN. Sept. 2018. Over 100 rotinoshonni [Iroquois]  were viciously beaten by the New York State Police, as this video shows. The United States court system totally ignored and denied justice and truth from being presented. 

ON MAY 8, 1997 WE STARTED A PEOPLES’ FIRE IN SUPPORT OF ROTINOSHONNI [IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY] OPPOSITION TO NEW YORK STATE’S ILLEGAL ATTEMPT TO COLLECT TAXES FROM THE ORIGINAL PEOPLE OF TURTLE ISLAND. 

We have exhausted the entire United States court system for justice. Now we are serving an Application to the International Court of Justice in The Hague of 28 pages plus the annexes, the Gayanerekowa great law and video disk.

Read full article at Mohawk Nation News
'Great Law vs. United States'
http://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2018/09/29/greatlaw-v-unitedstates/

'NCAI lobbying for corporate interests, failing DAPL Water Protectors' by Chairman Frazier

Statement by Harold Frazier
Chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe

Where are the Indians in the National Congress of American Indians?

When the Sioux Nation sent fourteen delegates to represent us at the first convention of the National Congress of American Indians held in Denver, Colorado, in 1944, it was to protect all tribes from the termination and assimilation policies of the United States. Individual tribes were alone and unprepared for the devastation and cruelty of the post-apocalyptic world in which we were thrust.

When NCAI had first began tribal leaders were able to address the problems of their people to the federal government. Sadly, that time is at an end. I have tried in vain to address NCAI and could only do so when vying for an executive position within the organization.

Voting in NCAI is not based on population representation and does not contribute to an accurate voice of Indian country. The system of membership is flawed and based on how much a tribe has in revenue and not on number of tribal members. In a time when Indian country sorely needs an institution like NCAI, it has been reduced to merely another lobbying venue for corporate interests.

Nothing has been more glaringly obvious of NCAI failures than the decision made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to effectively terminate the Mashpee Wampanoag nation from federal recognition. This tragedy is against the very purpose for which NCAI was created.

Last July, I sent a letter to the director of NCAI asking for an explanation of their “corporate sponsors.” I never received a response from the director or the organization. I cannot get a response from NCAI about how much corporate money is garnered or even something as simple as the list of tribes participating in NCAI.

I cannot get a response from NCAI about how much money it has received from corporation sponsors, such as Wells Fargo, who is a known investor of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has brought hardship on our tribes and pain to my people.

When I see the issues with staff members of NCAI, I cannot help but see the symptoms of an infected institution. Members of many tribes have joined NCAI with the hopes of making a difference in Indian country, as I did and hope I can do for my people.

Those who joined NCAI invested themselves to a cause they believe is bigger than them. I agree with those admirable qualities and know that when people with noble ideologies leave in disgust it is because they have been disenfranchised by the leadership.

Today I am asking the Executive Council of NCAI to remove the director of NCAI for failing to protect staff from bad actors and policies. It is important to protect our tribal brothers and sisters from the wolves and not allow them into our camp to prey on us.

Failure to protect one of us is a failure to protect all of us. I also call for a removal of Executive Board membersfor not allowing a transparent process to address issues and failing to protect the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe from the very thing they have sworn to stop. Let us keep corporate interests out of Indian policies and keep Indians in NCAI.