September 16, 2015
Western Shoshone Ian Zabarte 'Cultural Triage is Genocide at Yucca Mountain'
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| Corbin Harney |
Censored News
I am the Principal Man for Foreign Affairs, of the government of Newe Sogobia and have the legitimate authority to speak on all matters subject to tribal law and custom. The exterior boundaries of Newe Sogobia are defined by the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley which include Yucca Mountain. I am a board member of the Native Community Action Council, a "party with standing" in the licensing proceedings that contends, the DOE cannot prove ownership of Yucca Mountain. This significant encumbrance precludes licensing by the NRC. I am also a board member of Poohabah, a Western Shoshone religious institution situated along the Amargosa River at Tecopa as it turns toward Timbisha at Furnace Creek. Newe spiritual practices, an ongoing living lifeway of Poohabah, are impacted and further threatened by the proposed Yucca Mountain project. We receive no project funding for our participation.
The government of Newe Sogobia does not consent to the inclusion of any part of our treaty defined property into the boundaries or jurisdiction of the United States or any state or territory. The Newe are a spiritual people that combine religious belief and government and as such, the government of Newe Sogobia is the embodiment of the Western Shoshone land and people. Our ethnic identity is Newe Sogobia, literally translated, "the Peoples Mother Earth."
We informed the US Department of the Interior that Newe Sogobia is not for sale and that Yucca Mountain is not BLM land. We informed the EPA that the environmental radiation protection standards for Yucca Mountain are not protective of Newe Sogobia and that our exposure would be significantly higher because of lifestyle differences, our living lifeways that include longstanding religious practices, tribal laws, custom and our traditions. We informed the DOE through tribal Spiritual Leader Corbin Harney that our land and people are being destroyed by the testing of weapons of mass destruction and the development of Yucca Mountain as a high-level nuclear waste repository. Newe Sogobia cannot endure an increased burden of risk from any source because of our past exposure to fallout from nuclear weapons testing. Our understanding is borne out by the National Academy of Sciences Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation 2005 report that states, "there is no minimum threshold for radiation carcinogenesis." Currently, the United States NRC is the agency to assume responsibility for the policies and practices and the resultant impact to Newe Sogobia--OUR very existence as a people.
The central issue that impact the Newe result from the destruction of our property that impair our treaty reserved rights to use our lands and life giving water. Nothing in the Treaty of Ruby Valley ever contemplated the destruction of Newe Sogobia by American nationals through their agency the US government. I, and many Newe have expressed alarm at the systematic policies and practices that place a disproportionate burden of risk upon Newe practicing traditional religious lifeways that require water for praying, cleansing and healing, with no response. Ethnographic studies conducted by the DOE failed to identify the Newe as we actually exist, as one people governed by our own traditional form of tribal government. Instead, the DOE substitutes many tribal governments created by the US and invited organizations for the purposes of site characterization at Yucca Mountain. These groups are known as the Consolidated Group of Tribes. The traditional Western Shoshone government of Newe Sogobia was not invited to participate. From our perspective the processes employed by the DOE is environmental racism…designed to systematically dismantle the living lifeways of the Western Shoshone people in relation to our land. The cultural resource study protocol of "cultural triage" justified for use in the Yucca Mountain site characterization process is an attack. Triage is used in response to natural disaster or declared war. There is no war, or natural disaster that might employ the use of triage. What was created and used by the DOE is an immoral act forced upon the ethnic Western Shoshone people for the benefit of the US and the profit of the nuclear industry. This meets the minimum threshold of genocide under the Proxmire Act, the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987.
September 15, 2015
Native Americans in DC: Obama Stop Leasing Lands for Fossil Fuels!
     
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 helped deliver the message to President Obama: It's time to keep our fossil fuels in the ground!
In the Keep it in the Ground campaign, Wild Earth Guardians said, "The time is now to boldly cut carbon pollution and move our nation away from fossil fuels. We can't even begin to make this happen if the President is going to keep stop selling more of our publicly owned coal, oil, and gas. It's time to Keep it in the Ground!"
By Brenda Norrell Censored News WASHINGTON -- Louise Benally of Big Mountain joined Native American delegations and coalitions here today to tell President Obama to stop leasing lands and oceans for fossils fuels. Benally's message was "Keep it in the Ground." Before President Obama's Secret Service chased Native Americans and their allies away from the White House park, Benally brought the dirty truth of dirty coal in her homeland. “Coal companies like Peabody Energy have been mining federal and tribal coal in and near native communities like mine for decades. The tribal governments allow energy companies to impound peoples’ livestock, which is the only source of income and food for communities impacted by forced removal—a legacy policy initiated by Senator John McCain for Peabody to gain access to coal mining locations. "Peabody mine sites don't have bonds and liners in the waste ponds. Contaminated waters are released in the headwaters after every rain, polluting the little water they leave behind. The Gold King mining disaster is just the most recent example of the kind of devastation that has been happening to the Dine for generations. Before coal, we were devastated by uranium. Now, our families are the targets of a fracking boom on federal lands in places like Chaco Canyon. Dirty energy companies ruin our lands, while the profit goes elsewhere," Benally said. "Environmental concerns are not being addressed properly by agencies that should be accountable. Groundwater tables have dropped by big drops, the greenhouse gases being released into the air are not monitored correctly, and health impacts are not monitored at all. This devastation of our communities is a kind of terrorism made possible by Senators like John McCain, all while President Obama turns a blind eye. These industries are not accountable to the land, the natural world, or the people living here. Their destruction has to stop now.” —Louise Benally, Big Mountain Diné Nation, Indigenous Cultural Concepts, Media Island International. Princess Daazhraii Johnson of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL) delivered a powerful message from Alaska. "We are in climate crisis in Alaska, and advancing energy extraction within our ancestral territories would seriously exacerbate climate change and threaten our ability to survive in the Arctic. Climate Change is upsetting the delicate balance in many ecosystems. There is an urgency to take action now. "The President was in Alaska, and saw for himself the consequences of climate change. Indigenous peoples of the North implore him to take effective action now to address the issue while we still can. If the U.S. is serious about Climate Change, rescind the Shell permits to drill in the Chukchi Sea, and permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We must keep the remaining fossil fuels in the ground and continue towards a just transition to alternative energies. We do not have the luxury of time. We can implement clean energy systems in the U.S. now." Read more and see more photos http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/09/dineh-join-climate-coalition-in-dc.html | ||
Dineh Join Climate Coalition in DC: Obama Halt Fossil Fuel Leasing
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helped deliver the message to President Obama: It's time to keep our fossil fuels in the ground!
In the Keep it in the Ground campaign, Wild Earth Guardians said, "The time is now to boldly cut carbon pollution and move our nation away from fossil fuels. We can't even begin to make this happen if the President is going to keep stop selling more of our publicly owned coal, oil, and gas. It's time to Keep it in the Ground!"
By Brenda Norrell Censored News WASHINGTON -- Louise Benally of Big Mountain joined Native American delegations and coalitions here today to tell President Obama to stop leasing lands and oceans for fossils fuels. Benally's message was "Keep it in the Ground." Before President Obama's Secret Service chased Native Americans and their allies away from the White House park, Benally brought the dirty truth of dirty coal in her homeland. “Coal companies like Peabody Energy have been mining federal and tribal coal in and near native communities like mine for decades. The tribal governments allow energy companies to impound peoples’ livestock, which is the only source of income and food for communities impacted by forced removal—a legacy policy initiated by Senator John McCain for Peabody to gain access to coal mining locations. "Peabody mine sites don't have bonds and liners in the waste ponds. Contaminated waters are released in the headwaters after every rain, polluting the little water they leave behind. The Gold King mining disaster is just the most recent example of the kind of devastation that has been happening to the Dine for generations. Before coal, we were devastated by uranium. Now, our families are the targets of a fracking boom on federal lands in places like Chaco Canyon. Dirty energy companies ruin our lands, while the profit goes elsewhere," Benally said. "Environmental concerns are not being addressed properly by agencies that should be accountable. Groundwater tables have dropped by big drops, the greenhouse gases being released into the air are not monitored correctly, and health impacts are not monitored at all. This devastation of our communities is a kind of terrorism made possible by Senators like John McCain, all while President Obama turns a blind eye. These industries are not accountable to the land, the natural world, or the people living here. Their destruction has to stop now.” —Louise Benally, Big Mountain Diné Nation, Indigenous Cultural Concepts, Media Island International. Cherri Foytlin, Bridge the Gulf"said, "I would ask that you put yourself in our place. Over five years have passed since BP's broken promises spewed as easily from their tongues as the oil did from their broken pipe. To this day our peoples and ecosystems suffer from BP's brutal, callous, and lasting assault. Five years, and our dolphins still die, our turtles still die, our oysters still die, our marshes still die, our people still die. "BP is a corporate serial killer. BP is a terrorist organization. Yet they not only remain free to continue their patterns of destruction, they are subsidized by our government to do it. How many more graves will there be, before justice is truly served in the Gulf Coast? That is the only question we have now." Princess Daazhraii Johnson of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL) delivered a powerful message from Alaska. "We are in climate crisis in Alaska, and advancing energy extraction within our ancestral territories would seriously exacerbate climate change and threaten our ability to survive in the Arctic. Climate Change is upsetting the delicate balance in many ecosystems. There is an urgency to take action now. "The President was in Alaska, and saw for himself the consequences of climate change. Indigenous peoples of the North implore him to take effective action now to address the issue while we still can. If the U.S. is serious about Climate Change, rescind the Shell permits to drill in the Chukchi Sea, and permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We must keep the remaining fossil fuels in the ground and continue towards a just transition to alternative energies. We do not have the luxury of time. We can implement clean energy systems in the U.S. now." Climate Coalition Calls on President Obama to Halt Fossil Fuel Leasing on Public Lands, Oceans
Hundreds of Organizations, Leaders Mobilize to Keep Publicly Owned Oil, Gas, Coal--and Half of Potential Emissions from All Remaining U.S. Fossil Fuels--in the Ground
WASHINGTON — A coalition of more than 400 organizations and leaders will deliver a historic letter to the White House on Tuesday calling on President Obama to stop new federal fossil fuel leasing on public lands and oceans in the United States. The letter argues that, by keeping publicly owned fossil fuels that haven’t already been leased to industry in the ground, President Obama can keep nearly half of the potential emissions from all remaining U.S. fossil fuels, up to 450 billion tons, from the global pool of potential carbon pollution. More than 67 million acres of public land and ocean are already leased to the fossil fuel industry. That represents an area 55 times larger than Grand Canyon National Park and contains up to 43 billion tons of potential carbon pollution. Deeming unleased oil, gas and coal “unburnable” would accomplish more in the global fight against climate catastrophe than any other single climate action taken by the Obama administration. | ||
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