Solar panels at the Genesis Solar Energy Project in Blythe, California. Photo by Thecyrgroup / Wikipedia
Chairman Dennis Patch of the Colorado River Indian Tribes calls on President Barack Obama to visit the Mohave and Chemehuevi homelands to see the impacts of renewable energy development on sacred and cultural sites:
The Genesis Solar Energy Project is the first of dozens of large utility-scale solar energy developments constructed or planned in culturally sensitive areas within 50 miles of CRIT’s reservation. Approximately 3,000 sacred objects were unearthed and removed from the Genesis project site, many of which were carelessly destroyed by earthmoving equipment. Our cultural tradition is to never disturb the artifacts of our ancestors. Alternatively, if areas cannot be avoided, in-situ reburial of artifacts helps us preserve our ancestral footprint on the land. CRIT has asked for in-situ reburial of all artifacts. However, our requests have met with opposition and an outdated and rigid stance. As the government supports the push to industrialize public lands – and subsidize for-profit developers – CRIT will hold the Obama administration accountable for properly consulting with tribes, minimizing harm to cultural resources by avoiding known cultural sites and allowing for the in-situ reburial of all artifacts disturbed during the construction of renewable energy projects and other development on public lands. We invite President Obama to visit our ancestral homelands along Interstate 10 and the area of Blythe, to see first-hand the cumulative and cultural impacts to native peoples of covering the desert with utility-scale renewable energy developments.Get the Story:
Dennis Patch: Native artifacts deserve protection (The Riverside Press-Enterprise 10/21)
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