{"id":35204,"date":"2024-02-05T00:02:36","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T05:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=35204"},"modified":"2024-02-05T17:40:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T22:40:01","slug":"howard-center-tribes-in-uphill-battle-against-lithium-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/02\/05\/howard-center-tribes-in-uphill-battle-against-lithium-mining\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard Center: Tribes in uphill battle against lithium mining"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Thacker<\/a>
A group of protestors gather at Thacker Pass on Sep. 9, 2023 at a commemoration for the 1865 massacre of Paiute and Shoshone people by the 1st Nevada Cavalry. Lithium Nevada, a subsidiary of Lithium Americas, plans to build a lithium mine on the site where many tribal members believe the massacre took place. Photo by Noel Lyn Smith \/ Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/figcaption>\r\n
Tribes face an uphill battle to defend their sacred land against lithium mining<\/div>\r\n
Monday, February 5, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Noel Lyn Smith and Pacey Smith-Garcia<\/div>\r\n
Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/div>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/howardcenter\/lithium<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\nOROVADA, Nevada — Myron Smart remembers stories told by his father and other tribal elders about the connection between Thacker Pass in Nevada, where a new lithium mine is under construction, and a tragic moment for the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone.

<\/P>\r\nIn Northern Nevada near the Oregon border, Thacker Pass was traditionally used by Smart\u2019s ancestors to camp, hunt and gather, collect obsidian and medicine, and perform ceremonies. On September 12, 1865, the 1st Nevada Cavalry raided a campsite and slaughtered at least 31 Paiutes.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThe cowboys came to kill everybody \u2013 woman, children, all the elders,\u201d Smart said last September to a group gathered at Thacker Pass on the anniversary of the massacre. The deadly encounter was an episode in the Snake Wars, one of many skirmishes with Native Americans in the 19th century West, as white settlers came looking to mine for gold.

<\/P>\r\nNow, Smart said, a new kind of mining threatens to wipe out culturally important sites related to the massacre, harming the tribes yet again. Lithium Nevada Corporation, a subsidiary of Canada-based Lithium Americas, will blast through rock and dirt in the area as the company builds a massive, open-pit lithium mine. The federal Bureau of Land Management issued a Record of Decision to greenlight the mine in January 2021. All court challenges to the decision have failed.

<\/P>\r\n\"Myron<\/a>

Myron Smart talks about the historical significance of Thacker Pass to the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe at an event near Orovada, Nev. on September 9, 2023. The event commemorates the massacre of at least 31 Paiutes by the 1st Nevada Cavalry on September 12, 1865. Photo by Noel Lyn Smith \/ Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Biden administration has set an ambitious goal for electric vehicles that has prompted a major push for U.S. supplies of lithium and other critical minerals. The Thacker Pass mine owners have courted support from the Energy Department, which is considering a record-breaking, billion dollar loan to the project, and from General Motors, which has pledged $650 million in capital investment, the largest ever by an automaker in battery raw materials. The mine is projected to supply enough lithium each year to produce batteries for one million GM electric vehicles.

<\/P>\r\nIndigenous communities are on the frontlines of a push to create new, domestic sources for lithium. The U.S. has only one active lithium mine, at Silver Peak in Nevada. With a wave of new applicants, that will not remain the case for long. An analysis by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University found nine proposed lithium mines are within 10 miles of Native American reservations.

<\/P>\r\nBesides Thacker Pass, lithium mines are also planned near the Black Hills in South Dakota \u2013 which the Lakota and nearly a dozen other tribes claim as their ancestral land. Exploration drilling for a mine in Arizona is occurring 700 feet from sacred springs used by the Hualapai people. In a months-long investigation, the Howard Center found lithium mines use vast amounts of water to extract the critical mineral needed for lithium-ion batteries.

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