The Wrap: Opposition to Oak Flat copper mine grows
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eighty-five religious organizations stepped up to support Apache Stronghold in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court decision over the Oak Flat copper mine, saying it discriminates against Native religious beliefs.
The organizations filed an amicus brief, known as a “friend of the court” brief, on Monday, Oct. 14, supporting Apache Stronghold's challenge of a federal land transfer that gave away land in the Tonto National Forest to Resolution Copper in exchange for other lands.
In the process, the mine would destroy parts of Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, the sacred Oak Flat site important to several tribes including the Apache.
“Because the federal government’s action here will prevent the Western Apaches from engaging in religious practices at Chí’chil Biłdagoteel — practices that cannot take place anywhere else — the outcome of this case should have been straightforward,” the brief reads. READ MORE — Kadin Mills, ICT
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The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on Monday filed a new lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers arguing that the Dakota Access Pipeline is operating illegally and must be shut down.
The tribe has long opposed the pipeline, also referred to as DAPL, due to concerns that it violates the tribe’s sovereignty, endangers sacred cultural sites and threatens to pollute the tribe’s water supply.
The Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over the section of the pipeline that passes under Lake Oahe — a reservoir on the Missouri River — roughly a half-mile upstream from the Standing Rock Reservation.
The tribe in a 34-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia argues the Army Corps flouted federal regulations by allowing the pipeline to operate without an easement, sufficient study of possible environmental impacts or the necessary emergency spill response plans, among other alleged violations. READ MORE — North Dakota Monitor
A proposal to build and rebuild open-pit mines in Idaho’s historic Stibnite mining district is moving forward, even as the U.S. Forest Service acknowledges it could have lasting, negative environmental impacts on the area.
The Stibnite mining district, located at the headwaters of the South Fork Salmon River, was critical to the United States’ war effort in the 1940s as a rich source of gold, silver, antimony and tungsten. Operations ended in the 1990s and the site was abandoned.
Perpetua Resources is hoping to reopen the mines, and build a few more, to resume extracting gold, antimony and silver. The Canada-based company, formally named Midas Gold, has been fine-tuning its proposal to the Forest Service for over a decade, as previously reported by Columbia Insight.
The proposal has faced significant opposition from the Nez Perce Tribe and groups like Idaho Rivers United, American Whitewater and Idaho Conservation League. READ MORE — Columbia Insight
They’ve come from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. From the Ojibwe and Inupiaq. Smoke rises from bundles of sweetgrass, cedar and sage as they tell their stories of surviving Indian boarding schools.
For some, the recounting is not new. They bring weathered black-and-white family photos to honor relatives lost. Others, until now, have never disclosed their still-raw childhood trauma.
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Across the country, a group of traveling Indigenous oral historians are there to listen, and to record these vital first-person narratives. They are part of an ongoing collaboration between the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and the U.S. Department of the Interior. The goal is to more fully document the systemic abuse endured by generations of Indigenous people under the government’s attempts at forced assimilation that began in the 1800s and lasted for over a century.
Ramona Klein, a 77-year-old from North Dakota shared a particularly harrowing memory with the historians, tribal officials and spiritual leaders who gathered in Bismarck, North Dakota in June to support the survivors. READ MORE — The Imprint
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In the 1860s, an armed militia swept into the historic land of the Serrano people in the San Bernardino mountains and went on a killing spree, attempting to slaughter the entire tribe. A tribal leader named Santos Manuel led the surviving 30 members to safety in a nearby valley.
Now, Manuel’s great-great grandson has ensured that every K-12 student in California will learn the story of the Serrano people and other California Native tribes who endured atrocities during the Spanish colonial and Gold Rush eras in California history.
“The hope is that students learn the true history of California, the horror and the genocide, but also the resiliency of the Indian people,” said Assemblymember James Ramos, a descendent of Manuel who authored a bill requiring schools to teach about the mistreatment and perspectives of Native Californians in social studies classes.
“It’s time that the voices of California’s first people drive the educational process, especially when the subject is our ways, our people, our history,” said Ramos, who lives on the San Manuel Indian reservation in San Bernardino County and is the first Native Californian to serve in the state Legislature. READ MORE — CalMatters/Associated Press
The president of one of the largest Native American tribes in the U.S. announced Tuesday he has removed responsibilities from his vice president, saying she no longer represents his administration and should consider resigning from the highest office within the Navajo Nation to ever be held by a woman.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren made the announcement in a news conference that was broadcast on social media. The tribe has been mired by political upheaval since April, when Navajo Vice President Richelle Montoya publicly outlined allegations of intimidation and sexual harassment within the administration.
An independent investigation of Montoya's claims was initiated while other opponents of Nygren began collecting signatures from voters across the reservation — which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah — as part of an effort to recall the president.
Nygren took aim at the recall effort and outlined his reasons for terminating Montoya's authority during the news conference. He accused his detractors of failing to focus on issues affecting Navajo families, such as housing and employment needs along with access to drinking water, electricity and other basic services. READ MORE — Associated Press
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