Last night I talked with a native family from Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Reservation and one (of many) major concerns with the Thacker Pass mine is the “man camps” that often come with major construction activities and bring hundreds of workers from outside the community. The photo is their sign from outside a community meeting last night.

Man camps tend to be associated with hard drugs, sexual abuse, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). And that’s on top of other mine issues like land destruction, poisoning of water, impacts to golden eagles pronghorn and other wildlife, risk of chemical spills from hundreds of trucks a day passing right next to the community elementary school in Orovada, and more.

Yet another reason to stop the mine, protect Thacker Pass, protect the water, and indigenous protect women and girls – and of course this issue doesn’t just affect indigenous women.

Support is needed at camp on an ongoing basis. We need people to visit us, speak out, spread the word in their communities, and most important COMMIT to digging in for this fight! This has to be a collective effort. And this is just the first of many proposed lithium mines in this region.