By Kamea Chayne, March 25, 2021

Are we okay with living ecosystems and mountaintops being blown up—so long as it’s done for extracting lithium instead of coal?

As the largest known lithium reserve in the United States, Thacker Pass, a part of the ancestral lands of the Paiute and Shoshone peoples, is now the proposed site for a huge lithium mine that would destroy the region and the valuable habitat they provide for their creatures and nearby communities. The lithium mine is “to supply the electric car industry”.

Spearheaded by Lithium Americas, a Canadian mining company, the project would pry open the lands for almost 6,000 acres of open-pit mining—with potentials for the acreage to triple to 17,000 over the decades (source).

Tribal members have raised concerns particularly about the project’s proximity to their cultural and burial sites, as well as the project’s expected impacts on golden eagles.

In addition, mining projects that bring in man camps are associated with an increase in violence against women—which disproportionately affects Native peoples.

Read the rest at Kamea Chayne’s Substack.