Law Enforcement's Secret Surveillance of Defenders at #ThackerPass, #PeeheeMuhuh, Exposed by #ProPublica and #NevadaIndependent

#LithiumAmerica of Canada plans huge #ManCamp in #Winnemucca

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Updated July 31, 2025

THACKER PASS, #Nevada -- "While descendants of the survivors of the massacre of #Paiutes at Peehee Mu'huh struggled to protect the sacred remains from the digging of a #LithiumMine, owned by Lithium Americas on Canada -- law enforcement had a spider web of surveillance.

"The law enforcement surveillance of defenders of Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass, began before #MyronDewey was killed, and continued afterwards.

"ProPublica and Nevada Independent expose the spy trail of law enforcement and private security of Lithium Americas. The surveillance web of 10 agencies included the #BIA, and a #CounterTerrorism task force.

"During a meeting in April of 2021, the sheriff met with a spinmaster who linked the resistance to #StandingRock. This was six months before Myron Dewey was killed when a truck driven by a mining
engineer hit Myron head on.

"Myron was well known for his #reporting and #drone coverage at Standing Rock 2016--2017. Myron was livestreaming the day before he was killed near his home in #YombaNevada, Sept. 26, 2021. Myron was fighting the U.S. military's expansion of the bombing range on his #Paiute homeland. The Nevada legislators were pushing hard for the expansion, which Biden signed into law. Myron had also been delivering supplies to Thacker Pass in the months before he was killed."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/law-enforcements-secret-surveillance-of.html

ProPublica reports: Indigenous activists protesting the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada have faced years of surveillance by law enforcement and private security. Their fight highlights tensions between green energy and Indigenous rights. ️ #ThackerPass #IndigenousRights #ClimateJustice #newz

https://www.propublica.org/article/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-nevada-indigenous

Indigenous activists opposed to Nevada’s Thacker Pass lithium mine have for years been surveilled by law enforcement agencies and the company behind the mine, records show.

“They treat us like we’re domestic terrorists,” an organizer said.

https://www.propublica.org/article/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-nevada-indigenous?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#PrayerHorseRide Prepares for Sacred Journey 2025

"We do not sell our #MotherEarth or profit off of her, Mother Earth is here to take care of us and teach us our natural ways of Life! I pray we all stand to protect our Mother,” - Josh Dini, Sr., Walker River Pauite Tribe, #WaterProtector, #PrayerHorseRider and a member of #AIM Northern Nevada.

By Prayer Horse Ride, via #CensoredNews

SCHURZ, Nevada -- "The Prayer Horse Ride is getting ready to begin our 4th annual sacred journey March 21st – April 2nd, across Nevada in the ancestral lands of the Numu (#Paiute) and Newe (#Shoshone), through Yerington, Fallon, Wadsworth, Nixon, Lovelock to McDermitt, and ending near Orovada, honoring #PeeheeMuhuh (#ThackerPass in the McDermitt Caldera).

"Those Riders, Walkers, and Runners carry the prayerful energy with each community. They'll move forward to raise awareness regarding water usage and #NativeAmericanGraves Protection and
Repatriation Act concerns about #lithium mining in Peehee Mu'huh and within the McDermitt Caldera.

"The Ride also raises awareness of several #EndangeredSpecies in #FishLakeValley (#TecopaBirdsBeak, #TiehmsBuckwheat, and #TuiChub), a place Newe gathered foods and medicines, held sacred ceremonies, and where a proposed lithium boron mine would violate the #AmericanIndianReligiousFreedomAct."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/01/prayer-horse-ride-prepares-for-sacred.html
#JusticeForMyronDewey #LithiumMining #CopperMining #NoMining #SaveThackerPass #SacredPlaces #DefendTheSacred #GreenWashing #ExtractiveIndustries #MMIWG #MMIR #CorporateColonialism #PrayerRide #ProtectTheSacred #ProtectThackerPass #ReaderSupportedNews

"Lithium Americas has officially finalized its joint venture agreement with General Motors (GM) to develop the #ThackerPass #lithium mine in Nevada.

In its initial phase, it is expected to produce 40,000 metric tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate annually. This production volume is sufficient to support manufacturing up to 800,000 electric vehicles annually."

https://www.cbtnews.com/gm-finalizes-625m-stake-in-nevada-thacker-pass-lithium-mine/

US sales of "light vehicles": 16 million annually.

Interior Sec. #DebHaaland's Pueblo is in the #BallisticMissile Parts Business

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Nov. 4, 2024

LAGUNA PUEBLO, New Mexico -- "Interior Sec. Deb Haaland's tribe's enterprise, #LagunaIndustries, manufactures parts for both the ballistic missile, and parts for combat jets, including the #F15. #Biden recently approved the sale of fifty F-15 jets to #Israel in a $20 billion deal.

"The discovery comes after Biden was protested at #GilaRiver Indian Community, and Interior Sec. Haaland was sued by three #Arizona tribes.

[...]

"Interior Sec. Deb Haaland's permit for lithium mining at #Hualapai ceremonial spring south of the #GrandCanyon, and her promotion of #LithiumMining now digging in to the #Paiute Massacre site, #PeeheeMuhuh, #ThackerPass in northern #Nevada, were difficult to understand. Until now.

"The lithium mining into the Paiute Massacre Site is for the benefit of big industry electric vehicles, and violates all federal laws that protect religious and historic sites, the water and environment, and endangered species. The mining operation is by #LithiumAmericas of Canada.

"The #Hualapai Tribe said Hualapai were never consulted before Haaland granted the drilling permit to the Australian company #HawkstoneMining. The Hualapai Tribe filed a federal lawsuit against Haaland.

"In a separate federal lawsuit, the #TohonoOodham and #SanCarlosApache Nations have filed a lawsuit against Haaland for the bulldozers now destroying ancient villages sites, burial places and medicine grounds in #SanPedroValley in Arizona, for #SunZia's transmission lines for a wind energy project.
The United States government is also allowing #EnergyFuels to operate a #UraniumMine in the Grand Canyon, now threatening the aquifer and poisoning Havasupai's air and ancestral homeland. The radioactive haul route to Energy Fuels uranium mill in the #WhiteMesaUte community in Utah endangers #Supai, #Paiute, #Dine' (#Navajo), #Hopi, and #Ute.

"The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, BLM, has a history of rubber stamping environmental impact statements, resulting in devastation."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/interior-sec-haalands-pueblo-is-in.html

#ReaderSupportedNews #NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #NoLithiumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleLithium #RecycleCopper #WaterIsLife #DefendTheSacred #MotherEarth #ReaderSupportedNews
#FreePalestine #NoUraniumMining #Greenwashing #CulturalGenocide #CorporateColonialism #NoNukes #HaulNo #UraniumMining #WhiteMesaMill

So, I heard about this on the news. And I shouted out loud, "#ThackerPass! #OakFlat! #WhiteMesa! Ha'Kamwe'!" I mean, it's great to embrace #TruthAndReconciliation, especially when it comes to #BoardingSchools -- but not when your administration is targeting sacred places for destructive, extractive mining and processing of radioactive materials -- which will affect #FirstNations who live nearby!

'A sin on our soul': Biden delivers formal apology for Native boarding school abuses

by Debra Utacia Krol
October 25, 2024

"#Biden delivered the apology on tribal lands south of Phoenix in what could be his last visit to Arizona as president. Before leaving Washington on Thursday, he called the apology 'something that should have been done a long time ago.' He was accompanied by Interior Secretary #DebHaaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo and the first Indigenous Cabinet secretary."

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2024/10/25/president-joe-biden-arizona-apologize-native-american-boarding-school-abuse/75824575007/

#Colombia's #Indigenous Demand #AncestralKnowledge is at Forefront of #COP16 #Biodiversity Convention

Indigenous communities from different regions of Colombia march in the southwestern city of #Cali to demand that their ancestral knowledge on #conservation be taken into account at the #UNBiodiversity summit, COP16, which is being held in the city.

Article by #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Oct. 24, 2024

"The United States is the only United Nations member state that has not ratified the Convention on #Biodiversity. While 197 countries arrive in Cali, Colombia for the COP16 Biodiversity Convention, the U.S. is engaged in #WarCrimes and #genocide in #Palestine.

"In the U.S., the team of #Biden and Interior Sec. #DebHaaland plans to desecrate the #Hualapai's sacred ceremonial water with a #LithiumMine; is promoting #LithiumMining digging into the #Paiute Massacre Site at #ThackerPass; is allowing #UraniumMining in the #GrandCanyon threatening Havasupai's aquifer and poisoning their #MedicinePlants with #radioactive dust; allowing #dumping radioactive ore and global radioactive waste in #WhiteMesaUte's community; is bulldozing the ancient village sites, burial places and medicine plants of #TohonoOodham and #SanCarlosApache for a wind energy project; plans a massive #CopperMine from San Carlos #Apache sacred #OakFlat; and plans to increase the radioactivity in the #Pueblo homelands with increased #plutonium production and storage at #LosAlamos Labs in northern #NewMexico."

Read more, view photos:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/10/colombias-indigenous-demand-ancestral.html

Watch video by AFP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWUjFLE1AY4

#Nevada #LithiumMine approved despite possible harm to #endangered #wildflower

Advocates vow to sue, saying plan, crucial to #Biden’s clean energy agenda, will drive #TiehmsBuckwheat to extinction

Thu 24 Oct 2024 16.36 EDT

"Environmentalists said Thursday that the mine’s final approval was a politically motivated violation of multiple US laws. The Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement: 'Litigation is now the only way [to] stop the Rhyolite Ridge Mine.'

[...]

"Opponents of the project say it’s the latest example of Biden’s administration running roughshod over US protections for native #wildlife, rare species and #SacredTribalLands in the name of slowing the #ClimateCrisis by reducing reliance on fossil fuels and bolstering national security by easing reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals.

"'We’ve been fighting to save Tiehm’s buckwheat for six years and we’re not giving up now,' Donnelly said.

"Nevada is home to the only existing lithium mine in the US. Another is currently under construction near the Oregon line 220 miles (354km) north of Reno. That #LithiumAmericas mine at #ThackerPass, which was approved in the final days of Donald #Trump’s administration, survived numerous legal challenges from #environmentalists and #NativeAmerican tribes who said it would destroy lands they considered sacred where their ancestors were massacred by US troops in 1865."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/24/nevada-lithium-mine-endangered-wildflower-tiehms-buckwheat

#SaveRhyoliteRidge
#SaveThackerPass #IoneerLtd #NoLithiumMining #RecycleLithium #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #CenterForBiologicalDiversity #ProtectTheSacred #TiehmsBuckwheat #EndangeredSpecies

[Thread] The next installment from #KleeBenally 's book, #NoSpiritualSurrender.

“The proposition of unplugging from a ‘dirty’ power source and plugging into a ‘green’ one does nothing to address the underlying power relations. It reinforces them.

“‘#GreenEnergy’ sustaining a Green Economy still demands resource #colonialism. From sacred #OakFlat in so-called Arizona where #SanCarlosApache are resisting a massive mine that is estimated to contain enough #copper ore to produce 275 million electric vehicles [#EVs], to sacred #ThackerPass in so-called Nevada where #Shoshone are resisting #LithiumMining, which is necessary for electric vehicle and ‘green’ energy battery production. A single car #LithiumIon battery pack contains 18 pounds of lithium. To electrify every vehicle throughout the world, an estimated 10.4 billion tons of lithium is needed, that is approximately 13 times the existing lithium reserves. The Thacker Pass lithium one is mismated to produce 60,000 tons annually. The proposed project spans approximately 28 square miles that would hold an #OpenPit and a #sulfuricacid processing plant to extract lithium from mined ore.

"The operation is estimated to release 152,713 tons of #CarbonDioxide [#CO2] annually and 400,000 gallons of #water is required for each ton of lithium meaning it will use 1.7 billion gallons annual. The Thacker Pass sulfuric acid processing plant will convert sulfur to leech lithium from raw ore, turned in from sources such as the #AlbertaTarSands, which are 1,500 miles away. The tar sands, located in so-called Canada, are known as the world’s most destructive oil operation.”

Page 138-139

#IndigenousAnarchy
#Ecosystem #DefendTheSacred
#CorporateColonialism #NoDAPL #CriminalizingDissent #WaterIsLife #ClimateDefenders #NoCopperMiningWithoutConsent #NoLithiumMining #CorporateColonialism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #LithiumMining #CopperMining #Greenwashing

#ApacheStronghold at Peehee Mu'huh Locked Gates for People of Prayer

On the Journey to the Supreme Court

By Apache Stronghold, #CensoredNews
August 8, 2024

"Apache Stronghold visited Peehee Mu’huh (#ThackerPass), the second stop on the Prayer Journey to the Supreme Court [#SCOTUS] to Stop the Shattering of Human Existence and Protect #MotherEarth.

"We visited with the People of #RedMountain, who are fighting a #LithiumMine that is destroying their #SacredSite. When we arrived at the entrance to Peehee Mu’huh, we found a chain link wall with a locked gate, blocking everyone except those authorized by the mine.

"Security trucks came to go through the gate, and one of the drivers admitted that they knew the Apache Stronghold would be there with the People of Red Mountain.

"One truck drove off toward the mine, while the other driver re-locked the gate and left, emphasizing that the mining company has access to Peehee Mu’huh, but the Indigenous people who were stewards of the land since time immemorial, and all others who would go there to pray, are locked out.

"Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. said, 'It’s a sad reminder that people don’t know the day could come, if #OakFlat is ever transferred to #ResolutionCopper, that the acorns, #MedicinePlants, and water could be locked away behind a gate facing death at the hands of a corporation.

"'People need to come together to stop this desecration happening at Peehee Mu’huh and prevent it from happening everywhere else, before it’s too late.'

"Costanoan Rumsen #CarmelTribe said, 'We are honored to welcome and pray along side the Apache Stronghold and Protect Oak Flat on their Prayer Journey. Please join us in prayer this Saturday from 7 am-12 noon.' Chief Ya'anna Learning Village and Tuatukar Eco-Cultural Center for Indigenous Regeneration, 4500 Via Marisol, #Los AngelesCalifornia 90042.

"For those who can’t join us in person, please pray for us as we travel to the Supreme Court, and follow along on the journey here.

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/08/apache-stronghold-at-peehee-muhuh.html

#PeeHeeMuhuh #NoCopperMiningWithoutConsent #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousNews #RioTinto CopperMine #BHP #Apache #NDAA #BigMountain #CulturalGenocide #Genocide #Arizona #ChichilBildagoteel #RioTinto #CopperMine #SanCarlosApache #Arizona #ProtectOakFlat #protectthesacred #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivism #SaveOakFlat #WaterIsLife #SacredSite #CopperMining #RecycleCopper #MiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #CulturalGenocide #Ecocide #NativeAmericanNews #Greenwashing #NoMiningWithoutConsent #CorporateColonialism #PeacefulProtest

#ApacheStronghold Continues Journey of Prayer to the #SupremeCourt to Stop the Shattering of Human Existence and to Protect #MotherEarth

Apache Stronghold to #ThackerPass

Apache Stronghold, #CensoredNews, August 4, 2024

Contact: apache.stronghold@gmail.com

"Today, August 4, 2024, the Apache Stronghold will be continuing our prayer journey to stop the shattering of human existence and to protect Mother Earth. The prayer journey began in the #LummiNation, north of Seattle, in July, and it will conclude on September 11, 2024 when the Apache Stronghold files their appeal at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, with stops along the way visiting tribes and supporters for prayer and ceremony. The full route is outlined [at the link below].

"We will be traveling to Thacker Pass, Nevada for a #PrayerGathering on August 6th. This will be our second stop of the journey. After Thacker Pass, we will be traveling to the #BayAreaCalifornia on August 8th for another prayer gathering. Please pay close attention to your emails as we will be updating along the way, as well as our social media @protectoakflat to follow along the journey with us.

"It is a very crucial time right now, so we ask if you cannot join us along the journey please continue to pray for our journey as we make our way across the U.S to the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. We are in this fight together, as we are one drum, one circle, one prayer."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/08/apache-stronghold-to-thacker-pass-on.html

#RioTinto #CopperMine #SanCarlosApache #Arizona #ProtectOakFlat #protectthesacred #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivism #SCOTUS #SaveOakFlat
#WaterIsLife #SacredSite
#CopperMining
#RecycleCopper
#MiningWithoutConsent
#ProtectTheSacred
#CulturalGenocide
#ChichilBiłdagoteel
#Ecocide #SaveOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews
#NativeAmericanNews
#IndigenousNews
#Greenwashing
#NoMiningWithoutConsent #ResolutionCopper #CorporateColonialism

[Photos] #PrayerHorseRide to Peehee Mu'huh

Nanesootuhina Pookoo Goobakatudu

#CensoredNews, March 28, 2024
Photos by Melissa Robles-Dyer

Peehee Mu'huh (#ThackerPass) -- "The Prayer Horse Ride, March 17-26, began in Schurz on its jouney to Peehee Mu’huh, Thacker Pass. The ride is in the traditional, ancestral and #unceded lands of the #Paiute, #Shoshone and #Bannock.

"'We do this prayer ride to reconnect our way of life,' said #JoshDiniSr., #WalkerRiverPaiute, #WaterProtector and #PrayerHorseRider.

"The Prayer Horse Ride is to raise awareness about #LithiumMining in #McDermittCaldera, and also #CopperMining in the #PineNutHills, in remembrance of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/People (#MMIW / #MMIP). Riders are revitalizing cultural identity, languages and lifeways in #Indigenous communities."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/03/prayer-horse-ride-to-peehee-muhuh.html

#ThackerPass protesters claim “biodiversity necessity defense” in court case with #LithiumNevada Corporation

By Kevin Sheridan
Published: Mar. 26, 2024

WINNEMUCCA, Nev. (KOLO) - "Six protesters being sued by the Lithium Nevada Corporation are using what they are calling a 'biodiversity necessity defense'.

"They say the defense is 'a legal argument used to justify breaking the law when a greater harm is being prevented; for example, breaking a car window to save an infant locked inside on a stifling hot day, or breaking down a door to help someone screaming inside a locked home. In these cases, trespassing is justified to save a life.'

"This week’s filing states that the 'Defendants possessed an actual belief that their acts of protest were necessary to prevent the present, continuing harms and evils of ecocide and irreversible climate change.'

"'We’re in the midst of the 6th mass extinction of life on Earth, and it’s being caused by human activities like mining,' said attorney Terry Lodge, who is representing the protesters. 'Our lives are made possible by biodiversity and ecosystems. Protecting our children from pollution and biodiversity collapse isn’t criminal, it’s heroic.'

"In a filing with the court, Lodge and other attorneys claimed the company had 'unclean hands', and that Lithium Nevada has 'engaged in serious misconduct including violating the Defendants’ human rights, Defendants’ civil rights, misleading the public about the impacts of lithium mining and how lithium mining contributes to climate change and biodiversity collapse, and conducting the inherently dangerous and ecologically destructive practice of surface mining at the Thacker Pass mine'.

"They further argue stopping the mine will prevent significant greenhouse gas emissions, and that their actions are justified because they are working to prevent #CimateChange."

https://www.kolotv.com/2024/03/26/thacker-pass-protesters-claim-biodiversity-necessity-defense-court-case-with-lithium-nevada-corporation/

#ClimateNecessityDefense #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #ThackerPassProtectors #SLAPPs #SaveThackerPass
#PeeheeMuhuh #Pauite #Shoshone #NoMining #LithiumMining #DirectAction #EarthDefenders #SacredSites #ProtectThackerPass

#ThackerPass #Protectors File First-Ever '#BiodiversityNecessityDefense' in #Nevada Court

While pursuing a '#ClimateNecessityDefense,' and making allegations that #mining company has violated their rights, their attorney said, 'They’re not criminals; they’re heroes.'

Bhie-Cie Zahn-Nahtzu: “#LithiumNevada is a #greedy #corporation on the wrong side of history when it comes to #EnvironmentalRacism and desecration of #SacredSites. It’s ironic to me that I’m the trespasser because I want to see my ancestral land preserved.”

By #ProtectThackerPass, #CensoredNews, March 26, 2024

"In a first for the American legal system, the lawyers for six people sued by Lithium Nevada Corporation for protesting the Thacker Pass mine are arguing a ‘biodiversity necessity defense.’

"The necessity defense is a legal argument used to justify breaking the law when a greater harm is being prevented; for example, breaking a car window to save an infant locked inside on a stifling hot day, or breaking down a door to help someone screaming inside a locked home. In these cases, trespassing is justified to save a life.
.
"This week’s filing states: 'Defendants possessed an actual belief that their acts of protest were necessary to prevent the present, continuing harms and evils of #ecocide and irreversible #ClimateChange.'

"'We’re in the midst of the 6th #MassExtinction of life on Earth, and it’s being caused by human activities like mining,' said attorney Terry Lodge, who is representing the #protesters. 'Our lives are made possible by #biodiversity and #ecosystems. Protecting our children from pollution and biodiversity collapse isn’t criminal, it’s heroic.'

"Currently Earth is experiencing one of the most rapid and widespread extinction events in the planet’s 4-billion-year history.

"Biologists report that habitat destruction, like the bulldozing of nearly 6,000 acres of biodiverse #sagebrush steppe for the Thacker Pass mine, is the main cause of this '#6thMassExtinction.'"

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/03/thacker-pass-protectors-file-first-ever.html

Judge Tosses Out One Claim Against #ThackerPassProtectors, Five Claims Remain

Rejects 'Unjust Enrichment' Claim, But Five Other Claims Proceed in Ongoing Lawsuit Over Spring 2023 Protests

By Protect Thacker Pass, Censored News, March 11, 2024

WINNEMUCCA, Nevada — "A judge has dismissed an “unjust enrichment” charge filed against seven people sued for protesting the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada, but allowed five other charges to move forward.
District Judge Michael R. Montero rejected #LithiumNevada Corporation’s claims that protesters had engaged in unjust enrichment by writing online messages encouraging supporters to donate, ruling that these messages are '#ProtectedSpeech under the #FirstAmendment.'

"'This is a very significant win for my clients and a rebuke to Lithium Nevada,' says Terry Lodge, an attorney representing six of the protesters. 'But,' Lodge says, 'we’ve still got a long way to go in this case.'

[...]

"While one portion of Montero’s ruling was favorable to the protesters, other portions were not. Judge Montero issued a prelimary ruling in Lithium Nevada’s favor on five other claims. But, Lodge says that at this stage, the judge was not determining whether Lithium Nevada’s claims are true or not. He was simply reviewing Lithium Nevada’s allegations, taking them as true, and determining whether those allegations were violations of Nevada law.

[...]

Native Land Claims “Frivolous”

"In another part of his ruling, Judge Montero called arguments that a #Paiute protester has a right to access the September 12, 1865 #ThackerPass massacre site within Lithium Nevada’s mine site to pray for massacred Paiute #ancestors 'frivolous'.

"The ruling states that recognizing traditional native land claims 'would unequivocally undermine each and every property owner’s rights' and concludes that '[t]his is a Pandora’s box the Court is unwilling to open.”
The defendants are seeking monetary donations to their legal defense fund."

FMI and full article:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/03/judge-tosses-out-one-claim-against.html