Photo, left: September 30 protest at Barona reservation in Lakeside
Author: To read Miriam Raferty's article, please click here.
Members of the Barona band of Mission Indians and other tribal nations have joined a fight aiming to stop the proposed Sandy Valley lithium mine in Arizona and proposed lithium mining at the Salton Sea in California that could adversely impact Native Americans.
Local activist Bobby Wallace led a local contingency of tribal members who traveled in late September to Arizona, where the Hualapai people are battling to stop the federal Bureau of Land Management from issuing permits for lithium mining that could threaten tribal water supplies.
Participants included tribal leaders and/or tribal council members from the Hualapai Nation and the Peach Springs tribe, as well as tribal youths and members of the Yavapai Apache People, Mohawk/Oneida tribe, Pueblo, Navajo, Zuni, and San Diego County tribal members from the Kumeyaay and Luiseno, as well as representatives of other activist groups.
“This is a travesty that endangers the livelihood of everyone and everything in that town,” Wallace says of the proposed lithium mining operations near Hualapai lands. “The hot springs and water we are trying to save has been used by the Hualapai people and other first nations since the beginning. It is an oasis in the desert and very beautiful,” he says, adding that test holes punctured part of the water source at the historic site.
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